Presented byFall 2013 Collab Class
Welcome!IntroductionsAccomplishments
OverviewStory Challenges
◦From mockumentary to family drama◦Starting over with story
Aesthetic Challenges◦Tessellations - creating a unified look◦Lighting
Character Design Challenges◦Integrating the aesthetic into the
character model◦Rigging and deformation
STORY DEVELOPMENT
Initial Concept: PitchesOriginal ideas
◦Family of bats – proposed by Linda Multiple characters for multiple animators
◦Documentary – proposed by Lucas
Initial Concept: StoryMockumentary about a bat that wants
to fly◦Wilbur makes crazy flying inventions
because he was born without wings◦How the family deals with this
Five Characters◦Wilbur◦Chuck◦Grandmother◦Twin Siblings
Lots of dialogue
Initial Character Designs
Initial Character Modeling
Original Concept: Storyboards
Checkpoint 1After presenting the initial
animatic, we realized the story would not work…◦Too many characters◦Complicated hand held camera
movements◦Concerns about quality of voice
acting Major revisions had to be made
in◦Story◦Design◦Overall concept
New Concept: StoryNew Story Direction
◦Simpler genre◦Father-Son story
Two Characters◦Wilbur – son, eager inventor who yearns to fly
◦Chuck – father, grounded, concerned about son’s carelessness
◦Absent mother – deceased
No dialogue
New Storyboards
Editing Storyboards
PREVISUALIZATION
Previsualization Substitute Rigs
Billy Barker as Wilbur (son)from CreativeCrash
Bboy as Chuck (father)from AnimationBuffet
3D Animatic
Issues Broken workflow Communication Do not make assumptions!
Team ChallengesWhat happened at Midterm…
◦Story team fell through◦Sound turned in 30 minutes before
showing◦Building community
Team building Daily meetings Personalized schedule
After MidtermAgain, major changes needed to be
made to the story and charactersWhat wasn’t working…
◦Relationship between the characters isn’t strong enough to support later actions Father acting as guard instead of parent Unclear that Wil is trying to fly
◦Confusion about species of the characters◦Who’s story is this? The son’s or the
father’s?
After MidtermHow we fixed it…
◦Changed the opening sequence◦Changed everything except the final
scene◦Strengthened father/son relationship ◦Emphasized disconnect between the
two characters◦Changed the design
New Storyboards
AESTHETICS
Aesthetics: Early InspirationOur story was relatively simple,
so we wanted to push the aesthetics
The story became something reminiscent of children’s story◦Wanted an aesthetic that would
complement
Aesthetics: Early InspirationPaper texture aestheticWanted a high quality, low poly
look
Timothy J Reynolds
Jeremy Kool
Yum Yum Digital Paper Crafts
CHARACTER DESIGNS
Character References
Character Sketches
Final Design: Wilbur
Final Design: Chuck
Crew TransitionWorkflow
◦Modeling◦Tessellating◦UVing◦Texturing
CHARACTER MODELING
Evolution of Character ModelsInitial five characters (four
designs)◦Divided modeling between David
and RiyadAfter story change
◦Realized this was too many characters
Character Modeling: Final
ENVIRONMENT DESIGN
Initial Environment ConceptOriginally housed in caves
◦Mockumentary◦Bats living in cave colony◦Apartments◦Almost all interior
Final Environment ConceptAfter story change, moved to tree setting
◦More organic◦Material readily available for Wil’s inventions◦Brighter color palette◦Softer appearance matching aesthetic◦Wanted to keep the feeling of a cave◦Characters lived inside a hollowed tree
Environment Design Sketches
Environment Design ModelInitial sculpt in Zbrush
◦Organic feel◦David worked along side Katie
Making sure model met the needs of the story
Environment Model: Early
Environment Model: Final
Environment Model: FinalExterior Design
◦ Landscape made from displacement map◦ Filled in landscape with 2 types of trees
PROP DESIGN
Inspiration For Wil’s Inventions
Prop Concepts
Prop Concepts
