CIM312

Project 1

Ideation Group Document

Major Ideas

Pitch Slideshow

The Best in the Business

Mood boards I created

Pizza Delivery Guy

Scooter

Townsville Town

I constructed the relevance ideation behind our animation. Coordinating with Valent and his research on Slapstick comedy, I created a dialogue that explained the tone of our animation. A major theme of our animation is rivalry and I explained the relevance of a positive representation of rivalry and how it can improve friendship.

Using this image to portray the famous rivalry between Ash and Gary, I wanted to showcase a good representation of positive rivalry.

Yajima, T. (Director). (2018). The Power of Us [Film]. Wit Studio.

Animation Production Pipeline Flowchart

Clarke, M. (2017). Flowcharts for Games/Animation/VFX [Photograph]. https://mitchellnextgengames.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/flowcharts-for-gamesanimationvfx/

I searched for flowcharts and looked for examples of effective representation of an animation pipeline. I found Mitchell Clarkes collection of flowcharts to be informative and useful examples for me.

I created this colour coded and dated production pipeline flowchart. It contains every aspect of animation production and subheadings of specific tasks needed to be completed.

Best In the Business Final Pitch

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFcnBErX_U/7yfUquHoOQQloZPRGhd7Og/edit?utm_content=DAFcnBErX_U&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Project 3

Research

Reference Material

(2021) Sable

Sable is a coming-of-age tale of discovery through exploration across a strikingly rendered open world desert. You embark on a deeply personal journey across an alien planet as the young Sable, exploring ancient monuments, ruined architecture, and ships fallen from the cosmos, all while learning the history of its inhabitants and discovering your place in the world. I played this game 2 years ago and I still think fondly of the experience. The most visceral memory I have of the game is being totally lost in the vast expanse of desert after being completely enthralled by the environment I was traveling through, and not minding at all.

(2021) Sable

Early on after my initial pitch of using cel-shading as tool for the aesthetic of the animation. I referenced Sable as an example of the artistry through simplicity in cel-shading creating an appealing atmosphere. No one else had played the game so it had less weight then my other reference of Hi-Fi Rush.

Hi-Fi Rush follows self-proclaimed "future rock star" Chai whose music player is accidentally embedded in his chest during experimental cybernetic surgery, allowing him to rhythmically fight and re-perceive the world through environmental synaesthesia. I and another team member (Breanna) have played this game before. Another refence I suggested, it had many aesthetic styling that would be interesting to attempt ourselves. Many of the textures for example like his hands, jeans and arm sling are all a basic single cel-shaded texture. but it still looks good.

(2023) Hi-Fi Rush

Another aspect of Hi-Fi Rush's style was the speed lines and motion smears added into the animation. It helps to sell motion, add readability and give a comic book look. Talking with my team, we all agreed incorporating this additive to our animation will be a greatly beneficial tool. Whether its done in Post or imposed within the scene, is dependent on the scene and the motion.

(2023) Hi-Fi Rush

(2022) The Very Pulse of the Machine

Love + Death and Robots: The Very Pulse of the Machine, is an extreme example of the artistry and fidelity of Cel-Shading within animation. Using a more painterly watercolour aesthetic in the background, creates a concept artbook atmosphere. The short film was heavily inspired by works from Jean Giraurd "Moebius" whose signature blend of psychedelic fantasy and surrealism formed the aesthetic blueprint of modern sci-fi. It is exceptionally high quality animation and a good reference to the capabilities of cel-shading.

Cel Shading and AiToon Shader Tutorials

[Arvid Schneider]. (MtoA 518 | AiToon | Introduction, 2018)

A fairly dated tutorial on a introduction to AiToon shader in Maya. A lengthy tutorial that covers a lot of the basics of using the Arnold plugin.

[Artist B]. (Create Standard Render and Toon Shader by Using Arnold Renderer, Maya 3D - Part 2, 2021)

This tutorial had no dialogue and moved at a fast pace. Which I found inconvenient, but following the steps and the subtitles helped. The tutorial shows how to make a more comic book look to the shadows and shading of the AiToon shader. Adding a dotted look to them. An interesting idea and one I might later incorporate to the animation.

[Owenferny].(Maya Toon Shader: The Secret to Creating 2D-Style 3D Animation in Minutes, 2023)

This modern tutorial helped streamline the AiToon shading techniques and also explained methods of adding Motion lines within a scene in Maya.

[My CG Tutor]. (2022, March 27). How to use the aiToon Shader for Maya [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAoAiY8NZIk

I used this tutorial to learn the basics of using the aiToon shader tool for Maya. It explained how to create the defined black lines emulating a comic book style. The Ramp Tone Map usable in order to create different shades of colour. How to change the speculation slider in order to create reflective surfaces.

