The final 3 podcasts have just been released!
Podcast #021: Loose Ends includes several tips and tricks that didn’t fit into the other podcasts.
Podcast #022: Music is an audio-only interview with composer Christopher Reyman.
Podcast #023: Sound Design is an audio-only interview with sound designer David Bewley.
Podcast #020: Animation Techniques is online and talks about the two different approaches to CG animation: Pose-to-Pose and Layered
Everyone has been waiting for it… the golden nugget… the one little thing that makes everything click… so here it is at last: The secret to learning animation is that there is no secret.
I know… how Kung Fu of me.
Seriously though, I’ve received a lot of “learning 3D” questions and I never quite have time to respond to properly, so I figured I’d just do one big post and link to it rather than give a half baked answer via email, facebook, twitter, or any of the half-million methods of communication out there. This post also functions as a bit of a catch-all/FAQ for getting started with 3D. I’ll update the post occasionally and put the link in the top right of the main blog page.
Question #1: What software should I use?
This is number 1 for a very good reason. It is hands down the most asked question, and also completely irrelevant. People are so preoccupied with the tools, that they forget that 3D is a skillset. Sure there are some benefits to the higher-end software, but if you don’t know how to drive a car, how are you going to handle a 757? In fact, I’d probably recommend that you start out with something simple. Hell, Google SketchUp is free and extremely easy to use. Sure you won’t be able to make a multi-million dollar film with it, but you can make some cool models and learn the basics without having to deal with inverted normals on a non-manifold polymesh.
Question #2: But don’t I need to know about inverted normals on a non-manhole polymer?
Eventually, yes. But not when you’re just starting out. There is no “right” way to do things so just start playing around and when you run into a problem, see if you can figure out how to solve it. That’s how humans learn. First we scoot, then crawl, then stand, then walk, then run. Show me a baby that can run before he crawls and I’ll show you one screwed up kid.
Question #3: Do I need to go to school to learn 3D?
School is not necessary, but it doesn’t hurt. If you learn better in a classroom setting, then it might be worth it. The important thing to remember is that school is like hiring a guide. They can show you where to go, but you’re still going to have to walk there on your own two legs. Personally, I like to go out and wander around on my own. Sure it might take a little longer to get there and I might even get lost, but I also get to see parts of the city that most tourists don’t even know exists. You find the back alley shortcuts that shave 10 minutes off of your commute, and you meet the mafia boss who can save your butt when a big project is due tomorrow and the renders keep crashing. (I’d better stop before this metaphor gets even more off track)
Question #4: What should I focus on when I’m starting out?
I adopt a very laissez faire attitude towards the educational process. So once again, my answer is that “it doesn’t matter.” Its a great idea to have a goal. Maybe a picture you want to create, or a film you want to make. By attempting to do those projects (and probably failing at first) you’ll do research that teaches you the basics and the different parts of the process. You’ll also find yourself gravitating towards certain things. For instance, I love rigging and when I started out, I didn’t even know what rigging was. It was only by doing a project that I got to try out all of the different parts of 3D and see what I enjoy most.
#5 Do I need traditional art skills?
It’s not necessary but it helps. The big advantage is that traditional training often helps develop your eye. That’s the most important factor. For instance, I don’t draw well at all, but I can look at a drawing and recognize that the proportions are off, or that the background in a photo is so busy that its pulling the viewer’s eye away from the subject. You definitely don’t need to master another medium, but dabbling in other formats will help out immensely. CG has correlations to just about every artistic medium you can think of…
Sculpture = Modelling
Painting = Textures/Lighting
Drawing = Design and Composition
Music = Rhythm and Temporal studies (Animation, editing, etc)
Dance = Kinematics and Pose (Animation)
Photography = Lighting and Layout
This is one of my favorite videos that really sums up my thoughts better than I can myself. Be warned that its PG-13 (but hilarious.)
On a related note, Joaquin Baldwin recorded a quick chat with me about how we got started in animation. (Sorry for the audio, we just grabbed his camera and recorded this before heading to the airport.)