Prop Concepts
Prop Concepts
Dividing the WorkModels split among modelers
◦Making low-poly un-tessellated props◦Based on designs
Made more props than we used◦Due to continual story changes
Scale chart◦Didn’t adopt until after almost
everything was modeled◦Should have come before modeling
Prop Modeling
Prop Modeling
TESSELLATIONS
General Inspiration
Artist: Timothy J Reynolds Artist: Jeremy Kool
Artist: Timothy J Reynolds
Artist: Timothy J Reynolds
Yum Yum studio
PROP & ENVIRONMENT TESSELLATIONS
Early Tessellation Tests Props
Early Tessellation Tests
Tessellating: The ProcessStarted with smoothed modelsReduced the number of polygons
TriangulatedPush and pull vertices until
desired effect was achieved
Prop & Environment Tessellations
Prop & Environment Tessellations
IssuesLack of edge flow (no face loops)Triangulating entire model
◦Resulted in extra faces◦More geometry◦Difficult to select
CHARACTER TESSELLATIONS
Character Inspirations
Yum Yum studio Artist: Mateusz Szulik
Artist: Mateusz Szulik Artist: Jeremy Kool
Characters VS PropsDidn’t use Carolina’s technique
for the characters’ tessellationsCharacters had different needs
◦Necessary to have symmetry◦Maintain specific edge flow◦Deformations in the face
Modeling Process
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
Tessellation test
Cinema 4D Zbrush Decimation Master
Zbrush Remesher
Retopology
Cinema 4D Zbrush RemesherFinal Retopo in 3DS
Max
Final Solution for TessellationsUsed smoothed characters
◦Aided in deformationsApplied a bump map
◦Gives the impression of a tessellated model
◦Considered displacement map but… Animators wouldn’t know the final
appearance until after the scene was rendered
Wouldn’t be able to see penetration issues
TEXTURES
Color Script
Color References
Artist: Timothy J Reynolds
Ink Studio
Artist: Dadu Shin
Initial Color Script
Color Script
Texture Reference
Artist: Paul McMahon
Prop Textures: 1st PassProps textured in Photoshop (UV
issues)Keeping with aestheticsMultiple iterations of the same
texture
Prop Texturing: 2nd Pass
Environment Texturing
Character Texturing
RIGGING
Character RiggingRigging Demo
Character RiggingRigging Demo
Prop Rigging
Painting Weights
ANIMATION
Animation ReferencesActing choicesStyle of animationProcess of animationActing challenges
Character Traits & Motivation
ChallengesAnimating without completed rigs
◦Not used to working with unfinished rigs
◦Didn't get the completed face rigs until very late in the animation process.
Challenges with character design◦Chuck and Wilbur's short legs;
Chuck's long torso and Wilbur's big head
◦Character design affects the animation style
LIGHTING
Lighting Test Environment
Blinn for contrast with tessellated planes
Lighting Test Props
Lighting & ShadersShaders and Surface Textures
◦Blinn vs. MIA shaders
Mia_material_x Render time: 1:12min
Blinn shader Render time: 1:26min
Blend color original texture
Interior LightingInterior Lighting
◦Color changes
Exterior LightingExterior Lighting
◦Lighting Rig
PostproductionEnd of the Quarter looming
aheadFile problems
◦Rendering◦Old assets that wouldn’t go away◦But camera and object positions that
willContinually running out of
memory in collab spaceWhole crew working together to
fix render problems seen using FCheck
CompositingDepth of Field Process
Sound DesignContracted two sound designers
◦Recorded our sound effects ◦Recorded voice foley with voice actor
Music◦Could not manage to find a
composer◦Had to resort to scratch music◦Music became very important for the
communication of emotion in the film
Lessons learned…CommunicationOrganizationFollowing nomenclatureAsking questionsStory is never final
To view the film…Please email your request to
[email protected] go to http://
vimeo.com/79741438 and enter the password to view the film!
Thank you for flying with us!
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