Coco VR:
Immersive, Interactive VR
Overview
Brand
Disney+ Pixar
Technology
Virtual Reality
Platform
Oculus/Meta
Industry
Film
Release Date
November 2017
Awards
Emmy Nominated
VR Marketing of the Year - VR Awards
Grand Clio
Cannes Silver Lion
Introduction
Coco VR is Pixar’s stunning debut into virtual reality: an adventure into the beautiful Disney-Pixar film, Coco. We combined creativity and technology to transport players into Pixar’s unique vision of the Land of the Dead.
The brief
Magnopus was tasked with immersing fans into Pixar’s vibrant vision of the Land of the Dead and letting them feel part of it in a shared experience with friends. The challenge was getting it right, and making it believable.
The solution
We worked closely with Pixar to focus on painstaking details to bring this magical world to life and make the experience feel real. We optimized facial animation, for instance, and used kinematic technology to create realistic body movement and interactions with the living skeletons. In the process, we developed boundary-pushing tech that made this level of detail possible.
As well as exploring the world hundreds of feet above the city, players are immersed in the vibrantly coloured Land of the Dead as they wander through a series of mini-experiences—including an art gallery, a costume shop, cinema, photo booth, and musical performance.
Choosing either a single or multiplayer experience, users follow the magical Alebrije into the luminous world of Coco, filled with loveable characters and beautiful settings from the film.
Features
Clown around and capture the moment in the photo booth
Take a gondola ride and see the gorgeous city from above
Live a little in the spotlight! You’re the star alongside Hector in a musical celebration of Dia de los Muertos!
Meet Miguel, Ceci and Hector in fascinating locations featured in the movie
Multiplayer enables you to include your amigos and have fun together!
Express your uniqueness and rock a new style in Ceci’s costume shop
The impact
We created a stunning VR experience where users feel like they’ve crossed to the Land of the Dead, just like Miguel did in the film. The visual detail and realistic encounters with skeletons and other players takes VR to a whole new level.
"We set out to both explore the creative opportunities of the medium as well as push the technology to its limit. So instead of just doing a narrative short of the film, we designed an active experience that gives users the opportunity to visit many of the beautiful locations in the film, including taking a gondola ride."
John Halstead, Pixar’s Supervising Technical Director,
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Cast
Miguel, Anthony Gonzalez
Hector, Gael Garcia Bernal
Coco, Denise Blasor
Mama, Denise Blasor
Narrator, Sarita Ocon
Gondola Operator, Carlos Moreno
Art Studio Prankster, Eduardo de Colossio
Magnopus
Producer, Kelsey Wong
Lead Engineer, Zo Douglass
Lead Experience Designer, Kalan Ray
Lead 3D Artist, Luke Schloemer
Executive Producer, Alex Henning
Hand to the Lead Engineer, Chris Chavira
Engineers
Yossi Horowitz
Kuang-Hsin Liu
Tahnee Smith
Sally Slade
Andrew Bueno
Scott Holman
David Swift
Peter Newton
Project Manager, Darren Bunch
Production Coordinator, Jasmine Aguilar
Real-time Rendering Engineers
Xavier Gonzalez
Jody McAdams
Technical Artists
Cosku Turhan
Coralie Phanord
IT
Caio Andrade
James Micheli
Brian Peyatt
Head of Technology, Lap Luu
UI Designer, Jenny Yoon
Animators
Chonlawat Thammawan
Mari Long
Rey Chang
3D Artists
Brian Magno
Kellie Brewart
Ralph Roma
Devon Mathis
Sam Knudson
CJ Savage
Yong Park
Joseph Cadell
Sean Phillips
Brian Choi
Christen Smith
Nicholas Prufer
Concept Artist, Eduardo Borrego
QA Manager, Grant Marzette
QA Testers
Andre Gusmao
Jon Querido
Production Assistants
Sabrine Allen
Dionna Fuentes
Head of Production
Magdelena Wolf
Full Credits
Music
Featuring “Remember Me” by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Additional Original Songs by Germaine Franco and Adrian Molina
Original Score Composed by Michael Giacchino
Oculus
Head of Experiences
Colum Slevin
Executive Producer
Yelena Rachitsky
Project Manager
Kat Bachert
Special thanks
Pixar Animation Studios
John Lasseter
Jim Morris
Lee Unkrich
Darla K Anderson
Andy Dreyfus
Jim Kennedy
Kerri Martin
Paul Kanyuk
Chris Bernardi
Paul Mendoa
Mich Kopelman
Marlena Fecho
Adrian Maruri
Ed Catmull
Steve May
Adrian Molina
Johnathan Garson
Adam Gates
Serena Dettman
Stephen Gustafson
Mark Meyer
Eric Andraos
Johnathan Pytko
Susan Fisher Fong
Jody Weinberg
Matthew Strangio
Walt Disney Studios
Andre Fonseca
Jamie Voris
Chadd Kawaii
Calis Agyemang
Molly Petulo
Olga Alvarez
Alice Taylor
Ben Havey
Matthew Duel
Melina Gharibi
Donna Cole-Brule
Jackson Rogow
Pixar
Directed BY, Ross Haldane Stevenson
Producer, Marc Sondheimer
Supervising Technical Director, John Halstead
Production Manager, Stephanie Brooke Hamilton
Manager, Claire Munzer
Layout, Derek Williams
Technical Artists
Andrea Goh
Amit Baadkar
Gary Bruins
Chris J Chapman
Jonathan Hossman
Brett Kevub
Justin Ritter
Yekaterina Satanina
Stephan Steinbach
Joseph Suen
Lighting
Nick Bartone
J.D. Gardener
Graphic Artist
Jenna Huerta
Animation
Rachel Fite
Ross Haldane Stephenson
Editorial
Kevin Rose Williams
Nicole Vandernaut
Additional Story Material, Sequioa Blankenship
Creative Advisor, Harley Jessup
Executive Assistant, Jeanette Penley Marker
Production Assistant, Delilah Smith
Finance Lead, Michelle Lui Chung
Sound Designers
Andrew Vernon
Samual Lehmer
End Credit Design, Laura Meyer
Source Sound
Supervising Sound Editor, Tim Gedemer
Sound Design and Implementation, Francois Lafleur
Sound Editors
Bryan Jerden
Julian Aicholz