One of the challenges when designing and animating a character made entirely of wood is when you realize that he isn’t exactly the most flexible and easily manipulated creature. I don’t know if you’ve been out and feeling a tree trunk lately, but those things are solid as can be. The visual effects team knew they would be limited in how they did it. Groot can testify, so their main application was to focus on the eyes as much as they could. talk to Currency Directory In 2014, visual effects supervisor Nicolas Aithadi had this to say about designing Groot:
“We spent a lot of time designing and creating very complex eye dynamics. […] We added a lot of detail to their texture and the things that would displace their irises – we really wanted to put shadows in there. And we’ve worked hard to try to break the symmetry. It’s the flaws that make eyes interesting when you look at people – trying to make sure those two irises don’t aim at the same place – trying to make them look weird and more human. I could watch a pickup truck of Groot for years because he had a really piercing look and that wisdom on his face.”
In the three “Guardians” movies, the effects team has had to deal with a different iteration of Groot each time, but eyes have always been on our way. eyes to maximize cuteness, but the emotions and humanity are just as evident when he’s an adult as well as in the first and third movies. It will show that CG isn’t always bad. You just need creativity and resources to make it work.