3D ANIMATION PROCESS

3D ANIMATION PROCESS- APPZINC LLC

Animation is great for conveying key messages effectively in a short space of time and in an engaging way. They’ll ensure your message sticks like chewing gum – and let’s face it; something that holds a child’s attention for 90 minutes must be doing a lot right!

3D animated Videos can bring to life anything you care to dream of, whether it be transforming a corporate presentation, an advert to promote your products or just an effective way to communicate that all-important message. Creating memorable characters, dynamic storyboards, mixing live action with animation plus enthusiasm and passion by the bucket-load are just a few reasons to choose Animation for bringing great ideas to life.

The main advantages of 3D animated ads are its 3 E'S- Explains, Educate and Entertain at the same time. It saves time, People are more likely to watch a video than read a lengthy document or website.

No matter what the situation is, though, the process of creating animation always starts out the same: Somebody wants it and is willing to pay for it and we call them customers.

There are also several different types of animation and the cost depends on many factors.  What follows is a brief account of the many stages of animation production as well as what influences the time and cost involved.

3 Main Stages in 3D Animation process

1.     PRE‐PRODUCTION

2.     PRODUCTION

3.     POST PRODUCTION

1· PRE-PRODUCTION

Several steps take place before production actually starts. This “problem solving” phase is known as pre‐ production. There is an entire industry devoted to these steps, since animation (and film‐making in general) can be a prolonged and expensive art form.

As the saying goes, “Time is money”.

 The Idea‐ Concept Development Stage-

The most important stage in any animation process, if the concept goes wrong the whole video will be waste of time and energy. Time Involved: Ideas can come in a flash. Good ideas may take years to develop. Cost Involved: Ideas are free and nobody can actually own one outright.

The Script‐

Usually, a writer translates the idea or the concept using a written known as a script.

The Storyboard‐

A storyboard is like a comic book in that several panels of sequential drawings map outthe story. Here, scene blocking, camera moves and even character performance are first illustrated. Since animation is such an expensive and time consuming process, production does not start until the storyboard has been approved by the client.

                                                       2·PRODUCTION

Once the storyboard is confirmed then the real works start the "ANIMATION" giving life to the concept, which have been developed. These Parts include:

Layout

During this stage the Director approves camera moves, depth of field and the composition of the models making up the set and set dressing. It is then the responsibility of the Modeling department to deliver these approved set, prop and character models in the final layout stages.

Modeling

Modeler’s turn the 2D concept art and traditionally sculpted maquettes into high detail, topologically sound 3D models. They then assist the Technical Animator and Enveloper as the model has a skeleton put in place and the skin is developed in this stage. Once the model is approved, it will be made available to the rigging and texture paint departments, who complete the final stages in preparing the model for animation and rendering.

Texturing

Whether creating a texture from scratch or through editing an existing image, Texturing Artists are responsible for writing shaders and painting textures as per the scene requirements.

Lighting

Lighters have a broad range of responsibilities, including placing lights, defining light properties, defining how light interacts with different types of materials, the qualities and complexities of the realistic textures involved, how the position and intensity of lights affect mood and believability, as well as color theory and harmony.

Rigging

Rigging is the process of adding bones to a character or defining the movement of a mechanical object, and it's central to the animation process. A character TD will make test animations showing how a creature or character appears when deformed into different poses, and based on the results corrective adjustments are often made.

Animation

Animate the characters in the scene and/or motion capture the skeletons to be placed back into the characters. This stage can involved multiple rounds of animating, and then going back and fixing and cleaning up the motion in the shot inserted all the objects needed in the scene. This is the longest step in the production process and may involve multiple sessions of motion capture and cleanup to achieve the desired results.

Full Resolution Rendering

Once the animation is complete and every shot has been planned out, the scenes are exported one at a time and sent to the render farm manager for distribution and output to the render nodes. 

3.Post-Production

Post-production is the third and final step in film creation, and it refers to the tasks that must be completed or executed after the filming or shooting ends. These include the editing of raw footage to cut scenes together, inserting transitional effects, working with voice and sound actors and dubbing to name just a few of the many post-production tasks.

Overall, however, the three main phases of post-production are compositing, sound editing and video editing.

Compositing

The compositing department brings together all of the 3D elements produced by the previous departments in the pipeline, to create the final rendered image ready for film! Compositors take rendered images from lighters and sometimes also start with compositing scripts that TDs develop in order to initially comp together their dailies (working versions of the shot.)

 Sound Editing

This department is responsible for selecting and assembling the sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mix, ensuring lip sync and adding all of the sound effects required for the final film.

Video Editing

Video editing is the process of manipulating and rearranging shots to create a seamless final product, and it is at this stage that any unwanted footage and scenes are removed. Editing is a crucial step in making sure the video flows in a way which achieves the initial goal. Other tasks include titling and adding any effects to the final video and text.

Conclusion

The production pipeline detailed above is broadly common in most studios, however each studio is likely to have a custom pipeline determined by the type of project they are currently undertaking. Moreover, animation production is a very coordinated process where different teams of artists work together while utilising optimum resources and achieving the initial goal in the time available.