Hybrid Animation: Integrating 2D and 3D Assets

295 Pages·2010·18.54 MB·English

HYBRID ANIMATION
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HYBRID ANIMATION
Integrating 2D and 3D Assets
TINA O’HAILEY
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD
PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
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Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
O’Hailey, Tina.
Hybrid animation : integrating 2D and 3D assets / by Tina O’Hailey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-240-81205-2 (alk. paper)
1. Computer animation. I. Title.
TR897.7.O42 2010
006.6′96—dc22
2009048178
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-240-81205-2
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CONTENTS
Introduction and an Apology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
The Page of Thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Part One: An Overview for Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
1: Hybrid Animation: The Main Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Interview: Derald Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
2: Iterations for Developing a Pipeline and Nailing the Moments . . . . . . . .31
Part Two: Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
3: 3D Character Leads 2D Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Interview: Todd Redner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
4: 2D Characters with 3D Parts (2D Leads) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
5: 3D Characters with 2D Parts (3D Leads) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Interview: Marty Altman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
6: EFX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
7: Camera: Flat, Limited, and Deep Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
Interview: Claire Almon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264
8: What Next? Companion Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265
Appendix: Student Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266
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INTRODUCTION AND AN APOLOGY
Before we begin this journey together, I must apologize to you. My résumé says that I have
worked at great places. I have. However, I have never served as a great artist. I rarely received
much more than a “special thanks” credit on any film. I am one of many who worked on
feature animation films and was only a small, small cog in the feature animation gear
mechanism.
My cog, however, was a unique and special one. My cog was allowed to fit and morph and
change as needed throughout the film. In a large production house, this is not usually the
case. One is usually pigeonholed into one area. In this, I can say my experience was different
than most. I was not confined to one area of animation. In fact, I was fortunate to have never
been limited in my quest for knowledge as it applied to animation.
During my career as a trainer for two feature animation studios and one game studio, I have
had rooms of computers where artists would come to learn what they needed to know to do
their jobs. Those rooms were sometimes small, such as an old storage closet, and sometimes
larger, such as a room with—gasp—windows! A unifier was that they were all warm, except
for one; it was freezing!
The best unifier of all is that in all three of those studios, I was granted this one amazing
gift: great artists who did great things and had amazing credits on movies came into those
training rooms. I was able to teach them what they needed, and in return I asked them ques-
tions and learned how they thought and worked. I had my own personal education process
for all of those years with the best professors I could have ever asked for.
If that weren’t enough, when no one was in my training rooms, I was busy picking scenes
out and watching them progress from rough animation to final composite. I followed them
through the pipeline and saw how they were done. I concentrated on the problems that might
require the problem solver to get some training in order to proceed better. I would question
and poke, watch, learn, prod, and figure out how to teach to the artists’ needs. I’m sure I wore
out my welcome on occasion, because I questioned—often. I would pop into someone’s office
to ask how he or she did something, always trying to understand. I would try not to pick on
the same person more than once in a row; I spread the questions around. For everyone who
has been kind enough to entertain my questions, thank you. If I know anything, it is because
of those patient friends who endured my enthusiasm for learning and my longing to know
how everything worked.
It wasn’t until I became a professor and started trying to put this education into practice
via classroom assignments and my own group projects that I started to formulate everything
into a cohesive thought. Luckily, I am not afraid to speak something out loud and sound like
a complete idiot while formulating that cohesive thought. Those who have ever been in my
classroom just as I have started down the journey of a given quest have been abused with
these half-baked musings that usually work themselves into well-educated ideas in a few
months or sometimes years. In the experimental, collaborative environment of classroom
projects, I have been able to crystallize some of the concepts that are put forth in this book.
It is just a beginning, however. The last chapter of the book guides readers to the online forum
website that exists for us to continue our discussion and further hone these concepts, such
as the honing I have done for the past four years in the classroom and the dozen years before
that in animation training rooms.
This entire apology is to say that this book is composed of the methods of 2D/3D that I use
in class and in my own group projects. They are based on methods that are applied in feature
viii  introduction And An APology
animation films and published in papers and articles you can find in the ACM (Association
for Computing Machinery) library. They are based on methods that we have come up with
in class to help isolate the issues particular to 2D/3D. They are based on what I see as the
underlying problems to solve.
Is this the end-all, be-all production bible in a book? No. It is an overview of 2D/3D problem
solving. I hope it is helpful as you combine it with your already established method of creating
this art we call animation.
I can’t wait to see what questions we come up with.
—Tina O’Hailey
THE PAGE OF THANKS
Most humbly, I thank all of those who were there for me when I needed a second pair of
eyes, an image, an idea, an ear to listen to my ramblings, help with software bugs (both per-
ceived and real), a project, a rig, a model, an illustration, an idea, a quality tester, a tutorial
checker, a sanity check, a high-speed Internet connection when I needed it on the mountain,
a personal cheering section whenever I posted that another chapter was done, a reminder
that the world outside of this project existed and I would see it again, and a hot meal when I
couldn’t fathom cooking and live where there is no delivery.
I will try to list names and hope I do not miss anyone.
Thank you to my editors, Katy Spencer and Graham Smith, for patiently listening to my
monthly rambling progress updates.
Thank you also to my technical editors, Rob Bekuhrs and Gregg Azzopardi, for your patience,
teachings, and all you have given.
Extra special thanks to the following:
• Chelsey L. Cline for amazing, thorough checking of the text from front to back and every
button click and missed comma in between
• Daniel Tiesling for wonderful models and rigs, on time and exceeding expectations
• Jason Walling and Clint Donaldson for their overwhelming dedication to Jaguar McGuire
and all of its challenges
• Claire Almon for her tireless and amazing work
• Dianna Bedell for work, on time and with a smile
Contributing students and alumni:
• Yossaya Aisiri
• Candice Ciesla
• Jennifer Chandler
• Chris Ellis
• Loraine Howard III
• Jessica Huang
• Alston Jones
• John-Michael Kirkconnell
• Brent Morris
• Dan Murdock
• Amanda Powell
• Jessica Toedt
• Shani Vargo
• John T. Vu
Contributing friends and peers:
• Marty Altman
• Jeff Dutton
• Joseph Gilland
• Troy Gustafson