“Authoring in 3D is entirely different from creating 3D in post,” says McNally matter-of-factly. “When Jeffrey Katzenberg made it clear that 3D authoring would be a top priority for DreamWorks' future projects, we knew we had to figure out which tools we’d need for future projects.”

To determine their future tools, the DreamWorks Animation team looked to their not-too-distant past. A particularly action-packed sequence from the Academy Award®-nominated Kung Fu Panda (2008) was unearthed and reauthored using stereoscopic 3D. Says McNally, “We literally had to go back to the drawing board and reinvent how it would have looked if it had been authored in 3D.

We then made comparisons between the two versions in order to plan our approach to Monsters vs. Aliens. We also knew that, to create this way in 3D, it was absolutely essential that our artists be able to see exactly how things should look in 3D space. The only place we can do that is inside Maya.”