Notes for development of Cel Shading technique using AiToon Shader, an Arnold Plugin for Maya:

Change the Arnold renderer filter type to 'contour'. A required step to create the Cel Shading.
Changing the 'Angle Threshold' changes the black outlines to the material. Lower = thicker lines.
To add a gradient to the Base Colour update the 'Tone Map' to 'Ramp' and change the 'Interpolation' to None.
Changing the 'Speculation' slider decreases or increases the reflectivity of the texture.
To emulate a metallic surface, include a larger section in the 'Ramp' at the right to be a brighter almost white colour.

Screen grab of my Arnold Renderer Settings

First Attempts at AiToon Shader

My first time using the AiToon Arnold Shader Plugin in Maya to texture a model. An interesting aspect to this technique of texturing was that it did not require any UV Unwrapping to apply the texture. Regardless of the complexity of the shape, the AiToon shader had no trouble immediately creating an appealing Cel-Shading texture within a few short steps. Once you know what you are doing.

This test was to see the reflective capabilities of the shader. By adjusting the weight slider in Specular, I was able to quickly make the material as reflective as a mirror. Still having the black edge highlights.

I lowered the weight slider, making the cube less reflective. It also allowed the colour of the cube, which was a dark grey to show more. I can see this tool being a integral part of our production. Which a part of me is apprehensive to (to many eggs in 1 basket), but if we don't overly rely on the AiToon shader and use Substance Painter to enhance when required. Then I am hopeful our production will be efficient.

The Bean Colour Test

3 Colours

I created this coffee bean model in my own time as a modelling exercise and thought it would be a useful shape to test the colour ramp of the AiToon Shader. I duplicated the bean, shifted the angle, reduced and enlarged the size of the coffee bean. Using only 3 colours in the V-ramp created the least appealing look I found. Very basic and almost makes it difficult to interpret the models structure.

5 Colours

With 5 colours, the bean had a nicer aesthetic. This level of detail is useful for less important models that might only be in the foreground or seen for a quick moment. I found that it is important for the outline controlled by the 'Angle Threshold' slider to be thinner on smaller models and thicker on larger ones. Details can be completly covered on smaller models if the black outlines are to thick. While on larger models, it becomes difficult to detect if to small.

9 Colours

Personally I found a minimum of 9 colours to be the most aesthetically pleasing. It is definitely noticeable on larger or models closer to camera. Though surprisingly on smaller models, the difference between 9 and 3 colours is unseen. Which is an important aspect to remember. It will greatly increase efficiency when we know what level of texture detail is required for an asset, before creation.

I created a test render of the Ai Toon Shader on how it looks in movement. I animated one of the beans in a short sequence. Rendered it and made it a gif in Premiere Pro. I was pleased with the results. The render was finished fairly quickly, though with more in the scene I'm sure it will increase the render time. Honestly I am pleasantly impressed with this plugins capabilities and user friendliness. Hopefully meaning for less troubleshooting further down the line.

Textured Prop Test

A test render of the plugin Cel Shading Tool AiToon Shader on a prop needed for the animation. I polymodeled the Tribike and textured it all in Maya and found it to be a fairly streamlined process. With some more tests and practice, I’m confident the AiToon Shader will be used effectively. For this rigged prop I did not UV Unwrap any part of it before texturing and rendering. Which sped the entire process up significantly. The look was lacking in detail, but I found that creating a base texture in Substance Painter, then adding that within the AiToon Shader node created a more detailed texture.

Lighting using Cel-Shading

An interesting nuance I discovered with Cel-Shading is that I needed to manually changed the textures to emulate the light source. It wasn't difficult and with careful coordination we will be able to match the given light source with the cel-shading textures using a reference list. This task needs to be done for every individual texture. I created to separate hues of tonal light on the model by changing the final colours in the ramp to emulate a light source. This is actually a very important aspect of using the AiToon Shader, as this means any object using this texture will need to be manually colour matched to the lighting of the scene. You can save colours used in the 'hypershader' which can then be carried over from texture to texture. It adds a level of tedious to the process, but very rarely is a process in animation always without its hitches. With good communication, asset naming and persistent test renders, we should be able to have a level of consistency with the lighting.

A cool white light source (midday daylight)

A soft orange light source (early morning sunrise)

Test renders for the effect of AiToon Shader on character models. The textures required more tweaking to fit the form of the character better. I also tested the reflective capabilities of the textures and it found with some effort it did well. It required me to select the faces exactly to be reflective. It was slightly fidly but worked without needing to UV Unwrap.

Motion and Camera Tests

TriBike_Test_Dummy_Freefall.mp4

I created this previs in order to test the flow of the action for the animation and a possible slapstick comedic sketch. It shows the delivery driver after losing their main mode of transport and resorting to using a child's tri-bike. He then bombs a hill out of control and launches off a makeshift ramp. Soaring in the sky, a bird is at first unaware to the approaching man. He comically acknowledges the bird, continues to pedal his bike and then plummets down off screen. Crashing abruptly onto the roof of a building. I also wanted to test rigging the tri-bike. It was a challenge to begin with but I eventually found a method to have the bike function for animation.

