Intermediate 3D Modeling and Animation: 2012

Your next deliverable is your shot list which is due next class. A shot list is a written breakdown of how your story will be told shot by shot. It includes the shot number, shot type and action desciption, with an additional space for notes on the side. Extra information, such as the importance of each shot (priority) and difficulty can also be noted.

Remember - your audience has never seen your film before - so your main responsibility is to make sure you are deliverying story information in the clearest way possible; secondary to that is finding the most interesting and entertaining way to do so.

Camera Shot Descriptions

Camera Angle Descriptions

How to create a shot list:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/becoming-a-professional-photographer/pre-production-how-to-create-a-shot-list.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2112260_shot-list.html

Elements of cinematography

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Friday, Jan 20

- Story generator

- Maya tools - extrude face, interactive split tool and mesh>smooth

- Maya workflow - head- model a simple head:

model sheet tutorial - drawing in illustrator, scanning model sheet into maya and using as ref.
edit mesh> extrude face
edit mesh> interactive split
edit mesh> insert edge loop
mesh> smooth

- story idea workshop, pitches and feedback

Homework:

Character and set concept art - doodle, sketch, paint, collage, etc what your character and sets look like
Character model sheets - draw the front and side views of your character to scale
Script (shot list) - a shot by shot written description of your story as seen through the camera, from start to finish.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Your goal in this class...

Your goal in this class is to make an interesting short (1 - 2 minute) animated film using Autodesk Maya by the end of Spring 2012 semester.

Your animated film can be anything you'd like - narrative, documentary-style, comedy, drama, science fiction - anything...

but...

...it must be short and simple (1 - 2 minute...tops!), especially if this is your first time using the Maya software.

Check out the following short animations for inspiration. All of them are simple, look great, and most importantly - they tell a great story.

Many of these examples are too long of a production for this class. As a rule of thumb, your short should be 1-2 min long at most. No matter what you choose to animate, you should always strive to K.I.S.S - Keep it simple, stupid...:)

Alma

Bath Time

The Baker (Le Boulanger)

Cat and Bird

You May Now

Penguins

Manfred

The Dog and the Butcher

Fighting Robots

Pandore

Oxygen

Manfred

The Enlightened Monk

Nuri

Un Tour De Manege

Oktapodi

Strange Arrangements

Getty Images

Here two examples of student work from past intermediate 3d classes...

Molly Osborne

Mary Houlihan

Kenneth Thomas

Feel free to add your own video links in the comments section....

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Wednesday, Jan 18

- Introductions - 10 min

- Syllabus overview - 10 min

- Watch animations! - 15 min

- 3D animation pipeline overview, start to finish - 10 min

- Maya overview - 15 min

- 3D animation pipeline exercise - 30 min

- modeling

- shading + texturing

- rigging

- animation

- export (playblast)

- Watch animations! - 15 min

- Story workshop - 30 min

- Story idea pitch/feedback session - 15 min

Homework for Friday:

Refined story idea(s)

Visual research - 5 images related to the look you want for your film. Have fun and go stylized!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Story Development 101

The focus of this course is to tell a story through computer animation. Most interesting stories focus on characters solving problems.

Try a random story generator

If you have no ideas whatsoever that come to mind (we've all been there!) try a random story generator. The ideas you'll get from these range from brilliant to absurd, which are both desirable qualities in animation, so they're definitely worth checking out!

Storytoolz

Archetype story/idea generator

Short story idea generator

Google search - story idea generator

Many successful stories can be broken down into three acts.

Act 1 - introduce character(s), setting and situation. The story does not have to start at the beginning of the situation; many times it is better to begin in the middle, to thrust the audience into the midst of the situation (hooking then) while it is happening is usually better than spending Act 1 over-describing it (boring). Act 1 is also a great place to introduce the goal or desire of the character, which will keep your audience watching your film.
Act 2 - disturb the equilibrium and introduce the problem/conflict. This is where things get interesting - you take what you established in Act 1 and disturb it by adding a problem and/or conflict, ideally one that prevents your character from getting what they want. After introducing the problem, make it worse - keep the audience hooked by upping the ante and building the tension. The rest of Act 2 is time to show your character reacting to the conflict, planning a solution to it, and going forward with it.
Act 3 - resolution. Does the character succeed or fail? Why?

http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/read/plot1.html

Other ideas:

Retell a myth or classic tale

Document something historic

Tell a story that is personal and meaningful

Make a really fun, weird, silly cartoon!

MAYA VIDEO TUTORIALS + YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Straight from the makers of Maya, Autodesk, Inc...

LINK

ALSO - MayaHowTo's YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!!!

CG production pipelines

Below are links that further describe the CG animation production pipeline:

http://cg.tutsplus.com/articles/step-by-step-how-to-make-an-animated-movie/

http://www.squidoo.com/3d-animation-studio#module11122953

http://akeigher.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/dreamworks-cg-pipeline/

http://www.pixar.com/howwedoit/index.html#

CLASS PRODUCTION SCHEDULE/PIPELINE

CLASS PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

Above is a link to the CLASS PRODUCTION SCHEDULE, which contains a calendar breakdown of the various tasks required to complete a CG film, as well as suggested dates of completion.

STAYING ON SCHEDULE IS IMPERATIVE TO SUCCEED IN THIS CLASS AND IN THIS MEDIUM. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO STAY ON SCHEDULE, AND IF POSSIBLE, GET AHEAD OF SCHEDULE!

Task/Category breakdown

PRE-PRO:

Everything related to pre-production: story concept, visual research, character and set designs, model sheets, shot list, storyboards, and the 2D animatic. Good pre-production = zero confusion/time-wasting in 3d production.

SOUND:

Sounds and music you will use in your piece. Sound is important, so as soon as you have your story idea, start searching for sound FX and music that will help tell your story.

MODEL:

3d models of characters, sets and props.

TEXTURE:

Shaders, images and other techniques used to color and texture the surfaces of your models.

RIGGING:

Creating skeletons, deformers and controllers that will be used to animate your characters, props and sets.

LAYOUT:

The 3d re-creation of your animatic with rough (blocked) animation, lighting and camera motion.

ANIMATION:

The process of bringing your story to life by animating character, prop and camera movement.

FX:

Water, cloth, fire, etc - natural, random fx that you will animate to add visual fx to your story

LIGHTING:

Lighting your piece to add mood, depth and help further visually tell your story.

RENDERING:

The process by which the computer outputs high-quality images of your scene. Depending on the complexity of your scene, rendering may take a long time, so plan ahead to schedule this time in.

EDIT:

The current state/contents of your film.