New Media Production week 6: 3D animation

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3-D Graphics and Animation

• 3-D animations are more complex.

• Creating 3-D animations involves modeling, animation, and rendering.

– Modeling is creating broad contours and structure of 3-D objects and scenes.

– Animation is determining the motions of the objects..

– Rendering involves determining colors, surface textures, and amounts of transparency of objects.

Computer Generated Animation

• Motion capture can be used to create animation.

– Actors wear special suits that allow the computer to capture their movements.

– The movements can then be applied to computer-generated graphics.

• Examples:

– Pirates of the Carribian

– Ted

• Traditional animation is defined as the process of creating the illusion of motion by viewing a series of individual drawings successively.

• Computer animation is creating a digital scene by digitally recording cells, sorting them on an electronic storyboard, and displaying them electronically in succession.

Bridging the Traditional and

Computer Eras

3D animation

• computer 3D animation refers to the work of creating moving pictures in a digital environment that is three-dimensional.

• Through the careful manipulation of objects (3D models) within the 3D software, we can then export picture sequences which will give the illusion of movement (animation) based on how we manipulate the objects.

http://www.media-freaks.com/articles/3d-animation-studios-what-goes-on-behind-those-closed-doors

• What happens in animation is that motion is simulated in a way that the eyes tend to believe that actual motion has taken place while the fact is the perceived sense of motion is only because of the consecutive images that are passed through very fast.

• This theory is inherent be it for 3D, 2D or stop motion animation.

• In traditional 2D animation, pictures are hand-drawn and every one showing subtle changes from the previous. When played back sequentially, it creates the illusion of motion.

• In stop motion animation, real life models are moved slightly and filmed. Again, the pictures will create the illusion of motion when played back.

• In 3D animation, everything is done within the computer and exported from the computer.

3D animation process

3D animation process

• The process of creating 3D animation can be sequentially divided into three phases: modeling – which describes the process of creating the 3D objects within a scene, layout and animation – which describes how objects are positioned and animated within a scene, and rendering – which describes the final output of the completed computer graphics.

• Through the combination of the above phases and a few other sub-phases, this completes the process of a 3D animation production.

3D animation softwares

• There are many softwares in the market for creating 3D animation, ranging from the cheaper lower-end ones to the professional high-end versions. If you are curious to see how a 3D software works, you can download a free one called Blender. Just Google it and you will be able to find its official website.

3D Software

2D Cel animation involves illustrating many pictures of a scene in various phases of movement and flipping through them quickly digitally to create the illusion of movement or animation.

2D Cel animation

What’s the Difference between 2D and 3D

3D computer animation is a costlier and time-consuming process compared to 2D animation as it involves many more steps.

Stop motion animation is a painfully tedious process and involves tweaking the models bit by bit!

Stop motion animation

3D computer animation

3D Stop Motion • In 3D Stop motion The object is moved in small

increments between individually photographed frames,

creating the illusion of movement when the series of

frames is played as a continuous sequence. Dolls with

movable joints or clay figures are often used in stop

motion for their ease of repositioning. Stop motion

animation using plasticine is called clay animation or

"clay-mation". Stop motion using objects is sometimes

referred to as object animation.

• The first concept you must grasp is that 3D means 3 dimensional and 2D means 2 dimensional.

• The 3D and 2D in animation refer to the dimension in which the animation was created.

3D v.s. 2D Animations

• For 2D animation, everything happens on a 2 dimensional platform. Pictures are flat, without depth and offer only one perspective.

• Objects and characters are usually drawn without the subtle soft shadows we see in real life and colors have few varying shades.

• In 3D animation, everything happens on a 3 dimensional platform. Pictures have depth and offer multiple perspectives just like in real life and have soft subtle shadows casted on the objects and characters within.

• In 2D, characters look cartoonish and unrealistic. In 3D, characters can look cartoonish but realistic at the same time.

Super Mario in 2D and 3D, Copyright(C) Nintendo.

• Another way to think of this is to think in terms of a painting and a sculpture. 2D is a painting, and 3D is a sculpture. • 3D introduces “depth perspective,” so we not only see a rectangle (2D) but a CUBE (3D). You may also want to think of it like being the difference between a photograph of a glass of water (2D) and being able to reach out and actually pick up the glass of water (3D).

