The Animation Process Myles Strous The Animation Process ● Designed for teams or groups – Useful for indivduals ● Organisation, planning – Save time and effort – Improve quality The Animation Process ● Story writing and scripting ● Storyboard – planning camera shots and angles ● Sound and dialogue ● Animatic (Leica reel) – preview for overall timing ● Modelling, texturing, rigging ● Lighting, staging ● Animation – Principles and practice Story writing and scripting ● Setting ● Tension ● Resolution ● Script format The Animation Process Storyboard Cinematography ● Directing the camera, rather than actors ● Camera Angles ● Continuity ● Cutting ● Close-ups ● Composition ● Cheating Storyboarding – planning stage ● A “comic book” visual layout of the story - visualisation. ● Anything from stick figures to full artwork ● Camera angles, camera moves ● Number of shots, locations ● Continuity ● Framing ● Layout – backgrounds, character positioning Storyboarding for the home animator ● How many sets or backgrounds are needed ? – How much detail ? ● What props are needed ? – How much detail ? – Pre-made or custom-made ? ● How much of the character is seen ? – From what angles ? – From what distance ? Can you simplify ? – e.g. Closeup – simpler background Creating storyboards ● Pen and paper ● Any drawing or painting tool --> slideshow ● HTML ● Powerpoint / Impress ● Multimedia software ● Specialised storyboarding software Storyboard software ● Freeware – Storyboard Pro – Storyboard Tools 1.5 – MoviePlanner ● Shareware – Springboard – one generic text field – Storyboard Tools 1.6 ● Commercial – BoardMaster (import your own graphics) – Storyboard Quick – 2D, libraries (props, people) – Storyboard Lite – 3D – FrameForge 3D Studio Storyboard Pro Storyboard Tools MoviePlanner Springboard BoardMaster Storyboard Quick Storyboard Lite FrameForge 3D Studio Sample storyboard Title sequence Set the scene: wizard's tower ● Wizard's tower ● Zoom in on “Do not disturb sign” ● Linger for audience to read ● Zoom back out to full scene ● Zoom in on tower window ● Dissolve to wizard in bed, snoring ● Dissolve back out to tower window ● Zoom back out to full scene ● Sound of hoofbeats approaches and stops ● Knight walks up to tower ● Cut to medium shot – knight looks at sign on door ● Cut to subjective shot (knight's point-of- view) – read sign ● Pan across to rope ● Grab rope ... ● ... and pull ● Cut to trap-door ● ... which opens ● Stone block slowly emerges ● ... and falls ● Cut back to medium shot of knight still pulling on rope ● ● Shadow falls over knight ● Knight looks up “huh?” ● CRASH! ● Cut quickly during crash to wizard snoring ● Camera shake, wizard just snores and settles ● Cut back to block ● Zoom in on attached sign ● Pause on sign ● Zoom (cut ?) back to show knight's lower legs fall from vertical to horizontal. ● Credits The Animation Process Animatic Soundtrack ● Dialogue ● Foley / sound effects ● Music ● Sources – Record your own – Sound effects libraries and CDs – Voice talent Animatic – director's review ● Storyboard + soundtrack ● Timing and pacing ● A timed multimedia slideshow ● Add sounds and dialogue to storyboard images ● Use a video editor Leica reel ● Different term for animatic OR ● detailed animatic – animator's review – key poses (for later pose-to-pose animation) – strobing key frames Animatic.