PRODUCTION PIPELINE

Editing styles can alter the feel of your film. Short snappy cuts give the film a tense, fast pace.
Long gaps between cuts allow time for the audience to relax into the scenes. Clever editing
can even create illusions .

Eg: just the sound of a helicopter creates the illusion that there really is a helicopter just out
of shot.

Montage is the principle underlying all editing.

What is Montage?
technique of producing a new composite whole from fragments of pictures,text or music.

If for example, you put together a politician’s speech without sound, followed by images of
war, then the politician is assumed to be talking about war. Montage creates a new meaning
from two independent images.

Pre-Production

Pre-production is the phase of developing ideas and planning prior to the process of
production.
Main concepts or ideas->full story->script, short sequence and camera angles are
worked out.
Major components are:

1. Story boarding
Finalize the development of the storyline, an essential stage of animation process.
made up of drawings in the form of a comic strip, and is used to both help visualise the
animation and to communicate ideas clearly.
Includes the frame, camera moves, mood and lighting.
Visual reminder of the plan and is referred back throughout the animation process.
2. Character design
developing the appearance and features of characters in an animation.
Model sheets-precisely drawn groups of pictures that show all of the possible
expressions that a character can make, and all of the many different poses that they
could adopt. helps to both accurately maintain character detail and to keep the designs
of the characters uniform. Their blueprints can be sent to the modelling department.
Expression sheets- developed as a guide to character facial expressions, such as, smiling,
laughing, sad, shocked, startled, sleepy, alert, thoughtful, concerned,etc.
Character line-up sheets- used to compare scale of the characters against one another.
3. Layouts
after storyboards approval, they are sent to the layout department which then works
closely with the director to design the locations and costumes.
stage the scenes, showing the various characters’ positions throughout the course of
each shot.
 4. Animatics
a timed moving version of the story board made up of individual frames taken from the
storyboard and is often accompanied by audio such as dialogue,sound effects and music.
The running time should match the intended running time of the final animation.
These help the Director plan how they will go about staging the above sequences, as well
as how visual effects will be integrated into the final shot.

Production

After story board approval the project enter production phase based on the guidelines
established during pre-production.
Longest and busiest phase of the animation project.
Director approves camera moves, depth of field and the composition of the models
making up the set and set dressing.
Modelling department deliver these approved set, prop and character models in the final
layout stages.
A 2D production pipeline starts with workbook and goes all the way through final
checking, composting and film output, whilst the 3D production process emphasizes the
design, modelling and rigging and animation stages.

Layout

visual map.
It instructs the various artists on a scene where the characters are to be positioned and
how they are to move.

Dope sheet-looks like spreadsheet

time duration of individual character movements, scenes, camera moves and audio
details.
Ensures each and Every one works under /the same basic instruction

Layout Artist- 3D version of storyboard

Sets the stage for each scene of animation.

work closely with the Director and other specialists such as a Scene Planner and Special
Effects Supervisor to work out the scene layout.
Layout Artist is responsible for composing the shot and delivering rough animation to the
animators as a guide.

Background Artist-creates scene settings.

background images can be very simple and drawn in a similar flat style to the characters.
A background is essentially a static setting upon which the animation takes place in the
foreground.

Digital Ink and Paint Artist- process of colouring of animation frames using specialist ink and
paint software.
 The scanned cels can be coloured in or ‘inked’ using simple tools such as the ‘Paint
Bucket’ , a tool which is common to many software packages. It is also possible to touch
up the scanned line drawings using tools such as the Paint brush.

Clean-up Artists-refine sketches that are roughly drawn (roughs) at the concept stage to a
polished line drawing.

Scanner Operator- responsible for scanning drawings prepared by the Clean-up artists.

Line Test

process used to check hand drawn frames prior to them being used for final artwork.
Frames are captured either via a video camera, frame by frame or by scanning them into
a computer.
If result in not satisfied, the animator can simply re-draw, add or delete frames and then
create another line test.

Onion Skinning

method used to view several frames of an animation simultaneously, it allows the

animator to check the changes occurring within each frame and how they flow together.
Traditionally this process involved comparing drawn frames on a light box.

Walk Cycle / Loops

sequence of frames used to show one foot moving in front of another can be repeated
continually and gives the effect of continuous walking.

