Democracy Dies in Darkness

Animations of coiled hair for Black film characters improve with new algorithms

New algorithms allow for more realistic coily hair animation, enhancing the representation of Black characters in film.

5 min
The researchers' new algorithm can digitally generate a variety of Black hair textures and looks. (Haomiao Wu, Alvin Shi, A.M. Darke, Theodore Kim/Courtesy Yale Engineering)
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Researchers developed new algorithms for animating coiled hair, enabling more realistic and diverse depictions of Afro-textured hair that could greatly advance the animation of Black characters in film.

“If you do a deep dive into the technical literature … you see that all of the supposedly foundational papers on this topic … feature just straight hair,” said Theodore Kim, an author on the study and professor of computer science at Yale University. Kim previously worked for Pixar Research and has received screen credits in several animated films, including “Coco,” “Incredibles 2” and “Toy Story 4.”