Rendering Technique in My Animations

I incorporated Mental Ray rendering technique, in Autodesk 3ds Max, instead of Scanline because it produce more precise results for   reflections and refractions. It is time consuming rendering technique but the most appropriate for animations. Scanline is more suitable for gaming where rendering speed is required for interactive graphics which have to be rendered in "real-time" and unpredictably, depending on user actions. 

Animation Process of the Third Scene

This is the animation of the third scene. It incorporates one camera which zooms out. The wasp has its own path which defines its flight directly to the camera. The scene incorporates three omni lights to precisely illuminate the close up of the wasp’s face. The scene, also, incorporates wasp’s head animation along with the leg animation. I used Morpher modifier to animate the leg. I created additional Dummy for the face to move it up and down. Select and Link tool helped me to connect all of the head elements to the Dummy. Thus, the Dummy controls the whole head. It is 3 seconds long and consists of 91 frames. 

Animation of the Third Scene

This is the third animation. I am going to add some sound effects in the final video.

Animation process of the second scene

This scene incorporates one camera which makes a close up of wasp’s face in order to present its anger. There are two omni lights to illuminate the scene. I animated face expression of the wasp, using Morpher modifier. There are three animated face features: eyelids, nostrils and antennae. It is 10 seconds long and consists of 250 frames.

Morpher Modifier

Here, I used Morpher modifier to animate the eyelids of the wasp.

Animation of the Second Scene

This  is my second animation. It is not finished as I am going to add a wasp sound to the final video.

Computer graphics pipeline

Computer graphics pipeline is the process that goes from an idea to the fully realised 3D model. This process incorporates six phases: pre-production, 3D modelling, shading and texturing, lighting, animation and rendering and post-production. Pre-production phase includes all of the sketches, paintings, colour palette and details of the 3D model. When the model concept is ready, a 3D modeller translates a 2D drawing into 3D model. There are two major techniques for modellers: polygonal modelling and digital sculpting. Polygonal modelling is suited for architectural modelling, while digital sculpting for organic modelling. The next step in the pipeline is the shading and texturing phase where colours, materials and textures are added to the 3D model. In the lighting phase, digital light is added to the 3D scene to illuminate models. Then, animators have to bring to life 3D characters and environment. There are two animation techniques: Rigged for Motion and Pose-to-Pose. The first technique incorporates virtual skeleton which controls the motion of the model. The second one incorporates a set of key-frames with different poses of the model which will create the illusion of motion. The final phase incorporates finalising shadows, adjusting colours, brightness or contrast as well as integrating special effects to the scene.

Two Examples of Existing 3D Films

A Bug’s Life

A Bug’s Life is 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, directed by John Lasseter. The story is about an ant Flick who is looking for strong warriors to save his colony from greedy grasshoppers. This 3D animation is based on Aesop’s fable ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’ and released to the cinema in 1998. The ants were redesigned by Pixar to be more appealing.

All of the phases in the pipeline were followed by the Pixar team members. The film concept was changed several times to be more original than previous approaches. There were some challenges during the animation phase because of the models’ complexity. In order to present the world of the insects’ perspective, there was done primary and secondary research. It was created a miniature video camera on Lego wheels which could roll through different terrains such grass and explore insects’ world. The secondary research incorporates watching a French documentary Microcosmos which explores insects’ life. In order to present characters of the story more likable, designers gave away from natural realism. Six legs of the ant were replaced by two legs and two arms. The grasshopper gained a pair of extra appendages. Some of the shots of the animation included crowds of 400 or 800 ants. It is impractical for animators to control individually each ant. This problem was solved with animating 4 groups of ants with 8 individuals in each group. Then, each of these ants was randomly distributed to scene. The software helped each ant to gain different characteristics such as its own colour of the clothes, skin or different weight. Thus, all of the ants differ from each other. It was used for the first time in Pixar subsurface scattering, which is a mechanism of light. This is necessary for realistic rendering of materials. There was, also, a voice casting where most of the television stars were chosen to play characters of the story. It was created an original soundtrack album labeled as A Bug’s Life: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack. The album contains twenty songs written and composed by Randy Newman. The target audience is both children and adults. Children enjoy watching creatively designed characters as well as the adventure of the animation. Adults appreciate the skillful animation along with its humor.

Monsters, Inc.

Monsters, Inc. is a 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The story is about two monsters, James P. Sullivan known as Sully and one-eyed Mike Mazowski, who work for a company named Monsters. Monsters generate their city's power by scaring children, but they are terribly afraid themselves of being contaminated by children, so when one enters Monstropolis, Sulley finds his world disrupted.

