3d animation production workflow

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3d Animation Production Workflow

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail

Phase 1: Developmente Planning Phase

Before Writing, Determine the Parameters of your animation short.

What is your target length?! Determining how long your project is going to be is essential when dealing with! animation. Even the small difference of 3 min to 7 min could be months of! work.What is the overall Style of your film?! Is your film cartoony or realistic?How many Characters?! One, two, or None?Is there dialogue? Music? Sound FX?! If there is Dialogue, will it need to be recorded before animating?Will there be a full or simple background environment?! Will there be multiple scene changes?Are there advanced 3d elements?! Such as, Smoke, Fire, Water, Hair, etc...What is your target resolution?! Standard Def: 720x480 or 720p HD (1280x720) or FULL HD (1920x1080)How are you planning on rendering the project?

Stereoscopic 3D, Toon Shader, Photorealistic using Mental Ray,Vector, Paint Effects (markers, oils, pastels, pencils, etc.)

After you have determined the Parameters:Step 1: Conceptualize the Story! Develop the Characters, Conflict, and Plot of your story.Step 2: Develop the Outline/Script!

Write your story down on paper in script or outline form depending! on the medium.Step 3: Character Designs! Draw out how your characters will look.Step 4: Reference Materials! Draw out what how the environments and props will look.Step 5: Map out events of the story through Storyboards.! Draw out shot/scene references for later use in planning and! animatics.!


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Phase 2: Pre-ProductionCreating the Digital Elements of your lm.

Step 1:Vocal TracksRecord and Process the lines in your animation first! This can be done

using Pro Tools in a VO booth.

Step 2: Story Reel and 2d AnimaticTurn your storyboards into a video version with your vocal tracks in

place through the use of Avid Media Composer.

Step 3: Modeling! Model your Characters, Environments, and!

Objects in Maya.

Step 4: Materials and Textures! Apply the materials and textures to your models! in Maya.

Step 5: Character Rigging! Rig your Characters based on your animation! preference or mocap parameters in Maya. (Test! Character RIG with mocap data BEFORE you! spend the time in rigging your model)

Step 6: Motion Capture Tests or Animation Tests.! Make sure you know that the mocap data will work with your !characters or you will haveproblems further into production. The Mocap Blade will output .vsk or other formats for input into your

character.

Step 7: Pre-Visualize FULL renders with each ofyour environments.

If you do not test your characters fully rendered atresolution specs (HD) and have to correct problems,

its best to do it before animating multiple scenes. Themost compatible format is Targa sequences.

Step 8: Data Management TechniquesWhere are your animation files going to save, where are your render files going to save. How much

space will you need?


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Phase 3: Shot-ProductionIndividual Shots are assembled.

Step 1: Camera Blocking

Moving Camera Moments are pre-planned to ensure minimalanimation time. If its not in the shot, why worry about it.

Step 2: Animatic Animation BlockingThe characters are very roughly animated in the scene using

solid objects representations to accurately time and plot theshots. An extremely low res preview is exported from thecomputer for use in the animatic.

Step 3: Animatic PolishingThe low res previews are edited together and placed back into the animatic to establish the

precise timing of each shot for use in animation.

Step 4: Animation and Motion CaptureAnimate 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, andthen going back and fixing and cleaning up the motion in theshot inserted all the objects needed in the scene. This is thelongest step in the production process and may involvemultiple sessions of motion capture and clean-up to achievethe desired results.

Step 4.5: Lighting and Render testsLighting and Render tests can be done WHILE animating your scenes or can be doneafterwards depending on the amount of scenes and the changing locations. If done after theanimation process, the focus on lighting can be done by a dedicated team member rather

than the animator. The render tests may consist of multipleframes of animation to test motion blur and other aspects ofmotion that need to be set.

Step 5: Full Resolution RenderingOnce the animation is complete and every shot has been

planned out, the scenes are exported one at a time and sentto the render farm manager for distribution and output to therender nodes. The render farm will export Targa sequences.