• Try comparing a cartoon like Bugs Bunny, Aladdin, Lion King (2D) to “Toy Story 1,2 & 3, “Finding Nemo” and “Incredibles” (3D). If you have not watched any of these great cartoons, you should grab one right away or be branded a neanderthal forever!

• Typically, 2D involves “drawing,” or movement on, say, a flat surface (sketch pad, etc.) or in the vertical and horizontal planes.

• 3D involves “modeling,” i.e., creating objects in 3-dimensions using a computer software, residing in an expansive virtual environment, complete with lights, reflections, other objects, shadows, etc.

Is 3D Animation an Offspring of 2D Animation?

• Many people have the idea

that 3D animation stemmed as a progression from 2D animation. While not entirely untrue, this is definitely not the whole truth as well.

• If we have to make some form of link, then I would say that 3D animation has more of its roots in stop motion animation than in traditional hand drawn 2d animation.

• The stop motion film techniques were used very well in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts by Ray Harryhausen, although they have actually been around since the very early days of film in the late 19th century. But it was Ray Harryhausen who really brought the technique to life.

• You might want to know also that the original King Kong movie produced in 1933, also used stop motion techniques extensively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg1v5HkpdEA&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=grMo5-2Y5oc

• Comparing 3D animation and stop motion, we can actually see where the similarities are.

• For stop motion, it involves taking a model and filming one frame at a time. Slight changes are made to the model and then filmed again. This is to simulate movement. By building up frame after frame and playing it back at between 12 and 70 frames per second, the model looks like it is moving. This is a very painstaking process and by no means a walk in the park!

• 3D animation uses a similar method but it is created using computers. Everything is controlled within the computer and the output is automated by the computer after you key in the instructions. It is decidedly less tedious physically compared to stop motion animation, but the fundamentals are similiar in nature.

• Even the lighting, texturing and camera aspects of both animation methods share the same fundamentals, with the exception that one happens in reality, and the other in the computer.

• For a stop motion artist to transit over to 3D animation and vice versa, it would be a lot easier and faster, as opposed to a 2D artist.

• 3D animation smells more like an offspring of stop motion animation than 2D animation.

The Process of 3D Animation

Steps to 3D animation

• The process of a 3D animation pipeline is complex and can be a lot more complicated than any other forms of animation. Depending on what project and which 3D animation studio is involved, the number of steps may vary.

• There are 11 most common steps involved in producing a 3D animation project. They are namely :

1. Concept and Storyboards 2. 3D Modeling 3. Texturing 4. Rigging 5. Animation 6. Lighting 7. Camera Setting 8. Rendering 9. Compositing and Special VFX 10. Music and Foley 11. Editing and Final Output

• Step 1 | Concept and Storyboards

A storyboard for Sedo Dog – a cartoon series by Mediafreaks!

The very first step involved in a 3D production pipeline is the conceptualization of ideas and the creation of the storyboards that translate these ideas into visual form.

• A storyboard is a sequence of illustrations that showcases your digital story in two dimensions.

• The first dimension is time: what happens first, next, and last.

• The second is of interaction: how does the voiceover (your story) interact with the images, how do visual transitions and effects help tie together the images, how does the voice overs interact with the musical soundtrack?

• Any element can interact with any other one, and the storyboard is the place to plan out the impact you intend to make on the audience.

• Step 2 | 3D Modeling

• 3D Modeling is not drawing!

• After the storyboards are finished and approved by the client, the task of building the props, environment and characters begin. • The proper term is called ‘modeling’.

• Modeling is the process of taking a shape and molding it into a completed 3D mesh.

• The most typical means of creating a 3D model is to take a simple object, called a primitive, and extend or “grow” it into a shape that can be refined and detailed.

• Primitives can be anything from a single point (called a vertex), a two-dimensional line (an edge), a curve (a spline), to three dimensional objects (faces or polygons). Using the specific features of your chosen 3D software, each one of these primitives can be manipulated to produce an object.

Step 3 | Texturing

• The art of giving clothes to the 3D models.

