Curls, Coils, and Pixels: Researchers Crack the Code on Black Hair Animation

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The animation industry has long struggled to get Black hair right — from the infamous “Killmonger locs,” named after the Black Panther character and copied across video games, to the stiff, oversized afros of The Sims 4. As it turns out, hair animation tools were built almost exclusively with straight hair in mind. Two researchers, A.M. Darke and Theodore Kim, recently published a landmark paper about the physics of animating curly, coiled, and afro-textured hair. Morgan sits down with A.M. and Theodore as they discuss the surprising pushback they encountered in the animation industry, the findings of their paper, and the uphill battle they faced in getting this field of study recognized within academia.

Guests:

A.M. Darke, artist, game designer, and an associate professor of Performance, Play, & Design at UC Santa Cruz

Theodore Kim, Professor of Computer Science at Yale University

Further reading:

Lifted Curls: A Model for Tightly Coiled Hair Simulation - Alvin Shi, Haomiao Wu, A.M. Darke, and Theodore Kim

Curly-Cue: Geometric Methods for Highly Coiled Hair - Alvin Shi, Haomiao Wu, A.M. Darke, and Theodore Kim

The 'Killmonger Cut' Is Everywhere In Games, Here's Why the Industry Needs to Fix This — Trone Dowd, IGN

We’re Much Closer to A Disney Princess With Type 4 Hair — Essence Gant, Allure

Open Source Afro Hair Library - A.M. Darke

Read the transcript here

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Credits:

This episode was reported and hosted by Morgan Sung. Our Producer is Maya Cueva. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor. This episode was edited by Chris Hambrick and Chris Egusa. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts, and also helps edit the show. Sound design by Maya Cueva, Chris Egusa and Brendan Willard. Original music by Chris Egusa, with additional music from APM. Mixing and mastering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad and Alana Walker. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Holly Kernan is our Chief Content Officer.

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