Paper to Film – Animation Production Process
By Ravi Ranjan
Animation has come a long way to become a multi-billion dollar industry. And an animation degree promises to be a viable and profitable choice for the creative minds who are not driven to burn the midnight oil slogging it out for a medical or engineering degree.
Animation involves the process of creating an illusion of continuous motion using rapid display of a sequence of static images that gives an impression of visual progression. An animation degree programme takes about three years to complete and covers all the stages in animation.
The animation process is divided into three parts, which are discussed here in detail:
- Pre-production.
- Production
- Post- production
PRE-PRODUCTION
Pre-Production takes place in three stages:
Concept: An animation degree programme usually starts with pre-production in its first year. Students are exposed to animation concepts and script-writing. Celtx is a script-writing software with pre-production support that is normally learnt in the first year of an animation degree.
Story Board: Story boarding is the first stage of pre-visualization which consists of making model sheets and layouts and even backgrounds to showcase expressions and movements of characters and models to be used in the animation film. Autodesk Sketchbook pro is the go to software for expressive drawing and concept sketching. This is the most common software one can expect to learn. However, some may use hand sketching.
Animatics: This involves having a mockup of the animation film to get a better idea of the motion and timing of events in the film. Adobe AfterEffects is the most popular software for animatics that is taught in animation institutes.
PRODUCTION
Production is typically learnt in the second year of the degree course. Production is divided into 5 stages:
Modeling: Modeling involves the transformation of 2D models from model sheets into 3D formats. Autodesk 3DS MAX, Autodesk Maya, Softimage, Blender, Cinema4d are just a few of the software that may be taught to modeling students pursuing an animation degree. Autodesk Maya is one of the more popular applications used for making 3d models and animation.
Texturing: Texturing involves improving the look of 3D models created to enhance their identification, appreciation and appeal. Most of the time, Adobe Photoshop is used for texturing and this is taught to students aspiring for an animation degree.
Rigging: Rigging involves the addition of bones or rigs to a 3D model to make it locomotive. The same software used for modeling is also used for rigging.
Animation: Animation involves the movement of the rigged 3D models to convey a message or tell a story. This is the most important aspect of animation and crucial part of the pursuit of an animation degree.
Lighting: Lighting involves putting lights in scenes based on the script to depict daylight and night time or varying times of the day and also luminance of objects and props in the animation film. After the models are created, textured, rigged and animated, they are then rendered in the same software or using a render farm.
POST-PRODUCTION
This is the final stage of making an animated film. It is usually covered in the third year of an animation degree course.
Compositing: This involves bringing together rendered shots and characters to make a pipeline of scenes in the film. Compositing software includes Nuke, Fusion, Match Mover and a host of others.
Video Editing: This stage involves putting scenes together to make a film. Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and Avid Composer are mostly used and taught to students pursuing an animation degree.
Sound Editing: This stage involves putting audio, sound scores and effects to complete the film. Sound Forge, Adobe Sound Booth, Steinberg Nuendo, Cubase, Logic Pro are few of the software that can be used for this.
The pursuit of an animation degree is a three-year journey filled with learning new software and concepts at every stage. Mahatma Gandhi University and Punjab Technical University offer BA Animation and BSc Animation, respectively. Aspirants can explore more institutes offering animation courses by clicking here.
About the author:
Ravi Ranjan is the director of TGC Animation and Multimedia, Delhi. Besides Android Development, the institute offers a wide range of training programmes in 2D/3D Animation, Graphic Design, Web Design and A/V post production.