• When a 3D model is created, 2D images can be overlaid on it to add colors, designs, and textures. This is called mapping, and often the entirety of a model’s color comes from this.

• These maps can be created in programs like Photoshop, and the illusions of textures can be brushed onto the models as easily as if you painted them yourself; some animators even use real photographs of the textures they’re trying to create, simply captured and then altered to make seamless repeatable patterns.

• This is how many illusions of hair are created; rather than model individual strands, instead grouped locks of hair are modeled, before a texture is overlaid with individual strands and detailing painted on.

Step 4 | Rigging and Skinning

• Put in those skeletons into a 3D character before he can move!

• Setting up a character to walk and talk is the last stage before the

process of character animation can begin. This stage is called ‘rigging and skinning’ and is the underlying system that drives the movement of a character to bring it to life.

• Rigging is the process to setting up a controllable skeleton for the character that is intended for animation. Depending on the subject matter, every rig is unique and so is the corresponding set of controls.

• Skinning is the process of attaching the 3D model (skin) to the rigged skeleton so that the 3D model can be manipulated by the controls of the rig.

• Step 5 | Animation

Animation doesn’t always come first in 3D animation !

• Animation is the process of taking a 3D object and getting it to move. Animation comes in a few different flavors. • There’s keyframe animation, where the animator manipulates the objects on a frame-by-frame basis, similar to old hand-drawn cartoons. Other methods of animation include placing objects on splines and setting them to follow the path of the curve, or importing motion capture data and applying it to a character rig. Yet another way to animate is to use your 3D application’s built-in physics engines, such as when your scene requires that objects fall. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=e70NIYIfiTc

Step 6 | Lighting

• Lighting in a 3D world is just as essential as it is in real life.

• Lighting, (in combination with

textures, camera angle etc.) is where

a scene has the potential to come

alive. Used improperly, light can wash

out a scene, make objects appear

hard or flat, and destroy all the hard

work. But skillfully applied, lighting

can make a scene convincing, or if

realism is the aim, create (in

combination with materials and

geometry), a scene that is virtually

indistinguishable from real life.

• In 3D, lights don’t actually exist as they do in the real world. Lights in 3D are objects that are designed to simulate how lighting works in real life, but in order to obtain the results you’re after, you have to apply a number of settings, not only to the lights, but to the materials

Step 7 | Camera Angles and Techniques

• Good camera angles and techniques make the difference between good cinematograhy and bad ones.

• The camera is an amazing tool. In 3D, unlike the real

world, physical limitations don’t exist. You can create a

scene where the camera takes you on a journey inside

the blood vessels of a human body, or to be an eye-in-

the-sky in your scenes, it can be used to create

impossible perspectives, to zoom and pan and so much

more. It’s beyond the scope of this article to tell you

everything about cameras, but here are some basics to

get you started.

• First, it’s useful to look at some of the differences between 3D cameras and real life cameras. In 3D, unlike in real life, there is no need for a lens, focusing controls, film, aperture, etc. All of these functions are controlled via software. Where things are similar is how the camera is used. In 3D, you can create one or more cameras, position them exactly as desired in 3D space and use settings to mimic focal length, depth of field, etc. Other options for moving a 3D camera are similar to those in movie making, including truck, dolly, motion blur, orbit and pan.

• In addition, software cameras have no size or weight restrictions. You can move a camera to any location and even inside the tiniest objects. You can also animate cameras so that several operations take place at once, such as a zooming into a scene while changing the depth of field. Once you create a camera in 3D, you can pick a view and assign the view in that view to the camera, meaning that you will see the scene from the perspective of the camera.

Step 8 | Rendering

• This is where the graphics get ‘made’ and exported…but it’s not the end yet!!!

• Rendering an image is typically the last step in the 3D

production pipeline (but not the last step in the overall

production pipeline), and is perhaps the most important

part. It is a step often overlooked or glossed over by

beginners, who are more focused on creating models and

animating them.

• There are many aspects to creating a good final render of a

scene, including attention to camera placement, lighting

choices which may affect mood and shadows, reflections

and transparency, and the handling of special effects, like

fluids or gasses.

Step 9 | Compositing and Special FX

• The renders are brought into compositing programs to edit, touch-up and add on special effects.

