Themed 5-Sec Animation

Description

Using a theme as inspiration create a 5-second animation. You will take this project through all stages of animation, from concept, through compositing. This project is in part inspired by the "5-Second Projects" at Greyscale Gorilla.com.

Prerequisites

• Modeling
• Animation
• Rendering

Examples

• http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/five-second-projects/
• http://vimeo.com/15440836
• http://vimeo.com/16577050
• http://vimeo.com/16554990
• http://vimeo.com/41498807
• http://vimeo.com/42029432
• http://vimeo.com/15674201

Deliverables

Video

Length: 5 seconds (no more, no less)

Resolution: 1280x720

Frame-rate: 30fps

Format: Apple Quicktime

Codec: H.264 Best Quality

Bitrate: 10,000 kbit/s

Audio

Codec: AAC-LC (Advanced Audio Codec)

Data Rate: 320 kbit/s

Sample Rate: 48 kHz

Delivery:

1. Upload to Vimeo.com and/or Youtube.com
2. Embed the uploaded video in your Course Projects Blog

Steps

Concept

Start brainstorming around the theme. What does it make you think of? What images come to you? Is there a story that comes to mind? Distill these stories down into a series of 1-2 sentence pitches.

1. Generate three 1-2 sentence pitches.
2. Write them down.
3. Bring them to class with you.

Examples

1. Theme: "Primitives"
   1. Pitch: A series of primitives bounce up and down in place, they cut to different shapes on each bounce, on the final bounce they collapse into a pile of random primitives. (Inspiration: http://vimeo.com/15440836)
   2. Pitch: A darkened city street. Everything is made out of cubes: the cars, the buildings, the lights. (Inspiration: http://vimeo.com/15674201)
2. Theme "Playtime"
   1. Pitch: A puppy puts it's nose on the the lens, sniffing and jumping up and down excitedly.

Story

1. Take the concept you think is most successful and expand it into a series of story beats with detailed descriptions.
   1. Break it down by shot/image.
   2. Write in the present tense. What is the viewer seeing?
2. Now that you've clearly articulated the story beats, create a storyboard where you draw a single panel for each beat.

Design Research

1. Style References
   1. Find images with a similar visual style to what you are trying to create.
2. Color Scheme
   1. Find images with color you like that will suit your piece.
3. Motion Reference
   1. Find animations/videos that show elements moving in a way similar to what you want to create.

Design

1. Create some style frames to illustrate your finished piece. What will it look like?

Asset List

1. Write down a list of every asset you will need for your completed project. Assets include:
   1. Locations / Scenes
   2. Shots
   3. Models
   4. Textures
   5. Video clips
   6. Sound clips

Production Scheduling

1. Open your calendar and evaluate how much time you have to complete your final project both in and out of class. Remember:
   1. The last 45min of our class will likely be dedicated to screening work and doing a full critique.
   2. 3D renders can take a very long time - strive to have most of your rendering done before our final class day so that you can focus on sweetening your renders in Adobe After Effects.
   3. You'll still need time to post your finished animation to your blog & Youtube/Vimeo.
2. Estimate how long it will take you to complete each task - be sure to leave room for things to not go perfectly as they so rarely do.
3. If there's a mismatch between how much you have to complete and how much time you have - simplify your visuals and/or your story until you can complete your project in time.
4. As you schedule try to organize your time based on the importance of the element. The hero object/character in your scene probably deserves more time in modeling, texturing, and animation than an object in the background.

Modeling

1. For each model start by searching on TurboSquid.com & Google to see if there are any no-cost Royalty Free models that would serve your purposes. Remember: the finished image is what the viewer will see, not the process you took to arrive at it.
   1. Note where you found the model and the name of the artist that created it so that you can appropriately credit her/him.
2. If no free models fit the bill:
   1. Put together a model sheet and/or some reference images you can use when creating the model.
   2. If it's a background object, block it out in primitives and see if you can get away with using that as your completed model.
   3. Model your object from the reference using spline and/or polygon modeling tools.
3. Give your object a meaningful name so that it's easy to retrieve later.
4. Adjust your object's hierarchy and axis positions to prepare it for animation.

Texturing

1. Search for preset textures that will fit your needs in the content browser.
2. If none exist, do a google search for "cinema 4d material TEXTURENAME"
3. If that doesn't turn up anything, download some reference images.
4. If photographic textures are needed, go to cgtextures.com and download appropriate elements.
   1. If there's nothing there, go outside and take some photos yourself - depending on how close the subject is your phone's camera might work just fine.
5. Build the material in Cinema 4D

Layout / Set Dressing

1. Create a new scene file.
2. Adjust your render settings to match the target resolution of this project (720P)
3. Create a camera object & make it your editor camera.
4. Adjust the focal length of the camera to match the needs of your story.
5. Start importing your models into your scene (File->Merge...)
6. Scale your models so that relative to each other they are the correct size.
7. In your 4-way view place your models so that they exist in a world that is visually coherent.
8. Place your camera in it's first position & record it's PSR & focal length.
9. Tweak the positioning of your Camera & Objects until you've got a frame with a good looking composition.
10. If your storyboards call for a camera move rough it out.

Animation

1. Starting with your hero object, animate your scene.
2. Key your major story points (e.g. try to match your storyboard)
3. Key your in-betweens.
4. Refine your timing.
5. Animate any background objects and add any secondary motions.

Lighting

1. Based on the story/content of your animation pull together some lighting reference images.
2. Looking at those reference images try to create the same feel in your 3D scene.
3. Tweak your lighting placement based on the animation of your subjects/camera.

Rendering

1. Try to render your completed animation, if it seems to be taking forever, try to optimize your render.
2. Optimization tips:
   1. Wherever possible while still retaining image quality, lower your polygon/subdivision counts.
   2. Are your anti-aliasing settings too high?
   3. If you're using GI, turn it off and try to fake it with C4D's native lights.
   4. If you're using Area shadows, turn them off and go with Hard or Soft-shadows depending on your subject.
   5. Do you have any blurry reflections/transparency? Get rid of them if you can.
   6. Do you have a lot of reflections? Try to switch over to Environment maps if you can get away with it.
3. Render out your complete animation to 16bit PNGs to ensure you have enough image data to play around in Adobe after effects.

Compositing

1. Bring your animation into AE and do some simple tweaks.
2. Adjust your colors using Curves.
3. Add motion blur.
4. Add any other visual effects or type you feel you need to communicate your story/concept.

Sound-Editing / Mixing

1. While somewhat beyond the scope of this course, music + sound effects will count for at least 51% of a viewer's enjoyment of your piece.
2. Add appropriate (royalty-free) music.
3. Accentuate key moments in your animation with sound effects.

Encoding

1. Export your completed animation using the recommended encoding settings above.

Distribute

1. Post your completed project to Vimeo/Youtube and your course projects blog.

Screening & Critique