Month: November 2023

Introduction

This is the final week and I have started compiling and making a soundtrack for my final project. I chose premiere pro for my final editing and sound compilation.

Sound Compilation

I used the main soundtracks from Fesliyan studios. They offer royalty free soundtracks and sfx and I took their permission to use some of their soundtracks in my short film.

I thoroughly relished the whole process of finding and mixing the music. I used premiere pro for the sound compilation as it is user friendly and offer decent options for sound editing.

Final Render

After compiling the video and the audio I rendered a final video file for submission.

Critical Reflection

Character Animation

Making a 3D animated short film for kids was a super fun and satisfying experience. I learned a lot from earlier body mechanics assignments, and it really helped me make the characters look natural and believable in their actions. I decided to make the animation look cartoony to make it playful and perfect for kids. Working with a mentor was a big help – he gave me great advice that improved the animation a lot. This whole process taught me that learning and getting feedback are key in making things better. The final result turned out great, and it showed how important it is to combine what you know, your creative choices, and advice from experts when making animated stories for kids.

Choosing the Color Schemes

In my short film, I deliberately used distinct color themes to differentiate between the two coexisting worlds. For the portrayal of the real world, I opted for more natural hues and lighting, grounding the scenes in a recognizable and relatable visual palette. In contrast, the dream world took on a distinctive character through the use of monochromatic tones, mainly shades of purple. This choice aimed to infuse the dream sequences with a sense of abstraction and stylization, creating a dreamy atmosphere that resonated with the narrative’s fantastical elements. The use of these two different color palette not only served a practical purpose in distinguishing between reality and dream but also added a visual layer that contributed to the overall storytelling experience.

Lighting and Rendering

Crafting the lighting and rendering for my animation short film in Maya, employing techniques such as three-point lighting and incorporating volumetric light and shadow, proved to be both a rewarding and challenging endeavor. The strategic use of three-point lighting added depth to the scenes, enhancing the visual appeal. Introducing volumetric light and shadow further heightened the atmospheric quality of the animation, contributing to a more immersive and cinematic experience. The decision to employ Arnold renderer was driven by its capabilities in producing high-quality, realistic renders, and it lived up to expectations in delivering crisp and detailed visuals. However, navigating the complexities of the rendering process required a meticulous approach to optimize settings and ensure efficient render times. This experience underscored the importance of balancing artistic intent with technical proficiency, as well as the significance of continuous learning in mastering the tools and techniques within Maya and Arnold. Ultimately, the lighting and rendering process served as a crucial aspect in elevating the overall visual narrative of the animation, reinforcing the symbiotic relationship between technical expertise and creative vision in the realm of 3D animation.

Making the Soundtrack

Creating a soundtrack by compiling free music online and incorporating Foley sound in Premiere Pro was a fulfilling and educational experience. The process required a careful selection of music pieces that not only complemented each other but also enhanced the overall mood and narrative of the project. Combining the audio elements in Premiere Pro allowed for a seamless integration of the soundtrack with the visual content. The use of Foley sound added a layer of authenticity and depth to the audio, creating a more immersive and engaging viewing experience. This hands-on approach to sound design provided valuable insights into the intricate art of audio editing, as well as a greater appreciation for the impact that sound can have on the storytelling process. Overall, this project not only allowed for creative expression but also deepened my understanding of the importance of sound in visual media production.

Final Comments

Overall the whole experience of making an independent project helped me to learn a lot. I have explored different domains of animation. After this project, I have a clear idea in my head about how I want to proceed with my career ahead.

Introduction

This week I incorporated the assets in the environment and did lighting for the scenes. I did test renders as well to check if the lighting is working perfectly. I tried to use minimum lights and low poly assets in the scenes to save up the rendering time.

Renders

Theses are some of the scenes that I have textured and rendered this week. For the dream sequence, I mainly used monochromatic color scheme and an abstract environment.

I used the tones of purples and yellows in the dream sequence and more warm colors in the school sequence.

Introduction

This week I continued rendering my animation shots. As, I am unable to use render farm I am having a very difficult time rendering all the shots on my laptop. So, I dedicated some time this week to do some RnD to find out an efficient and fast way to render on my laptop.

Research to find a better solution to Render

As mentioned in the previous blog, we cannot render pro rigs on render farm. This left us with only one way to render the animation and that was on the laptop. Upon rendering the sequence on our laptop I came to know that it was taking approximately 16-20 minutes to render one frame on the laptop. This time was unreasonable for us because if I render on just one laptop I will not be able to render on time. Me and my classmate Veronica then collaborated to find a solution for rendering as we both were using Pro Rigs.

Alembic Export

Upon further RnD, I came up with a solution to bake the alembic cache and then render it on renderfarm. The alembic export was working perfectly fine on the university computers but we failed to render it on render farm. I then tried baking the animation in maya and then exporting it but it was also not successfull.

We discussed this with the technical department but they informed us that the university renderfarm does not support alembic export.

We then thought to render our animations on university CPUs and it was also very difficult to come to university everyday and spend so much time exporting our alembic scenes and then setting up the scene on every computer.

GPU Rendering

While I was rendering, I realized the my personal laptop has a very strong GPU and I can use it to render. I researched and came to know that Maya uses CPU to render by default and how CPU rendering is different from GPU.

CPU rendering is more precise and efficient than GPU rendering. I test rendered one scene in GPU and it was pretty fast but when I played it in a video form it was very jittery.

You can see the difference between GPU and CPU rendering using same render settings in the image below

Conclusion

After the week full of research, I have decided to render my animation on multiple computers. I will render some less detail intensive scenes on GPU and rest of the scenes will render using CPU.

Introduction

This week I started rendering some scenes and compiling 3d scenes with 2d backgrounds.

Run Shot

Run Shot with VFX

Compiling 3D Renders with 2D Backgrounds

I started rendering the animations which needs to have 2d backgrounds. I rendered the animations with green backgrounds. After that, I took the renders to after effects and removed the background by color keying.

I then added a white outline and teh new 2d animated bg to finalize the shot.

Introduction

This week my main focus was to finalize a visual language of the animation sequences. For that I started lighting and texturing of the scene. Apart from that I continued working on finishing the animations.

Lighting Process

In the lighting process of my animation short film using Maya, I strategically employed a combination of three-point lighting and volumetric light and shadow techniques. The utilization of Arnold renderer added a professional touch to the final output, ensuring high-quality visual rendering. A deliberate effort was made to infuse a stylized aesthetic into the lighting design, emphasizing high contrast to create visually impactful scenes. This approach not only enhanced the overall visual appeal of the animation but also contributed to the narrative atmosphere by emphasizing key elements within the frames.

Introduction

This week I worked mainly on character animations and on finding some 2d comic backgrounds for some animation shots.

Character Animation

This week I started animated the last dream sequence scene. I want to add a lot of cut scenes in this shot to give it a feel of action and climax.

2D Comic Backgrounds

I also found some 2d backgrounds references. So, I thought to animate them in after effects and used in some sequences to add fun and playful elements in the animation.