Production process of this animation encompasses five years from 1996 to 2001. During those five years, it passed through many changes and challenges. All of the phases in the pipeline were followed by the Pixar members. Peter Docter’s initial concept of the film passed through many changes. His initial idea revolved around a 30 year old man dealing with monsters which represent his fears. When the man conquers his fears, the monsters disappear. Then, Docter developed a story about a child and a monster. The monster Sulley works in a company which purpose is to scare children. Later, the story includes the monster Mazowski. The child varied in age and gender. When the script was ready along with the character design, 3D modellers and animators start working on the film. Each main character had its own lead animator. Sulley’s leading animator John Kahrs enabled his character to move fast in spite of its heaviness. This Sulley’s characteristic made him more attractive for the audience. John Karh was helped with his animation of the big monster. Rodger Kram, an expert at Berkeley, came to lecture on the subject about heavy mammals. There was a problem with rendering the fur of Sulley as it required realistic appearance. Another challenges were related to efficient rendering of a huge number of hairs, 2 320 413 on Sulley as well as making sure that the hairs cast shadows on other hairs. Because of the extreme motion of Sulley, its fur stretched and intersected with other objects. All of these problems were solved with the creation of simulation software called Fitz. The program allowed the fur to react in a natural way during Sulley’s movements and wind. It, also, took into consideration gravity effects. To solve the problem cloth-to-cloth intersection, Pixar scientist Michael Kass developed an algorithm known as “global intersection analysis”. There was held voices casting where were chosen famous comedians to play the characters. One of the was John Goodman co-star of the comedy series Roseanne and a regular in the films of the Coen brothers. The target audience is both children and adults. Children enjoy watching creatively designed characters as well as the adventure of the animation. Adults appreciate the skillful animation along with its humor.

The Test of the First Scene

This scene was not successful as I could not create the illusion of a 3D environment, using a flat image. The camera does follow its path. Light is not integrated into the scene.

Animation Process of the First Scene

Firstly, I created two Dummy helpers which I attached to the wasp. The inner one determines the noise of the character. The outer one is attached to the path of the wasp created with the Line tool. I applied two Omni lights to the scene. Also, I created a path for the target camera. The body of the character softly sways because of the Flex modifier applied to it. I created wings’ movement creating three key frames on the timeline. Then, the curve editor helps me to repeat continuously this single action along the whole timeline. Using a flat 2D image of the field and Material editor, I created the illusion of a 3D environment. I set the environment option instead of the texture and Spherical Environment. I justified offset properties and mirror checkbox. The image below shows the exact changes which I applied to the 2D background. It is 7 second slong and consists of 167 frames.

Material Editor

First scene of my animation

I am going to animate another two scenes which will be part of the advertising campaign along with Shane's animations.

Principles and Conventions in 3D for Film and Game Design

3D animation is the process involving creation of moving 3D computer-generated imagery (CGI). 3D animators are responsible for the description of behavior and movement. It is most often applied to give life of characters such as human beings or creatures. 3D animations could also be applied to elements such as objects, environments, scenery and vegetation. Depending on the technology, 3D animators make best use of it in order to create the animation in an efficient way. They, also, maximize the opportunities for interactivity for a particular platform.

There are different 3D software such as Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, AutoCAD, Cinema 4D and Softimage.  Autodesk 3ds Max software is used by game developers, visual effects artists, and motion graphics artists along with other professionals working in the media design industry. AutoCAD is used by architects, designers, engineers and project managers in building and manufacturing industries. Maya software is used especially in film, television and game industries. Cinema 4D software is suitable for professionals. It is used in the fields such as films, television, architecture, which requires professional results. In comparison to Maya, it is faster and more power. Softimage software is predominantly used in film, TV and game industries with high 3d and visual effects performance. File formats of the software are accordingly .3ds, .mb, .dxf, .c4d and .obj.

3D models of objects are created in three-dimensional space through specialised software. Polygonal modelling is an approach for creating 3D objects by representing their surfaces, using polygons. A polygon mesh incorporates vertices, edges and faces which represent solid objects. Vertex is the basic object used in mesh. Two vertices connected by a straight line form an edge.  Three vertices connected to each other by three straight lines form a basic polygon or face. More complex polygons consist of four and more vertices and edges. Triangles and four sided polygons are the most common polygons used in polygonal modelling. A group of polygons connected to each other form a mesh. Surfaces or smoothing groups are the group of polygons in polygon mesh which create a smooth surface.

Three-dimensional space consists of three coordinate axes, which are commonly labeled as x, y and z. They are, also, perpendicular to each other. Every point in three-dimensional space is described by the coordinates x, y and z. Two-dimensional space consists only from the coordinates x and y. It does not have the z coordinate which represents the depth of the object.