Roof_Fall_Previs_Version1.mp4

This previs is a continuation from the previous sequence. The delivery driver finds themself on top of the roof of a tall building on the other side of the street from their dilevery destination and finish line. With their rival approaching, time is short and he devises a plan to reach the goal fast. His plan making is shown on his TV screen. I specifically thought of this sequence to in order to test having something on the TV screen. My first attempt I decided to add it in post. Using photoshop and premiere pro I managed to have it work. Though it's flawed in that I needed the TV and camera to be still for it to work. Another method would be to have the TV screen rendered Green and compositing the screen emotes tracked over top.

Communications

Group Discord Chat

Rigged from the get go = Me, Zachary Christoforou

My initial pitch to the group for the method and tool for the cel-shading technique we wanted to achieve for the animation.

Me presenting to the group a test render I did with the AiToon Shader in Maya on a Tri-bike I also modelled.

Me explaining to the group some of the intricacies of using the AiToon Shader Tool. Specifically the unique challenge it brings to lighting a render,.

The Prospectus

Prospectus

Reflection

The prospectus saw a fantastic effort from all members and great coordination conversing our ideas and research together into a cohesive document. My contribution included the in-depth research and development of the cel-shading aesthetic for the animation. Test footage and experimentation of slapstick comedy sketches within the animation. Researching statistics and analytics of the audience our animation is attempting to acquire. I spent many hours in Maya testing and learning the aiToon shader plugin for Arnold. The results lead the group to be confident in our ability to create the aesthetic style of the animation going forward. The test footage I created allowed the group to have a better understanding of the pacing required for the scene's in-order to stay on target within the timeframe available to us.

Reflection

I believe our group is deserving of a High Distinction mark. This was definitely a theory intensive project. Exploring aspects of animation production I don't normally focus on. It was a learning process I enjoyed and I feel as though there is a lot I can take away from this project. Being in control of the aesthetic of the animation after Ruby's original elevator pitch was a joy and stress. We researched together an aesthetic style that would both suite the animation we were trying to create and push us to learn new techniques for the industry. Deciding on Cel Shading was unanimous within the group once I suggested it and showed examples. I created Animation Production Pipeline Flowchart with the hopes the group would actually follow it. Unfortunately time got away from us and whilst we are behind on my initial intended schedule, we are able to adapt and produce the animation within the new timeframe. I got to work testing methods for producing Cel Shading within Maya. I discovered AiToon Shader as a built-in plugin for Arnold Maya. After learning the process for using the tool and created some test props and renders. Pleased with the results and able to see where improvements can be done I presented my findings to the group. I also created some test footage of sequences, character motion and camera placements. In a rough playblast previs format within Maya without sound. I am proud of the effort that myself and the group put into the project. We all showed an attention for detail and a determination to finish the pre-production and research required of us.

Peer Review

The group as a whole was an effective unit. We communicated consistently throughout the projects timeline. My inquiries and contributions were always reviewed by the group in a informative and constructive manner. Ruby our project lead, would confidently set the objectives for our project, help others when needed and kept us 'on model' for design choices. Valent was a work horse when it came to the environment design concepts. He also would assist any member with anything they might be struggling with to the best of his ability.

Breanna's work within the group is greatly commendable. She did a fantastic job creating concept art of the main character 'TV Guy'. She created various sketches in colour and stencil, experimenting with different outfits and colour schemes. With constant communications within the group, discussing any changes or preferred concepts for the character. She always spoke her mind on subjects like aesthetic style and intended props for the animation. Breanna kept us updated on possible design issues or techniques she was comfortable using for production. All in all a fantastic informative member of the group and a brilliant artist.

This are some of Breanna's concept artworks for the TV Guy Character.

Bibliography

[My CG Tutor]. (2022, March 27). How to use the aiToon Shader for Maya [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAoAiY8NZIk
Yajima, T. (Director). (2018). The Power of Us [Film]. Wit Studio.
Clarke, M. (2017). Flowcharts for Games/Animation/VFX [Photograph]. https://mitchellnextgengames.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/flowcharts-for-gamesanimationvfx/
[Artist B] Create Standard Render and Toon Shader by using Arnold Renderer, Maya 3D - Part 2. (2021, February 16). Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXVJUeXnTDQ
[Owenferny] Maya Toon Shader: The Secret to Creating 2D-style 3D Animation in Minutes. (2023, February 22). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byxpUGDNNuc
[Arvid Schneider] MtoA 518 | aiToon | Introduction. (2018, May 5) . YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbbcwVOkgi8
(2021, September 23) Sable [Microsoft Windows]. Raw Fury

Page updated

Report abuse