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HYBRID ANIMATION This page intentionally left blank HYBRID ANIMATION Integrating 2D and 3D Assets TINA O’HAILEY AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK © 2010 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions. This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein). Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data O’Hailey, Tina. Hybrid animation : integrating 2D and 3D assets / by Tina O’Hailey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-240-81205-2 (alk. paper) 1. Computer animation. I. Title. TR897.7.O42 2010 006.6′96—dc22 2009048178 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-240-81205-2 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com 09 10 11 12 13 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America Working together to grow libraries in developing countries www.elsevier.com | www.bookaid.org | www.sabre.org CONTENTS Introduction and an Apology . vii The Page of Thanks . ix About the Author . xi Part One: An Overview for Students . 1 1: Hybrid Animation: The Main Problems . 3 Interview: Derald Hunt . 29 2: Iterations for Developing a Pipeline and Nailing the Moments . 31 Part Two: Techniques . 47 3: 3D Character Leads 2D Character . 49 Interview: Todd Redner . 85 4: 2D Characters with 3D Parts (2D Leads) . 87 5: 3D Characters with 2D Parts (3D Leads) . 129 Interview: Marty Altman . 154 6: EFX . 156 7: Camera: Flat, Limited, and Deep Space . 210 Interview: Claire Almon . 264 8: What Next? Companion Website . 265 Appendix: Student Contributors . 266 This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION AND AN APOLOGY Before we begin this journey together, I must apologize to you. My résumé says that I have worked at great places. I have. However, I have never served as a great artist. I rarely received much more than a “special thanks” credit on any film. I am one of many who worked on feature animation films and was only a small, small cog in the feature animation gear mechanism. My cog, however, was a unique and special one. My cog was allowed to fit and morph and change as needed throughout the film. In a large production house, this is not usually the case. One is usually pigeonholed into one area. In this, I can say my experience was different than most. I was not confined to one area of animation. In fact, I was fortunate to have never been limited in my quest for knowledge as it applied to animation. During my career as a trainer for two feature animation studios and one game studio, I have had rooms of computers where artists would come to learn what they needed to know to do their jobs. Those rooms were sometimes small, such as an old storage closet, and sometimes larger, such as a room with—gasp—windows! A unifier was that they were all warm, except for one; it was freezing! The best unifier of all is that in all three of those studios, I was granted this one amazing gift: great artists who did great things and had amazing credits on movies came into those training rooms. I was able to teach them what they needed, and in return I asked them ques- tions and learned how they thought and worked. I had my own personal education process for all of those years with the best professors I could have ever asked for. If that weren’t enough, when no one was in my training rooms, I was busy picking scenes out and watching them progress from rough animation to final composite. I followed them through the pipeline and saw how they were done. I concentrated on the problems that might require the problem solver to get some training in order to proceed better. I would question and poke, watch, learn, prod, and figure out how to teach to the artists’ needs. I’m sure I wore out my welcome on occasion, because I questioned—often. I would pop into someone’s office to ask how he or she did something, always trying to understand. I would try not to pick on the same person more than once in a row; I spread the questions around. For everyone who has been kind enough to entertain my questions, thank you. If I know anything, it is because of those patient friends who endured my enthusiasm for learning and my longing to know how everything worked. It wasn’t until I became a professor and started trying to put this education into practice via classroom assignments and my own group projects that I started to formulate everything into a cohesive thought. Luckily, I am not afraid to speak something out loud and sound like a complete idiot while formulating that cohesive thought. Those who have ever been in my classroom just as I have started down the journey of a given quest have been abused with these half-baked musings that usually work themselves into well-educated ideas in a few months or sometimes years. In the experimental, collaborative environment of classroom projects, I have been able to crystallize some of the concepts that are put forth in this book. It is just a beginning, however. The last chapter of the book guides readers to the online forum website that exists for us to continue our discussion and further hone these concepts, such as the honing I have done for the past four years in the classroom and the dozen years before that in animation training rooms. This entire apology is to say that this book is composed of the methods of 2D/3D that I use in class and in my own group projects. They are based on methods that are applied in feature viii introduction And An APology animation films and published in papers and articles you can find in the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) library. They are based on methods that we have come up with in class to help isolate the issues particular to 2D/3D. They are based on what I see as the underlying problems to solve. Is this the end-all, be-all production bible in a book? No. It is an overview of 2D/3D problem solving. I hope it is helpful as you combine it with your already established method of creating this art we call animation. I can’t wait to see what questions we come up with. —Tina O’Hailey THE PAGE OF THANKS Most humbly, I thank all of those who were there for me when I needed a second pair of eyes, an image, an idea, an ear to listen to my ramblings, help with software bugs (both per- ceived and real), a project, a rig, a model, an illustration, an idea, a quality tester, a tutorial checker, a sanity check, a high-speed Internet connection when I needed it on the mountain, a personal cheering section whenever I posted that another chapter was done, a reminder that the world outside of this project existed and I would see it again, and a hot meal when I couldn’t fathom cooking and live where there is no delivery. I will try to list names and hope I do not miss anyone. Thank you to my editors, Katy Spencer and Graham Smith, for patiently listening to my monthly rambling progress updates. Thank you also to my technical editors, Rob Bekuhrs and Gregg Azzopardi, for your patience, teachings, and all you have given. Extra special thanks to the following: • Chelsey L. Cline for amazing, thorough checking of the text from front to back and every button click and missed comma in between • Daniel Tiesling for wonderful models and rigs, on time and exceeding expectations • Jason Walling and Clint Donaldson for their overwhelming dedication to Jaguar McGuire and all of its challenges • Claire Almon for her tireless and amazing work • Dianna Bedell for work, on time and with a smile Contributing students and alumni: • Yossaya Aisiri • Candice Ciesla • Jennifer Chandler • Chris Ellis • Loraine Howard III • Jessica Huang • Alston Jones • John-Michael Kirkconnell • Brent Morris • Dan Murdock • Amanda Powell • Jessica Toedt • Shani Vargo • John T.