Jonathan Cooper, an experienced animator and author of Game Anim: Video Game Animation Explained, who previously worked on Mass Effect, The Last of Us: Part II, Assassin's Creed, and the Uncharted series, has unveiled his work for Mass Effect 2.
Following N7 Day, the annual Mass Effect celebration set for November 7, the animator shared the video, which he described as something he had not shown before: a "very pre-alpha" internal trailer made to highlight the cinematics the team was creating in Montreal. He also shared a few details about how the team put the scenes together. According to Cooper, the faces were set to the average of all the customization sliders in Maya, and while polishing, the team ran every scene with each possible squadmate.
Cooper worked as a Lead Animator on a remote Mass Effect 2 team at BioWare Montreal. He led a team that delivered cutscenes for Mass Effect 2 under direction from Edmonton, and he also created several key scenes himself. Cooper shared more about the Montreal team's contribution to Mass Effect 2 in an interview for the official 2020 book titled BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development.
Previously, Cooper showed rigging and animation behind-the-scenes for Sonic x Shadow Generations and shared insights into the animation production of Mass Effect:
