Animation Investigation - 3D

Looking into Digital Animation now, we've gone through an in depth investigation on what a Digital Animation is, how they are made, and why this is used, using the same site: www.lynda.com


Here's the course we have started to follow. At the end of this investigation, we'll have a discussion about what animation style we will decide to use.
http://www.lynda.com/course-tutorials/Getting-Started-3D-Animation/193805-2.html


What is Digital Animation?

• Images in 3D
• 3D objects and texturing
• Rendering (Lights and cameras)
• Creative and technical

Software:

• Autodesk Maya (3D, Modelling, Rendering, and Animation)
• 3DS Max (Character Animation and Visual Effects)
• Cinema 4D (Motion Graphics, Character Animation, Visual Effects)
• Blender (Free to use, Character Animation, Visual Effect tools)
• Software depends on how you want to use it. Deeper research is needed.

Modelling and sculpting objects:

• Foundation of 3D animation
• Digital Sculpting
• Primitive objects like spheres and rectangles
• Polygonal modelling uses polygons
• Eventually can be made into any shape
• Splines (Curving and smoother surfaces)
• Placement of detail
• ZBrush and Mudbox are focused on sculpting

Adding colour and textures:

• Realism
• Textures are 2D images that can be placed on a model
• Photoshop helps with this
• Textures are flat images but are applied to a 3D surface
• 'Mapping' with the use of projections
• UV Mapping Editor, allows people to map specific parts of the texture to specific parts of the model
• Time consuming, but makes a 3D model look as realistic as you want it too.

Rigging for animation:

• Rigging makes a model easy to animate
• Connecting parts together and building custom interfaces
• Character Animation
• 'Skeletons' are made
• Controlling joints - Skinning
• Face rigs, expressions.
• Rigging doesn't need to be used in 3D, 2D animation also uses Rigging

Bringing objects to life through animation:

• Timeline and timing
• Animation is played through keys
• Software calculates the in-between keys, moving the object smoothly.
• Keys can be edited
• Time consuming and lots of anatomy knowledge is needed when animating characters

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Many points are still needed to be added, but judging on how much time is needed we have quickly decided to use Stop Motion as our basis for animation and our project on Elements of Design. If we were to use 3D animation, it would certainly keep us awake at night trying to learn how to use new software we are not entirely used to.