The 3D Production Pipeline

The 3D production pipeline

Beck (2017) introduces the production pipeline as following:

The animation production pipeline is the path by which a movie goes from a creator’s brain to the screen for the world to see. Understanding all the elements of the process is the first step to create your own vision (para.1).

PIRO4D (2016)

Donald Duck PNG (n.d.)

Pixcimation (2018) explains the necessity of utilizing a pipeline in the production of feature films, which may require years and hundreds of workers to complete. There is a possibility complexity may arise so the pipeline is there to structure and simplify the production (para.7). There are usually three major parts of the pipeline; the pre-production, production, and post-production (para.10; see also Beck, 2017), though (Pellacini, 2009) only mentions the pre-production literally, with lack of detail if production and post-production is included in his version of the pipeline (pp.23-28). Additionally, the pipeline can though be different and may vary between companies (p.16).

In pre-production, the main thing companies usually start with is the story (Beck, 2017; see also CGMeetup, 2016; Pellacini, 2009; Mediafreaks, 2018). Jen Yuh Nelson comments regarding her role of the story in the youtube video:

The director’s role in the movie is to have the vision for the film so that the three or four hundred people working on the film can all be working towards the same purpose, first we have a script but the movie is not just a script. We have to visualize it into the medium that you will see in theatre. The first step to do that is to do a storyboard  (CGMeetup, 2016).

When the storyboard and concepts are finished, the modeling begins. The modelers task is to convert the 2D concept art into 3d models, sculpting things such as characters, props and more, basically creating every object that you see in a 3d animated movie (Beck, 2017; see also CGMeetup, 2016). Pluralsight (2014) states that “3D rigging is the process of creating a skeleton for a 3D model so it can move.” Rigging is applied because it is needed for animation, to be able to move around and to be deformed (para.1). This is also being used to a method called skinning (para.11; see also CGMeetup, 2016).

Monoar (2016)

Pellacini (2009) explains that in animation, keyframes and motion capture are used. “Movement is specified by changing individual controls on characters at various frames” which is related to keyframes (p.58). Motion capture is used to record movements using live actors (p.58; see also Xsens, n.d.)

After stages like rigging, animation, surfacing, lightning and more, the post-production is processed, finishing up the 3d animation with last touches such as composition, music and sound, color grading (Beck, 2017).

Reference list:

Beck, B. (2017, December 13). Animation Production: The Step-By-Step Guide to Making a 3D Animated Movie. Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://blog.artella.com/index.php/2017/09/21/animation-production-step-step-guide-making-3d-animated-movie/

CGMeetup. (2016, January 4). CGI Dreamworks Animation Studio Pipeline | CGMeetup. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0tQRJ4qKs

Donald Duck PNG. (n.d.) [Online image]. Retrieved from http://pngimg.com/download/30825

Mediafreaks. (2018, October 05). The Process of 3D Animation. Retrieved November 6, 2018, from http://www.media-freaks.com/the-process-of-3d-animation/

Monoar. (2016). [Online image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/deer-dream-animal-fantasy-1333814/

Pellacini.F (2009). the 3D production pipeline. Retrieved November 6, 2018, from http://pellacini.di.uniroma1.it/teaching/projects10/lectures/01_pipeline.pdf

PIRO4D. (2016). [Online image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/cybernetics-robot-robot-arm-1869031/

Pixcimation. (2018, February 14). The 3D Animation Pipeline. Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://pixcimation.com/3d-animation-pipeline/

Pluralsight. (2014, January 14). Key 3D Rigging Terms to Get You Moving. Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://www.pluralsight.com/blog/film-games/key-rigging-terms-get-moving

Xsens. (n.d.). Motion capture. Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://www.xsens.com/tags/motion-capture/