Maxon BodyPaint 3D texture painting software was used by artists at Framestore CFC for their work in The Golden Compass. Additionally, Framestore used Autodesk Maya 3D modeling, animation and rendering software and Autodesk Inferno visual effects software.

Framestore CFC was selected by New Line for the challenge of bringing numerous characters of the script to life, including the armored polar bears that feature prominently in the movie.

Framestore CFC worked for more than 15 months to create the film's bears and environments in which they appear. Maxon's BodyPaint 3D was used extensively throughout the creation process to paint texture maps for the bears Iorek, Ragnar and the guard bears, their armor, as well as for props, digital doubles and environments.

Based on Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass is set in a parallel world that is similar to our own, yet very different. In this world, witches rule the northern skies, ice bears talk and are the bravest of warriors and every human is entwined with an animal spirit. The movie focuses on the adventures of a young girl who embarks on an extraordinary journey from the academic cloisters of Oxford to the magical heart of the frozen top of the world. Her companion and helpmate through some of her adventures is Iorek Byrnison, a gigantic armored polar bear.

BodyPaint 3D has been incorporated into the pipeline at Framestore CFC for numerous projects starting with their work on "Sea Monsters" for the Walking With… series in 2003.

“BodyPaint 3D was particularly useful when painting the complex organic shapes of Iorek's rusted, beaten metal armor,” says Daren Horley, CFC's lead texture paint supervisor. "Having the ability to load a scene that contained multiple file formats with texture maps also proved invaluable in order to instantly view the pieces of armor and how they related to each other. The interlocking forms had rubbed parts of shiny metal in the overlapping areas, which needed to be accurately painted. BodyPaint 3D enabled us to do this.

"While many of the environments created were matte paintings, some were also created using rendered, texture painted geometry in BodyPaint 3D including the environments of Ragnar's palace—interior and exterior—as well as the bear fight arena.”

Horley added that BodyPaint 3D offers the studio numerous workflow enhancements. "Having BodyPaint 3D in the production pipeline enables us to view textures on geometry and paint directly onto the surface in 3D. No other software does this. The projection paint mode allows quick and easy seam removal. In addition, the ability to clone texture from the surface of one piece of geometry across to another proved very useful, especially on the bear armor, as was the ability to alter the size of the clone detail."