Meet the CG experts and artists who have contributed to this issue

ARTISTS

Santiago BetancurA 3D generalist and freelancer working inanimation, film, motion graphics, illustration,modelling and texturing, Santiago has a passion

for H.R. Giger’s work. On page 34 the artist shares his process for creating a homage to the Swiss artist’s work in ZBrush.www.santiagobetancur.jimdo.com

Cirstyn Bech-YagherCirstyn is a freelance CG artist and educator, with over a decade’s experience in 3D. This issue Cirstyn joins 3D World’s Artist Q&A team

and offers her advice on extracting vegetation textures with clean edges. Follow her tutorial on page 40.www.northern-studios.com

Shelley PageShelley is DreamWorks’ head of international outreach and tasked with finding the hot new talent for one of the industry’s premier studios.

On page 42, Shelley shares the pick of the animators and animations she’s found on her tour of the world’s festivals.www.dreamworksanimation.com

Moritz SchneiderThe story of a gentle-giant wrestler and his pushy mother is a must-see, so we asked the director of Harald, Moritz Schneider, to share his

techniques for creating heroes and villians for animation. You can read his 10 tips to better character design on page 54.www.moritzschneider.com

Krzysztof MalecKrzysztof is a 3D generalist and self-taught 3D modeller, who freelances for various clients in the video game industry. Turn to page 70 to

follow Krzysztof’s step-by-step tutorial for improving your modelling skills using the latest version of Modo. www.bit.ly/186-vertex

Ed HooksAfter acting in over 100 films and TV shows, Professor Ed Hooks created acting training designed for animators. He is the author

of Acting for Animators and on page 92 Ed argues that animation is as much about performance as technical skill.www.edhooks.com

FEATURED

Jan played an important role in Wildlife Crossing short, working as a CG and pipeline supervisor, set designer, modeller, lighter and compositor, to name just a few jobs.

He worked with the animation director, Pixar’s Anthony Wong, who shares the team’s work and reveals what it takes to create an amazing animation, as well as his 10 tips to creating an animation short, on page 48.

“The animators and rest of the team did an amazing job,” says Jan. “So I had to maintain their level. Our goal was to make this animated film in high-image quality, but do it with a small team. I lit and composited the whole piece myself. We used a lot of render passes from V-Ray and we unleashed the power of Nuke for tweaking lights, we also used a relight system so we could avoid re-rendering 3D scenes.”

FYI To see more of our cover artist’s work, visit his site at www.janjinda.com

COVER ARTISTARTIST Jan JindaSOFTWARE Maya, Nuke, V-Ray

SPOTLIGHT ON OUR CONTRIBUTORS

4 3D WORLD October 2014 3dworld.creativebloq.com

FOLLOW THEWORKFLOW!Turn to page 48 to

follow Anthony Wong’s advice to

create a successful animated short.

[ Animated short film title ]

WILDLIFE CROSSING

[ Studio ] Anomalia [ Software ] Maya, V-Ray, Mari, Nuke, Smedge [ Animation production time ] Two weeks[ Website ] www.anomalia.eu

48 3D WORLD October 2014 3dworld.creativebloq.com

FEATUREWildlife Crossing

Pixar’s Anthony Wong reveals what it reallytakes to make a low-budget animated short, using Wildlife Crossing as an example...

49 3D WORLD October 2014 3dworld.creativebloq.com

aking your own animation can be a daunting task, from hiring a director to funding the film, there’s a challenge around every corner. Last year Pixar’s

Anthony Wong and David Tousek, founder of the Anomalia Animation Training School, teamed-up to create Wildlife Crossing – and in preparation for the September 2014 season of animation training in the charming town of Litomysl, in the Czech Republic, the duo share the lessons learned from making their first animated short.

As in many short film projects, the style of animation depends on the story. Anthony Wong was confident the style should match the tone of the film and the acting choices.

”As animation director, I like to block out the film with poses as soon as possible,” Anthony

says. ”The goal here is hitting the story beats. Believe it or not, these can be lost when a film goes from storyboards to animation, especially the jokes.”

As the animation director, Anthony has to actually ‘find’ the film again. ”Then,” he says, ”once the beats are clear and established, the animators can then polish and add subtleties to their shots. I prefer a simple, clean, entertaining presentation of animation, instead of busy and fancy movements.”

Artistic differencesOver in the historic town of Litomysl, the Anomalia Boot Camp in 2013 consisted of 19 animators from 10 different countries. ”They were all hungry to do story-telling performance animation,” says Anthony. ”They were talented, passionate and worked so hard. It reminded me of my Cal Arts days. Talented animators in Europe just don't have the same opportunities as

we do in the US. I hope the crew liked how the film turned out.”

This was truly an intensive boot camp. The animators lived in the studio dormitory during their training – an historic building where the famous Czech composer Bedrich Smetana was born. The whole crew of animators and Anthony gathered under one roof for two weeks to perform the animation magic.