Step 6: Visual Effects and Compositing.The rendered Targa sequences are then brought back into After effects or Autodesk Flame

for additional compositing and additional 2d effects onto the animation. If a character wasmatted against a blank background to save time while rendering, this stage is where the shotsare brought together for the final image output.


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Phase 4: Post-ProductionAdding the nal touches to the animation

Step 1: Final Edit!Replace your animatic with the final composited renders into

the timeline in Avid.

Step 2:Sound FX and Foley Add layers of background sound effects.

Step 3: Music ScoringHave a composer write a score or find royalty-

free music to accompany your animation.

Step 4: Sound MixingCombine your Sound FX layers and your music

scoring, balanced and mixed for screen.

Step 5: Titles, Credits, and Combined Picturewith Sound. Add in your cast and crew to your locked pictureand sound inside of Avid DS or Symphony.

Step 6: Final Output to TapeAfter everything has been looked over and

polished, output your final project to Blu-Ray. Besure to burn extra copies for your cast and crew!


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File OrganizationNaming and Folder Conventions

Shortened naming conventions:

sc07_sh12_animbl_JD_v02.mb

Scene 01 Shot 12 Animation Blocking(File Type)

John Doe(Author)

Version 12

Other File Type descriptions:_a = Alpha Channel_bg = Background_comp = Composited

_final = Final Rendered File

Folder Structure:Each phase of development can beorganized within the folder structureas displayed on the left. See the nextpage for details on each section.

File Naming:The consistency in the namingconvention will help easily identifyeach of the files and who the author

of the file is.

In the development phase, reference files should be saved ineasily accessed folders for 3d designs and also visualconsistency.


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NOTE! For Maya scenes, insidethe Shot01 folder, keep the mayaproject and hierarchy in theirstandard folder structure. This way

you can copy these folders easilyto the network storage for use onthe render farm.



File OrganizationNaming and Folder Conventions

Models and textures are the most important folders to keeporganized as future networked render farm renderings refer tocommon texture folders as reference.

Composite Shots

Final Shots

Motion Capture DataRaw formats andmodified for animation.

Rendered Scenes

Pre-recorded

lines and sync

Animated Scenes

The Avid Media Composer timelines and Pro Tools soundsessions for assembling the final cuts.


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Extra ResourcesDetails

Avid Media Composer TutorialsBlade Motion Capture TutorialsPro Tools TutorialsAND Most recent version of the 3d Animation production workflow. http://ftv.chapman.edu - Under current students and in tutorial section.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q:Where do I record the voices for my animation?A: You can make a reservation for the VO (Voice Over) booths on the 2nd floor through

contacting Richard Boehm ([email protected]) or through the Make a Reservation linkon http://datacine.chapman.edu . Once a reservation is made, be sure to clear keycardaccess with Kareem Marashi in room 332 ([email protected]).

Q: How can I get access with my keycard for the VO booths, foley stage, or motioncapture stage?A: Ben Russell ([email protected]) checks out preprogrammed ADR/VO keycards at thehelp desk. See Kareem Marashi ([email protected]) in room 327 on the third floor ifyour keycard does not already have access to the mocap stage and see Pete Vander Pluymfor keycard access for foley. All of these rooms will still need to be reserved ahead of time,and Foley requires stage training through the video on the tutorial website.

Q: How do I backup my animation folder or hard drive?A: A free backup application called Robocopy can be found here:http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/d/0/fd05def7-68a1-4f71-8546-25c359cc0842/UtilitySpotlight2006_11.exeor do a web search for: robocopy gui download

Another option for file backup can be available and bundled free with certain external harddrives. See your hard drive manufacturer for more information.

Further problems or questions regarding 3d application workflow? Contact:Kc WaylandDigital Applications [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]://datacine.chapman.edu/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://datacine.chapman.edu/http://datacine.chapman.edu/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://ftv.chapman.edu/http://ftv.chapman.edu/

3d animation production workflow

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