There are several ways of creating a mesh such as box modelling, extrusion modelling, spline modelling and common primitives. Box modelling is a technique in 3D modelling where a primitive shape is modified in order to be created the final object. This technique is utilised in combination with extrude and subdivide functions. Extrude function create a new primitive from the face of a model with the same shape and size of that face. Subdivide function creates more vertices on a model. Therefore, it is split into more face and can be easily modified. Extrusion modelling is a technique where a 3D modeller creates a 2D shape, commonly created with the line tool, which traces outline of a drawing. Then, the 2D shape is extruded into 3D shape. This process applies to all of the sides of the drawing. Spline modelling is a technique where you use splines with various functions such as lofting and lathing. Splines can be easily created and manipulated due to its curve design. These functions convert a spline into a 3D shape. Primitives are predefined polygonal meshes created by the 3D software. They can be easily created by the modeller and be a starting point of the modelling process.

Wireframe is a method in 3D computer graphics which present a mesh with its characteristics such as vertices and edges. There are a great number of reasons to use this method. Firstly, it reduces rendering time. Eventually, if you want to achieve fully detailed model, you have to switch to a solid mode of it. Also, it is very useful method when you present a few concept ideas. Therefore, you will safe your time not to design fully composed 3D models. Wireframe allows seeing through the object and easier to modify it. It is, also, useful when you want to reduce the number of polygons of the object in order to simplify it and reduce rendering time.

OpenGL is a cross-language and multi-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D images. It incorporates a great number of functions which implement processes such as rendering, texture mapping and visual effects. The PlayStation 3 game console has an OpenGL implementation. OpenGL’s competitor, Direct3D is an API available for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Also, it can be implemented on other platforms using an open source software Wine. Direct3D is used for rendering 3D graphics. It has embedded versions used in the Xbox family of video game consoles.

Computer graphics pipeline is the process that goes from an idea to the fully realised 3D model. This process incorporates six phases: pre-production, 3D modelling, shading and texturing, lighting, animation and rendering and post-production. Pre-production phase includes all of the sketches, paintings, colour palette and details of the 3D model. When the model concept is ready, a 3D modeller translates a 2D drawing into 3D model. There are two major techniques for modellers: polygonal modelling and digital sculpting. Polygonal modelling is suited for architectural modelling, while digital sculpting for organic modelling. The next step in the pipeline is the shading and texturing phase where colours, materials and textures are added to the 3D model. In the lighting phase, digital light is added to the 3D scene to illuminate models. Then, animators have to bring to life 3D characters and environment. There are two animation techniques: Rigged for Motion and Pose-to-Pose. The first technique incorporates virtual skeleton which controls the motion of the model. The second one incorporates a set of key-frames with different poses of the model which will create the illusion of motion. The final phase incorporates finalising shadows, adjusting colours, brightness or contrast as well as integrating special effects to the scene.

A rendering process is performed by 3D software package’s render engines. It translates a mathematical representation of a 3D object to a 2D image. The colours of the image are determined by the lighting, spatial and textural information of the scene. There are two major types of rendering: Real-time rendering and Pre-rendering. Real-time rendering is suitable for interactive graphics and gaming where visualisation of 3D models is unpredictable. Its speed of computing a 3D object or environment in “real-time” is rapidly fast. Pre-rendering is most frequently seen in animations and visual effects where the speed is not so important. It can achieve a high level of photorealism and visual complexity.

There are three rendering techniques: Scanline, Raytracing and Radiosity. Scanline technique produce a very fast rendering which is a best choice for real-time rendering. It renders polygon by polygon instead of pixel by pixel. Raytracing is slower than Scanline, but produce an image with higher photorealism. It is based on pixel by pixel rendering. Radiosity is a surface oriented rendering technique. It is known with soft shadow, colour bleeding and subtle lighting effects.

There are two most common rendering engines: Mental Ray and V-Ray. Mental Ray is packaged with Autodesk Maya. It uses combination of both radiosity and raytracing rendering techniques. It is characterised with its relatively fast speed and producing scattering light on a surface. V-Ray is packaged with Autodesk 3ds Max. It is suitable for architectural and environment rendering.

Level of detail is reducing complexity of the object and increasing efficiency of rendering process. The change of the model is unnoticeable and can be hidden by the motion of the object.  

                                                                                             

Storyboard

This is a storyboard of a 3D animation which incorporates my 3D character wasp. The animation will be part of an advertising campaign where it will be split up in to three animations. Each scene will be animated from a different angle.

My wasp represents an angry wasp. Firstly, it will appear closer and closer to the camera. Then, it will make an angry face and hit the screen. These three actions will be divide into three scenes which will be part of another three scenes where the main character will be a bear.