Ok. Story is key. First, before anything else, every character and story has to have a solid foundation. Without that, how would you know what style the sets and characters even should be? The story process can vary in length. Sometimes, and idea, like Ratatouille for example, takes many, many years, and goes through many different transformations along the way, sometimes even changing screenwriters. And, then, sometimes the story - more often than you might think actually - is changed later on, like parts of WALL•E were. I do know that Toy Story, for example, was overhauled pretty late in the game, because it just didn’t feel ‘right’.
Once the story is sort-of there, (enough so, that artists can get a feel for what they should be going for), they work extensively on a concept art faze. This often is happening while the story process, like how the image of the house with balloons on it became a base-image for Up. Have you read any of the ‘art of’ books? They are expensive, but if you can’t afford to buy them all, you can probably flip through them in a bookstore, try to find them second-hand, or see if a library, (most likely only reference libraries), have them. These books give a good look at the art fazes that the pre-production process involves.
Before animation, everything has to be laid out in extensive storyboards. These are used to help communicate to all of the animation teams. You may think that if you are making your own short that it might be easier to just do it, if you already have it laid out in your head. Believe me - it’s not. Storyboards are invaluable in breaking up the process and keeping you on the right track. It is also important to know what your character will be required to do, for the rigging process, but I will get to that later…
Creating the characters and sets. Often - and this is part of the pre-art process - they do build models of the characters. Like clay-maquettes. These can actually be scanned in, via a special tool, to become a basis for a model on the computer. The concept art is used also as a basis for creating the 3D sets and characters in the computer. Once the models are created and rigged - and this can take a while depending on the complexity of the character, and the sets are all made and furnished with appropriate surroundings, then the animation process can begin. Rigging is really, really complex, and hard - at least I find. But a good or bad rig can make or break the action of your character, so…
As far as I know, (and can someone please correct me if I’m wrong), I believe a lot of the texture and lighting can be done after the initial posing and animating. Now, when there is voice work to be done, it is usually done before the animation. This is because, you have to animate the character to the voice, and match their actions to the inflections, and such. Often, the voice actors are filmed while they are recording, and the animators use that as as a reference for the animation.
Rendering needs a lot of computer power. If you are doing a lot of animating, you may have to get what you have done rendered somewhere. Again, I am not quite sure about this, as it is depending on the file sizes, and the complexities of the textures and such.
If you are really interested in animation, I would suggest getting a book that covers everything, like maybe, (something like), this: amazon.ca/Principles-Three-D … 804&sr=8-1
Granted, that book is 7 years old. I actually have started looking through a copy which is 11 years old! It does give an interesting overview of the process, although the actual technology it discusses is out of date.
All in all, the process takes several years - at least. And yes, for feature-length full animation, you would need a team behind you. Now, if you are planning on doing a two-minute or so short, with not too much detail, and simple animation, then you might be able to manage it on your own. Just be prepared to commit to it for a while, and use a lot of perseverance.
I feel like I might have skipped a few steps in my explanations, but I know that there are a lot of students on here that could maybe clarify a few things better? Please feel free to add or correct anything that I might have mixed up, missing, or wrong. I didn’t use references when I wrote the above, I was just trying to remember from my own knowledge of the process.
Anyway, I hope this helps!
EVE,
One Movie, Five Views.
It looked much better than the animation from past Pixar movies! Maybe Pixar’s using new 3D computer animation technology!
