Mr. Stewart enlisted the help of animation company Rhythm & Hues to animate the ads. Using "space-age" computers and state-of-the-art graphic programs, each ad took some 12 weeks to produce from beginning to end. A lengthy, complex process is required to bring the furry, always thirsty Arctic creatures to life. As with all television commercials, the undertaking began with storyboards. With each commercial encompassing only 30 seconds, the animation mirrors scenes taken from previously created storyboards illustrated by Eugene Yelchin, working with Mr. Stewart and CAA. In this way, each second of the action is accounted for. Once the storyboards were completed, Mr. Stewart and Rhythm & Hues created pencil sketches of the polar bears, defining how the bears would appear in each scene. The sketches then were refined to add detail and background.

Next, Mr. Stewart and the animators studied films and photos of actual polar bears to get a better idea of how bears move their heads, bodies and limbs, so they could incorporate these movements into the commercials.

To get the bear into the computer, Mr. Stewart and Rhythm & Hues employed a sculptor to create a three-dimensional representation of the bear's head in clay. The model then was transferred into three-dimensional images and stored in advanced computer graphics software. The images were constructed by creating a grid of vertical and horizontal lines on the bear model. An animator, using a stylus connected to a computer, actually plotted the points along the body of the model until a schematic of the bear appeared on the computer screen. Once the image was refined and loaded into memory, the bear could be "moved," allowing it to walk, run, ski, luge or ice skate.

"Movement" for the bears was created as animators plotted the bear's course on the computer. In addition to manipulating the bear's torso, the head and the limbs had to be moved separately since the computer-generated-bear was not attached in one piece like a real bear. During this step, the fine motor movements also were completed.

Additional elements that were not computer-generated - such as a Coca-Cola bottle - were scanned and stored in the computer and were added at this point. Once the basic movements were completed, the rest of the picture was refined. Fur was added, eyes were completed, background was "painted in" and the lighting details - intricate lighting complete with reflection and shadows - were fine tuned.

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