Blog Four

A highlight in the history of 3D graphics has to be the 1995 release of Toy Story, the very first feature-length computer animated film, produced by Pixar and released by Disney. Ed Catmull (Executive Producer of Toy Story) admitted that prior to Toy Story, the team at Pixar were complete novices, with no previous production expertise except for short films and commercials (Zorthian, 2015). Catmull was also one of the computer scientists that built new software specifically to design the film, which took over 5 years to complete, with 33 animators and 300 processors. It was followed by Toy Story 2 in 1999, Toy Story 3 in 2010, and a 4^th instalment due in 2017.

Tom Bancroft

http://tombancroft.blogspot.com.au/

https://www.instagram.com/tombancroft1/?hl=en

An animator and character designer, Bancroft has over 25 years’ experience in the animation industry. He has contributed to movies like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Brother Bear over his 13 years at Disney Studios, which he left in 2000.

Bancroft is the pen behind Mushu, the enchanting little red dragon in Mulan.  When Bancroft was given the job of supervising animator for Mushu, it hadn’t yet been decided what the character was even going to be, so Bancroft set to work almost a year before the film went into production. Over this time, the script changed many times, and at one stage Mushu was going to be two different characters. He researched Chinese dragons, as he wanted something different from the heavy dragon that had already been animated in Sleeping Beauty; A Chinese dragon would make Mushu more snake-like and skinny. Once the personality was realised, Bancroft was able to complete the character with facial expressions and poses to match the smart aleck little dragon (Belz, 2013).

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References

Belz, A. (2013). The maker of mulan’s mushu speaks. Retrieved from

http://www.curatormagazine.com/aaronbelz/the-maker-of-mulans-mushu-speaks/

Zorthian, J. (2015). How toy story changed movie history. Retrieved from

           http://time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/

Lighting, Rendering and Compositing.

Lighting in animation is what makes the finished work look believable to the audience. There are many different types of lighting, depending on both your scene and your software.

·       Point or omni light casts illumination in every direction from a single, small point. This is used to simulate light that would be thrown from sources such as light bulbs or candles.

·       Directional light is used for distant light sources like the sun or the moon.

·       Spot light, same as a physical spot light, is a cone of light emanating from a single spot.

·       Area light casts directional rays from within a boundary, like a room. They are usually rectangular or round in shape, as a real world fluorescent light would be.

·       Volume light has similar single point directionality as omni light, but can be set into primitive shapes, where it will light only in those perimeters.

·       Ambient light has no specific direction, therefore does not cast a shadow. It is a soft lighting technique that creates a kind of diffused illumination.

Below is an example of different lighting in a 3D scene.

3D Rendering is “the process of producing an image based on three-dimensional data stored within a computer” (Birn, 2002), and it adds information to an object such as lighting, shadows, colour and texture. Essentially, rendering is the computer software photographing each pixel of the image, a process that can take months or even years, depending on the level of detail in the project.

 

Compositing is “the creative process of assembling and combining filmed or rendered elements from multiple sources, to create a final lifelike illusion or fantastical visual effect, delivered as a set of still or moving pictures” (The Foundry, n.d.). It is either node-based or layer-based, which are both equally good compositing methods. Node-based displays the composite like a map, whereas layer-based, as the name suggests, composites each object on a layer one atop another.

 

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References

Birn, J. (2002). 3D rendering (for dummies). Retrieved from
              http://www.3drender.com/glossary/3drendering.htm

The Foundry. (n.d.). What is digital compositing?. Retrieved from
              https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/nuke/about-digital-compositing/

UV Mapping, Texturing, Rigging and Animation

UV mapping is the process of applying a 2D image to a 3D object or mesh. Where X, Y and Z apply to the axes of a 3D shape, U and V refer to the 2D axes. Essentially, a UV map is what the image or texture is applied to, to be able to wrap onto the 3D shape.

Textures and shaders are what makes the object not only visible, but appear three dimensional. They are what determines the visual appearance of your object, regardless of its shape. A shader is “…a set of instructions applied to a 3D model that lets the computer know how it should be displayed”, and textures “…are two-dimensional image files that can be mapped onto the model's 3D surface through a process known as texture mapping” (About Tech, 2016).

Rigging is used in the animation process to give movement to a character. It is the application of a ‘skeleton’ to the 3D mesh which has its own bones and joints, all which can be used to manipulate movement in the object. Rigging a character for a full feature animation can take days, even weeks.

Animation is “…the process of displaying still images in a rapid sequence to create the illusion of movement” (Wise Geek, n.d.). The three main types of animation are traditional, stop motion, and computer generated. A traditional animation is a very time consuming process. Each frame is drawn by hand, scanned, and then edited digitally. In stop motion, a physical object is photographed one movement at a time, after which the photographs are digitally pieced together to make a full motion. Computer generated animation involves the creation (and rigging) of a digital 3D character, which is modelled according to the required movements, and once again, pieced together to form the full motion. 

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References

About Tech (August, 2016). 3D model components - vertices, edges, polygons & more. Retrieved from 

         http://3d.about.com/od/3d-101-The-Basics/a/Anatomy-Of-A-3d-Model.htm

Wise Geek (n.d.). What is animation? Retrieved from

         http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-animation.htm

Pre-production and 3D Modelling

Pre-production is “gathering reference materials, motion tests, layout drawings, model sketches, and such together to make the actual GC production as straightforward as possible” (Derakhshani, 2013, p. 4), i.e. the planning stage.

 

Everything starts with an idea, and hopefully you’ve got a good one to work with. “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right” (Walt Disney, as cited in iNeedMotivation, n.d.).

A writer will then take that idea and turn it into a story, or script. The script will determine the setting, characters, and dialogue for the production.

An artist will use the script to create a storyboard, which not only illustrates the story, but will also include scene blocking, camera moves, and character performance.  

 

The storyboard will then be used to create an animatic, which is where each panel is edited together, adding dialogue, music and sound effects to see how it flows as a movie. This is an important step in the process, as any changes that need to be made are still inexpensive and non-time consuming at this stage. The animatic determines the amount of animation needed for each sequence.

The design stage is where the style is created for the project.

Design can happen at any time in the pre‐ production phase and ranges from characters to environments to clothing to props and vehicles. Guides (such as character bibles) are created to enable artists to draw or digitally sculpt elements within the design parameters. Conceptual paintings are done to establish design of environments and setting ambiance. (Gossman, 2011)

This is the point at which the 3D modelling begins. “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” (Gray, n.d.).

The software being used depends on the exact process of constructing the mesh, but can include the following:

·       Spline or patch modelling: a spline being a curve in 3D space defined by at least two control points. A cage of splines is used to create a skeleton for the object to be built on. A patch of polygons is then created between two splines to form the skin. This is one of the older forms of 3D modelling.

·       Box modelling: using a primitive (basic shape), most commonly a cube, and adding detail by extending the faces into the desired form.

·       Poly modelling: where a mesh is created point by point and face by face. Poly modelling isn’t as fast as box modelling, but is better for creating organic shapes.

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References

Derakhshani, D. (2013). Introducing Autodesk maya 2014. Indianapolis, Indiana: John Wiley & Sons.

Gossman, R. (2011). The animation production process. Retrieved from

http://nir3d.com/handouts/Handouts%20History%20of%20Animation%20- %20(DIG1022)/Ani_Prod_Process.pdf

Gray, A. (n.d.). Introduction to 3D modeling. Retrieved from

            http://www.animationarena.com/introduction-to-3d-modeling.html

iNeedMotivation. (n.d.). 45 unforgettable quotes about ideas. Retrieved from

            http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/07/45-unforgettable-quotes-about-ideas/