Rendering and post-processing
Rendering and post-processing
The video above showcases me setting up each scene to prepare for rendering, putting my final renders into premiere pro and the tweaks i made during post processing. My main focuses of this video where on preparing my animations for rendering by setting up the cameras and applying the correct render settings and applying post processing in adobe light room.
Setting up the render
Here i am setting up the scenes of my animations to prepare them for rendering. To begin this process i altered the camera to ensure it was filming the correct areas for my each render of my animations and removed the plane object i was using as a background (as i needed it be transparent in the final render|). Next, i set up the lighting of the scene by using a HDRI sky dome, which was the most efficient way to create lighting that would produce accurate shadows and ensure my final renders look of high quality. Furthermore, i did a few test renders to ensure all my render settings where accurate, this was crucial step as they would ensure my renders are of high quality and have a transparent background which i can experiment with in premiere pro.
Putting my renders together
Here i am placing my final renders into premiere pro to put the together and implementing the audio back into my animations. My main focuses during this stage was ensuring the audio was in sync with my animations to ensure the mouth was reflecting what was being said throughout the audio. During this stage i experimented with a variation of backgrounds ranging from cartoon style clouds, dragon caves and stylized streets. Yet none of these produced the look and quality i desired. Finally, i decided to got for a plain background with no distractions to ensure my animation was the main focus of this stage. Furthermore, the only issue i ran into during this stage revolved around importing my stylized animation into premiere pro, yet this was quickly overcome after a discussion with my tutor where they showed me anther method of importing my animation using a folder. To finish this stage i rendered out each angle of my animation to produce an MP4 which i then placed into adobe light room to start the post processing process.
Post processing progress
Here i am in adobe light-room making some subtle tweaks to each of my renders to ensure the colors and shadows where accurate. I achieved this by going through each of the settings such as saturation and color settings, tweaking them if needed. After doing this on one angle for both of my animations i then copied the setting to the other angles. This made sure i was efficient during this stage and each angle of each style of animation appeared the same. To finish this section i exported my animations out of light room ready for me to experiment with presentation techniques within premiere pro.
Reflection / Evaluation on rendering and post-processing
Overall, the process of setting up my renders and the post processing stage has been effective. It has allowed me to produce high quality renders with the correct angles and colors. Throughout this stage i have developed skills in Maya (rendering), premiere pro (editing) and light room (post-processing). I now feel more confident when setting up renders in Maya, importing my renders into premiere pro to edit and utilizing adobe light-room to ensure the shadows and colors are accurate in my renders to improve their quality. Additionally, i am pleased with my efficiency and the new knowledge i have developed during this stage. Any issues i encountered where dealt with quickly and i feel assured with the rendering and post processing stages. These are valuable industry standard skills i can carry and use in both future projects and possible employment in the future.