|
Alright – here’s my mini-guide:
Time Distribution:
1) Don’t rush into modeling/animating, etc. Spend at least a few days planning, drawing storyboard, and writing script. Create a schedule and fallback plan in case you might get behind.
2) Do not focus too much on geometry. Instead, spend more time texturing and mapping. In fact the time it takes to properly map objects is usually greater than the time it takes to model them.
3) Adding motion is probably the least time-consuming part, but takes a lot of effort to tweak to perfection.
4) Always leave A LOT of time for rendering/post production. Aim for a minimum of one week. Week and a half is best. The quality of animation rises dramatically with tweaking, and it is crucial to always have time to re-render if you find some serious mistakes.
With that said here’s a timetable we had for last year, and I think worked very well:
Week 1: planning/start modeling
Week 2: modeling/start mapping
Week 3: modeling/mapping/
Week 4: mapping/ animation
Week 5: animation/first draft/begin tweaking
Week 6: rendering/tweaking/sound/post-production
Planning:
1) Really read the rules and instructions – you’ll be surprised how many forget that.
2) Brainstorm on the subject, and come up with a few ideas for animations, and write scripts for them.
3) Having troubles with ideas for animation? Try thinking of “slogans”, or key messages, first – and work from there.
4) Things to avoid: there have been WAY too many space/aliens/explosions animations. I’m not saying that choosing such theme automatically fails you – I do remember some very good space themed animations, but be advised that if you go in this direction, chances are you’ll see an animation almost identical to yours.
5) Try “prototyping” your animation – do sketches for key frames of your animation, and put them in a video editing program (moviemaker works fine) and record the voiceover you plan to have for the script. This really helps the whole group to see what the animation is going to be like, and also gives a general idea for scene timings.
Modeling:
1) Keep the poly-count as low as possible. Almost nothing increases the render times as much as unnecessary geometry. You’ll be surprised how much you can do with a simple box with a good texture.
2) Choose wisely on where to fake. Rule of Thumb – if its not a close-up, extruded outline, or even a box would do.
3) Always round the edges. Lighting on your objects will never look right unless the edges are rounded. Use chamfer boxes everywhere instead of regular boxes.
4) Xref-ing objects might be a great way to synchronize work, but be careful with it as it tends to slow down render times, and might be tricky to use at times. (do not x-ref IK-ed objects unless you are just looking for extra pain)
5) Since the chances are you’ll have a robot in your animation, have a person working on it in autocad/inventor. If you have a dedicated inventor team, do it anyways, because the model they have is likely to be unsuitable for animation. (i.e. – no, you don’t need to have every speed controller modeled with 2000 faces.. it really should be a box)
6) Unless you already have some experience in modeling, try to stay away from organic geometry, especially humanoids. Nothing brings animation down as much as blocky, and unrealistic human figure. You might think of importing a premade figure, but you probably shouldn’t. First, you still wont be able to animate it. Second, its all about learning, not using other’s work.
Mapping:
1) After you are done with planning animation, take a digital camera and do a photo hunt for textures. For every texture you might need, make at least three different shots – you’ll be glad you did when you start photoshopping them.
2) Don’t worry if you don’t have much skill with photoshop – you’ll mostly be using just one tool – clone stamp, or healing brush
2) Learn how to use UVW Unwrap modifier. All of your objects should have it applied
3) Never use a flat color for texture – at least add some noise. Bitmap is always the best though.
4) Avoid the textures shipped with max. They might look appealing, but everyone has them, and your animation will look too generic.
5) Add bump maps to your metal surfaces. Metal looks much better with tine scratches, highlights, etc
Lighting:
1) Learn the classic 3-light setup
2) Light Tracer is a really easy way to make realistic lighting, and if you have the computing power to use it, it’s a major plus. Just be sure to tune down the settings while tweaking, and use high quality only for final render.
3) Color lights might look “cool” at first, but be careful– its too easy to abuse them
Animation
1) Learn to use the track & curve editor, its much more convenient than clicking separate keys
2) Make sure the motion is not linear, or it’ll look too unnatural
3) Always add secondary motion. Flex modifier might work well. You can use it even for objects you normally think of as rigid. Its okay to exaggerate the secondary motion a little.
4) Use reactor for large sets of objects. For one or two objects, it might be easier to just do it by hand.
5) Spend time practicing with IK modifiers if you plan to have organic objects moving (humanoids, etc)
6) use the preview feature to see the motion of objects, if the hardware viewports are not updating fast enough
Cameras:
1) Use the rule of thirds to compose your shots. Do not fix your camera target on the main object in your scene. Move it around instead.
2) Add subtle camera movements, but avoid it moving for large distances. In general you should mainly animate the target/zoom of camera, but not the motion of its base.
3) Try keeping each camera shot 3-5 seconds in length. There of course might be exceptions, but intervals of this length are easiest to follow.
Rendering/Tweaking/Post processing
1) Always render your scenes to frames first. Targa format is a good option. Jpegs are smaller, but they lack alpha channel.
2) Leave a week for tweaking. Do a draft and note the things you don’t like/should be changed, etc. Keep a list of these and update it daily, as you re-render the segments.
2) If you don’t have expensive video editing software (premiere or like), photoshop might work well. You can batch process your frames with filters, which gives pretty good results. Use max’s video post to stitch the frames together after you processed them.
Ok, that turned out to be larger than i thought. Sorry if i repeated others/stated obvious/etc. I hope some of the tips are helpful
|