Month: November 2023

Final Work：

Showreel:

Introduction:

Embarking on a three-month adventure in the realm of 3D animation,Guided by my instructor, I undertook the unique challenge of completing the entire animation individually. This departure from previous team collaborations allowed me to delve into every stage of production on a deeper level.

Despite the concise duration of the final animation, the processes involved were intricate and lengthy. From initial brainstorming to text storyboarding, 3D previsualization, character design, modeling, scene construction, texture painting, model binding, fur effects, to the entire animation workflow, and concluding with rendering and compositing.

Challenges & Acknowledgement:

The most challenging aspects, in my opinion, were model binding, fur effects, and animation.

This was my maiden attempt at binding models for both human and quadruped characters and delving into fur effects. Weeks were spent navigating through trial and error. Difficulties surfaced, such as determining accurate method for fur creation that faithfully mirrored the 2D design, transferring fur as a resource to models without errors, and understanding the intricacies of binding and weight painting for quadruped models. Having attended Toby’s workshop on binding proved invaluable, emphasizing the importance of resource referencing. I often found myself encountering common pitfalls due to novice errors. By combining Toby’s binding tutorials with trial-and-error attempts, I developed a clear understanding of the systematic progression between assests and the accurate linking of each step.

Furthermore, animation has always posed a formidable challenge for me. From previs-animation to character animation within the formal scenes, George provided considerable assistance. This experience enhanced my understanding of various animation concepts and details permeating the entire small animation production, such as Spline animation curves, the Twelve Principles of Animation, and finer details like precisely timing a blink. Initially, my understanding of the Twelve Principles was theoretical, but translating theory into practice during the project reinforced why certain animations should move in a specific way to be aesthetically pleasing. While some animation shots still reveal imperfections, the overall quality has improved significantly, and my production speed has increased.

Dissatisfaction and Satisfaction:

I also have areas of dissatisfaction with this project, primarily stemming from the constraints of time. I couldn’t fully present my story as envisioned in the previsualization. To ensure timely rendering and compositing before the deadline, I had to trim one or two scenes. Consequently, there are two abrupt transitions in the current storyline. Through discussions with peers, I realized that this is a language-of-shot issue. These cuts might potentially hinder the evocation of audience emotions or the accurate conveyance of the emotions I aimed to express through the animation. But then I would restore the two cuts from the previs animation.

On a positive note, I find satisfaction in the clearer mastery of the entire process, boldly exploring what I initially considered challenging in terms of binding and fur technology. After completion, I discovered that these aspects weren’t as daunting as I had perceived, providing me with a sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, despite the brevity of the animation, I believe I have a good attempt in effectively conveying the plot and controlling the pace of the narrative.

In conclusion, I believe that learning 3D computer animation techniques is essential for achieving better visual effects and effective communication of information. The possibilities within the realm of 3D visual artwork are limitless, and the ongoing pursuit of challenges in crafting visually engaging content using 3D technology will remain a continuous effort.

Lighting & Rendering

To commence, post-animation completion, I coordinated the lighting for each scene. This involved managing various lights, such as spotlights, directional lights, and skydome lights, ensuring consistent texture mapping and lighting parameters. Subsequently, I fine-tuned the lighting angles for individual scenes, established rendering parameters, and initiated the rendering process.

BGM & Sound effects

For my voiceover, I primarily sought resources from AI-generated music platforms like Soundraw and some ambient tracks from independent musicians. Ultimately, I discovered background music (BGM) from a French music artist, In Love with a Ghost, from which I selected several excerpted segments. Sound effects mainly originated from both self-recorded sounds, like footsteps and dog barks, and simple sounds found through online searches.

Link For ai music : https://soundraw.io/create_music

Link For in love with a ghost :https://www.instagram.com/lvghstmusic/

Composition

In the final phase, I imported all elements into Adobe After Effects for composition. I edited all music and footage, incorporating some straightforward graphic and text effects, such as starting and ending text animations. Notably, one segment features an animated twinkling star effect. Additionally, certain segments include adjustments to playback speed, lens blur, exposure, and color correction.

Text animation in AE:https://motionarray.com/learn/after-effects/how-to-create-5-awesome-text-animations-in-after-effects/

sparkling star effects link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu7QTLSc9rE

In the animation stage, I have already completed most of the scene models and integrated them into a single file to create the animation. However, here, I will specifically outline the process of creating the scene.

Process: Find reference images ➡️ Build low-poly models in Maya ➡️ Unfold UVs in Maya ➡️ Name and group objects ➡️ Apply materials in Substance Painter ➡️ Export textures from Substance Painter and import them into Maya ➡️ Complete a series of lighting setups ➡️ Render ➡️ Complete scene visual effects

Since I primarily focused on character creation, and due to time constraints, I didn’t spend an extensive amount of time creating detailed scene models. I spent two days building a simple house model (90%) and used part of reference model(10%), two days for texture mapping, and one day for scene integration and lighting.

Below are my reference images, low-poly models, and the texturing process. I won’t go into detail about the modeling and texturing parts; they are presented in image format.

Low-Poly Models:

Texturing Process:

Textured Results:

In this blog, the most critical aspects for me were the VFX parts : lighting, and rendering. After integrating the scene, I created several types of lighting: Arnold Skydome, Area lights, and directionalLight.

The Arnold Skydome serves as the background for the entire scene. I used an online reference “sunrise background” (HDRI image) as the material for the entire sky. I chose this image because I wanted to create a series of orange and blue backgrounds to convey the story from sunset into the night. Therefore, my lighting prominently features these two colors (blue for shadows and orange for light).

Area lights can serve as carriers for AI Atmosphere Volume. In Arnold’s rendering environment, I created an AI AtmosphereVolume to display atmospheric fog in both these light types (it should be possible in other lights as well, but I focused on these two).

All three of them have similar settings:

1. Intensity/Density
2. Color
3. Samples (rendering shading clarity)
   • By adjusting these values, I can control the light intensity, fog density, and color tendency. It’s worth noting that some parameters of directional lights, such as the Illuminance and Shadow Color attributes, influence the overall effect of the image. Directional lights can illuminate the entire scene and cast shadows, creating a unified visual impression. This sets them apart from area lights, which only illuminate a localized area.

AI Atmosphere Volume Effect:

Area Light Effect:

Directional Light Effect:

Lighting Tutorials:

Render image:

Render shot:

That covers the process of scene creation.