Modelling

works closely with the Art Directors, Visual Effects Supervisors and Animation
Supervisors.
Modellers turn 2D concept art to 3D models.
They assist the Technical Animator and Enveloper as the model has a skeleton put in
place and the skin is developed. Following this, the model may be handed back to the
Modeller, who will proceed to sculpt facial expressions.
Organic Modellers- sculpture background and specialise in building the characters and
other freeform surfaces
Hard-surface Modellers - works on architectural background, such as modelling the
vehicles, weapons, props, and buildings.

Texturing

Texturing artists are responsible for writing shades and painting textures as per scene
requirements.
Working hand in hand with Surfacing and Shading departments, textures are painted to
match the approved concept art and designs delivered by art department.
created in form of maps.
 Lighting Technical Directors- make sure there is consistency in lighting, colour balance
and mood between the various elements of a shot or scene. They ensure the CGI looks
photo-realistic to match the live action plates.
UV mapping is the process of projecting 3D model’s surface to a 2D image for texture
mapping. ‘U’ and ‘V’ denotes the axes of the 2D texture.

Rigging

process of adding bones to a character or defining the movement of a mechanical

object, and it’s central to the animation process.
A character TD(Technical Director) will make test animations showing how a creature or
character appears when deformed into different poses, and based on the results
corrective adjustments are often made.
developing cloth simulation
If motion capture is used at the studio to digitize the motion of real actors, then a great
deal of an animator’s time will also be spent cleaning up the motion captured
performance and completing the portions of the motion (such as the eyes and hands)
that may not have been digitized during the process.
The effects team also produce elements such as smoke, dust, water, and explosions,
although development on these aspects does not start until the final animation/lighting
has been approved as they are integral to the final shot and often computationally heavy.
It is the animation of non-character elements.

Lighting

Lighters have a broad range of responsibilities, including placing lights, defining light
properties, defining how light interacts with different types of materials, the qualities and
complexities of the realistic textures involved, how the position and intensity of lights
affect mood and believability, as well as colour theory and harmony.
to fulfil the vision of the Directors, Production Designers, Art Directors and VFX
Supervisors.

Post Production

Major components:

1. Rendering
the process of getting the final assembled animation scenes or pieces out of the
computer in the format of a sequence of individual frames.
The aim of rendering is to generate a series of individual pixel-based frames or a video
clip.
2. Compositing
combine separate rendered elements together into one final animated sequence.
They receive material from various sources including rendered computer animation,
special effects, graphics, 2D animation, live action and static background plates.
the addition of other elements such as special effects which have been created using
other equipment and processes.
constructing the final image by combining layers of previously-created material.
 3. Editing
putting the rendered pieces of our animation together in the correct order of events.
Digital editing offers the benefit of being able to work in a completely digital environment
regardless of the final output format.
Video editing is the process of manipulating and rearranging shots to create a seamless
final product, and it is at this stage that any unwanted footage and scenes are removed.
Sound editing primarily involves preparing the sound track for import into the video
editing software, this may involve adjustments to the sequence or occurrence of
particular sounds due to changes made in the editing stage.
Many sound changes may take place simply within the Video Editing software itself and
may not require much, if any, changes to made within the Sound Editing software.
Editing Assistants support the Editor and editing department in editing process. They
make viewing copies on different formats for various departments, clients and
composers. They handle the housekeeping tasks.
4. Sound and Music Score
The use of audio, such as music, sound effects and vocal dialogue all play a big part in
telling the story. Altering the type of sound used, particularly the choice of music or
background ambience will have an effect on the mood of an animation.
5. Titles and Credits- includes subtitles

2D Animation

2D animation figures are created or edited on the computer using 2D bitmap graphics or
using 2D vector graphics.
Bitmap Images (also called Raster Images) are made up of a grid of pixels and dots.
Vector Images are mathematical equations which form shapes by creating a series of
points connected with straight lines or curves

3D Animation

the animator usually starts by creating a 3D polygon mesh to manipulate.

A mesh typically includes many vertices that are connected by edges and faces-Visual
appearance
the mesh is given an internal digital skeletal structure called an armature that can be
used to control the mesh by weighting the vertices.

Angle of View -The viewable field covered by a lens, measured indegrees.

HD-High Definition