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Have you ever wondered how a character animated with stop motion can express sadness, fear, or tenderness? In Wildwood, the new feature film from LAIKA Studios, the answer lies in more than 142,000 3D printed facial expressions that are strung together frame by frame.
You may recognize the name LAIKA from Coraline, the 2009 animated film that has become one of the studio’s most iconic titles. Based in Oregon, LAIKA specializes in combining craftsmanship and technology to bring its stories to life on screen. In its new production, the studio is once again turning to additive manufacturing.
3D Printing to Create Thousands of Expressions
In stop-motion animation, characters move through small physical changes between frames. To change their expressions, LAIKA uses what is known as “replacement animation”: instead of directly modifying a figure’s face, its facial features are replaced with others that represent the next expression.
3D printing makes it possible to design all these parts with different expressions, skin tones, and details. The challenge lies in maintaining a high degree of consistency among them. Even a slight variation in color or a difference in surface texture could be noticeable when viewing the images in sequence.
To achieve this, LAIKA used Cuttlefish, a slicing software developed by Fraunhofer IGD, along with Stratasys’ PolyJet J750 and J850 3D printers. The software processes the digital models as well as information regarding their colors and textures to generate the data needed for printing.
In Wildwood, the team produced more than 142,000 custom facial expressions using this workflow. Brian McLean, Director of Rapid Prototyping at LAIKA, explains the importance of this technology for the film:
“Wildwood is an amazing cinematic experience; the scale, scope, and emotional impact of this film are unprecedented in animation. In order to accomplish a story of this complexity, we needed a process that could create intense and deep emotional facial performances, with rich skin tones and fine details, and the only way that was possible was through artists blending technology and innovation into a seamless practical effect.”
A Decade of Technological Collaboration
The collaboration between LAIKA and Fraunhofer IGD began about ten years ago, when the studio came across a scientific paper on color 3D printing. After conducting several tests, the two parties established a long-term partnership. Cuttlefish had previously been used in Missing Link, which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature Film category in 2020.
The production of Wildwood also offers a glimpse into the complexity of this type of film. Travis Knight began working on the adaptation of the novel around 2010, although production didn’t begin until 2021. In total, the director spent 16 years bringing this story to the screen. Meanwhile, the animation and visual effects work spanned more than five years, as visual effects supervisor Steve Emerson explained at the 2026 View Conference.
For Philipp Urban, head of 3D printing R&D at Fraunhofer IGD, the work done with LAIKA demonstrates how the demands of the animation industry can drive the development of technologies with applications in other fields:
“A studio like LAIKA sets some of the most demanding requirements in full-color 3D printing. Technologies that prove themselves in this environment can create value across many other industries.”
In fact, Cuttlefish is also used in fields such as medical technology and industrial manufacturing. In Wildwood, 3D printing once again demonstrates that it can coexist with craftsmanship in a process where every detail counts.
Want to see the result on the big screen? Wildwood is currently showing in US theaters. Let us know what you think in a comment below or on our LinkedIn or Facebook pages! Plus, don’t forget to sign up for our free weekly Newsletter to get the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox. You can also find all our videos on our YouTube channel.
*Photo credits: LAIKA Studios
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