Squashies: Avoiding the uncanny valley in 3D character design.
Client & Sector
Client: THG Studios & Swizzels
Sector: FMCG / Confectionery — Advertising
The Challenge
Morphing live actors into stylised "Squashie" characters on screen carries a real creative risk: get the deformation wrong and it reads as unsettling rather than charming. The brief required characters that felt like "one solid piece of Squashie"; soft, rounded, recognisably based on real performers while staying firmly on the right side of the uncanny valley. If you don't know them, Squashies are a range of sweets from Northern sweet firm Swizzels. The creative came from THG Studios.
Our Approach
The team made a deliberate, stated design rule: never squash the characters' heads or faces. Deformation was confined to torsos and limbs, keeping facial recognition intact while still delivering the soft, morphing "squash" the brand needed. That's a risk-management decision as much as a creative one, worth stating plainly as evidence of considered, brand-safe creative judgement, not just skill.
"We wanted them to feel like they were one solid piece of 'Squashie', so all edges and corners are rounded and soft, and the clothing smoothly transitions into the body."
To find out more about our character animation, head to this page.
The Solution
Two lead human-to-character transformations, a flexible background cast built for easy variation, and full VFX integration into live-action footage, including on-location HDRI capture (a pole-mounted 360° camera, adapted for changing weather) to match environmental lighting exactly.
The Craft
On-location HDRI capture adapted to actual, changing weather conditions on shoot day, not studio-controlled lighting
Camera tracking and compositing matching live footage precisely enough to sell the transformation
A named, stated design rule (no facial squashing) applied consistently across every character, including a flexible background cast
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