I finally got a chance to sit down with my friend Michael Cawood to chat about animated short filmmaking. He’s currently working on a short film called Devils, Angels & Dating and recorded our chat for his audio podcast series. It was great to really dig into some of the more niche stuff that might appeal to other animators and filmmakers out there. Check it out!
I thought I’d try my hand at one of the more difficult and possibly most controversial things I’ve posted. The Animation Pyramid. Essentially, this is a ranking system a la the food pyramid that breaks each part of the process into tiers of importance.
The easy one that few people will disagree with is story being at the base. You’ve heard this battle cry echoed a thousand times so I won’t harp on it. However, one thing that often confuses people is the second tier: direction. Another way to think of this is “storytelling” and that’s what the director brings to the table. Much like a comic, a good joke means nothing if the person can’t tell it well. There are even cases where a weak story coupled with strong direction has narrowly saved a film from failure. The best example I can think of was “9.” Pretty much everyone agreed that the story was weak, but the style, tone, and cinematography was so good that it still managed to find an audience. Of course, had the story been stronger, there’s no telling how much better it might have done.
The third tier is Animation and Sound (including music, sound design, voice work, etc.) The reason animation claims such an important spot is that the character performances have to be able to connect with an audience. Note that I’m referring more to the raw performance and not so much the technical aspects of weight, arcs, etc. but I could (and might) do a whole other pyramid just on the different aspects of animation. (I include rigging with animation because they’re essentially part of one big process.) Sound is also on this tier because it does so much to convey emotion and mood that it can have just as strong of an effect as animation. I can’t believe how many awesome animations I’ve seen that had cheesy music or really bad sound effects. Its one of the cheapest and easiest ways to add production value to something. In fact, other than final output, our entire budget went into music and sound.
Next up, you might be asking why design and lighting take precedence over modelling and texturing. Its true that they’re essentially the execution of the design process, but much like story and direction, a good idea executed poorly is typically better than a poor idea executed well. I actually feel that the design on PI was probably the weakest part, mainly due to my choice to go for a semi-realistic look. We still managed to caricature things slightly, but the visual look of it could have been much more stylized and unique. However, one of the strongest parts was definitely the lighting. In fact a lot of people keep asking about the textures which for the most part are just a single image and maybe a bump map. The reason it feels so tactile is that a lot of time and care went into the lighting and compositing. Even a flat lambert shader can look surprisingly good with the right lighting.
The last tier, simulation and effects is the icing on the cake. The reason I put it last isn’t because I hate it, but because it generally takes a huge amount of time to achieve very small increases in quality. Plus, the audience doesn’t typically notice the subtle movements of cloth or the way that particular tendril of smoke twirls. Sure it adds a very cool “wow factor” but unless you’ve nailed all of the other tiers first, this is the last place you want to spend time and money.
Now let me have one last opportunity to stave off the hate mail. This is not a ranking of artists or some attempt to set up a caste system. Rather, this is a guide I’ve found useful for keeping a project on track and making sure that time and money is spent in a way that gets the most bang for the buck. Sure, if you’re trying to get a job as an FX TD, you’re not going to care much about story in your reel. But, if you’re trying to make an animation to reach a wide audience, this is the recipe I’ve found works best.
I’m still working on the next bunch of podcasts, but in the meantime, Keith Lango has posted some excellent tutorials on his YouTube Channel. Everything he has on there is pure gold, but the “Animation Clinic” ones are really useful tidbits from his VTS series.
I’m still recuperating and trying to gather my notes from all of the SIGGRAPH madness, but while I was there I got a chance to sit down with John Montgomery and record an interview for FXGuide.
Check it out, and thanks again to John, Mike and Jeff for all the support they’ve given to the film!
Podcast #019: Rending is online and shows some tricks for optimizing your renders and dealing with expansive environment shots.
Podcast #018: Single Pass Lighting is online and talks about a few shots we lit “all in the render” and how that compares to a multipass approach.
Podcast #017: Pigeon Rig is up and talks about the wing controls, broken rigging, and other tricks we used to rig the pigeon.