• This is where the final renders are brought into compositing

programs to edit, touch-up and add on special effects. • Compositing includes everything from what your probably normally

think of as special effects, where things explode, evaporate, morph, etc. It also includes stage extensions (making the scene stage larger digitally in post production), to environment creation (anything from buildings to complete worlds), to blue/green screen replacement (shooting in-front of a blue or green screen and then replacing the background with digitally created footage or footage shot elsewhere). Basically, the art of taking live footage and blending it with computer generated footage would be considered compositing.

Step 10 | Music and Foley

• Music and foley (sound effects) are added to give the animation the extra depth and boost in audio enjoyment.

• A music composer will create music soundtracks and

accompaniment music to set the mood for the

animation.

• A foley artist ‘recreates’ sound effects for film,

television and radio productions. Using many different

kinds of shoes and lots of props – car fenders, plates,

glasses, chairs, and just about anything I find at the

side of the road – the Foley Artist can replace original

sound completely or augment existing sounds to create

a richer track.

Step 11 | Editing and Final Output

• This is where it ends!

This is where it all ends! This is where the

composited renders, music and foley are

compiled and edited to ensure that everything is

in synchronization. Once satisfied, the compiled

product is exported as one of the many formats

suitable for broadcasting standards and

delivered to the client!

Case Study

https://youtu.be/D0a0aNqTehM

Case study • The use of computer animation in marketing and

advertising is potent as a communications tool. Many companies are discovering that it is much more effective and powerful than the boring PowerPoint slides and mundane TV adverts that use only live actors. While it shares some characteristics of other visual mediums, it has unique attributes that no other marketing medium can equal.

• Let’s take a look at how you can tap into the capabilities of this great marketing tool by studying some true case studies of how some other companies have been doing it

Case Study: APMI Kaplan

APMI Kaplan – a quality educational facility – wanted to

showcase their brand new campus. However, in most

cases, reality is imperfect and live shoots usually amplifies

that imperfection. A 3D animation walkthrough helped to

create the experience of studying in Kaplan’s beautiful

environment, sans the imperfections. The educational

sector being a very competitive one, this extra presentation

effort immediately helps to establish Kaplan as the right

place to study.

http://vimeo.com/1857370

Case Study: Shark Energy Drink

http://vimeo.com/1767150

Field Catering wanted to bring across how their Shark

Energy drink can restore energy to the most exhausted

individual. Mediafreaks came up with a concept that

showed how Shark can power up an entire city. Sure it

is an exaggeration, but all TV adverts build on hype,

and 3D animation does that the best! The conventional

live TV adverts can never achieve this kind of effect.

The Shark Energy Drink TV advert was shown during

the New Year period to good response.

Case Study: Schering Plough Clarityne

http://vimeo.com/1765484

Schering Plough wanted a different approach towards

showcasing their Clarityne product – which helps curbs

nose allergy problems. Mediafreaks came up with an

animated TV commercial that discusses how allergens

bring about the allergy symptoms and how Clarityne can

help improve the quality of life. Again, if this was a ‘live-

actor’ advert, the result would be much more boring and

less effective. The graphics concept was also implemented

on buses as mobile giant ads.

Case Study: Pilot Pen V-Grip

• It’s tough to sell something as conventional and mundane as the humble pen. No matter how much technology has gone into it, unless the pen has been given a micro super-computer and can write on its own, a pen is still a pen. So how do you sell a pen? Check out this cheeky animated TV commercial of a family who finds so much fun using the new Pilot V-Grip that they prefer to pen their conversations to each other! Again, having the commercial done in 3D animated form brings out the fun and humour. A live advert just wouldn’t have done justice.

http://vimeo.com/1757974

Case Study: Linden Place

Linden Place is an up market residential property in

China. The TV commercial that the developers wanted to

produce should spoke to those who recognize class and

prestige. Wanting to steer away from the conventional

property commercials that are a dime a dozen, they

decided to go for a beautiful and realistic 3D animated

rendering of an exquisitely crafted plague that emits

elegance, prestige and exclusivity. To create the plaque in

real life was too expensive in comparison to a digital

representation, and Mediafreaks came to the rescue.

http://vimeo.com/1757739

Q & A