Finding the storyThe initial story for Wildlife Crossing came from Noro Držiak, the main creator of the film. Noro noticed a sign while out on the road, saying ‘Wildlife Crossing’. The story about the weak and disadvantaged trying to get across the road began. There were many independent artists involved, including sculptors, modellers, and an art director. ”The founder of Anomalia, David Tousek, emailed me the progress and I gave feedback along the way,” Anthony explains. ”In fact 95 per cent of the animation was done in two weeks in Litomysl. After that, we did animation fixes from across the web, and

I block out the film with poses as soon as possible…The goal here is hitting the story beats: these can belost when a film goes from storyboards to animation

Anthony Wong, animation director, Wildlife Crossing

M

Storyboards for Wildlife Crossing: Suddenly the snail notices something

A car slows down (slow motion) and we discover a beautiful snail girl

The camera moves across the road to the other side as the cars are driving by

The snail falls immediately in love (slow motion)

I block out the film with poses as soon as possible…The goal here is hitting the story beats: these can belost when a film goes from storyboards to animation

Anthony Wong, animation director, Wildlife Crossing

The Wildlife Crossing project enabled artists

to learn from Pixar‘s top animation supervisor,

Anthony Wong

ANTHONY WONGAnthony has worked at

Disney Feature Animation on many films, including Mulan, Hercules, Fantasia 2000 and

Tarzan. He currently works at Pixar and was the animation director on Wildlife Crossing.

www.pixar.com

”People who get into animation and the film business are dreamers,” states Anthony Wong. ”And dreamers love creative freedom. Working for a company will never give you the satisfaction of realising your own creation. Successful artists have the luxury of creative freedom. This ability to dream is very much part of the entrepreneur spirit.”

David Tousek recognises there are huge productions and studios out there, but says even they don’t have security for long-term employment, as they hire on per-project basis most of the time. ”Animation isn’t recognised as a long-term career,” he says. ”Also, animation as a product is not a standard good that people demand as a need. It is actually a luxury product that people choose only if they want to be entertained. So, if an animator realises the character of the business and its potential opportunities, then they are on the right path.

”Getting a crew to think like entrepreneurs involves them understanding the craft, while keeping informed of emerging solutions in technology, techniques and distribution.

”If someone wants to get into animation, they should consider the fact that entrepreneurship is a huge part of the job. Animation is more of a business than an independent art form, and is extremely collaborative by nature.

”Evolving new techniques, visual looks and story-telling in combination with technologies is the very core of the craft. So the animation you've created, as a form of communication, has entrepreneurship rooted in its DNA.”

[ How to make it on your own ]

EMBRACING YOUR INNER-ENTREPRENEURThere’s more to animation than art, as the team behind Wildlife Crossing explain…

50 3D WORLD October 2014 3dworld.creativebloq.com

FEATUREWildlife Crossing

David then took over the post-production stage, also done locally in the Czech Republic. I really appreciate David’s passion and commitment.”

The project was a unique opportunity for local CG and classical artists to team-up

and make the best out of the collaboration and learn something new along the way. Concept artists were hired to design the characters and environment.

”None of the concept artists had designed for 3D animation before so it was a great

opportunity for experimentation,” David explains. ”The cars were given a uniquely futuristic design inspired by stingrays, created by classical sculptor Štepán Beránek.

Classic cars”The initial idea was to design the cars as classical cartoon designs, but we soon realised that combining futuristic and non-traditional car design might be a bit more of an interesting challenge. And it turned out awesome. Martin Furak, an expert who specialises more in

photorealistic CG car modelling, brought in some amazing high-res details and extra ideas from the real automotive industry,” explains David.

Character is key”Designing the characters was a collaborative process that pulled a lot of ideas from many sources,” explains David. ”From the director, the animation director, the concept artists and myself as the art director, we all worked on it using an online forum, posting ideas and comments. We started to challenge the idea of the cartoon and suggested a stylised design, such as a snail with a hat and a tie. But that seemed too exaggerated a direction – the fact that the snails have human eyes and a mouth is enough!”

There are frogs and snails, and an interesting fly character, which went through several iterations during production. ”We decided quite early on that we wanted to try a box shape with legs, just to see if that worked as a fly. This made us laugh so we kept this simple artistic choice right from the start,” says Anthony.

Anthony says that filmmaking is an organic process and it was a very valuable experience for the team on the two-week animation production.

The schedule was so tight that there was no room for story fixes, but, of course, story fixes happened. ”We pulled many all-nighters, fixed the problems and

Anothony Wong reflects on lessons learned:

https://vimeo com/98921198

Anthony sets the scene:http://vimeo.

com/63386110

Keith Lango shares his vision:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D81sewVTHa8

Behind the scenes on Wildlife Crossing:

https://vimeo.com/92499219

VIDEOEXTRAS

None of the concept artists had designed for 3D animation before so it was a

great opportunity for experimentation David Tousek, animator and founder of Anomalia

DAVID TOUSEKDavid is an art director

and 3D character animator. He is also the founder

of Anomalia. www.anomalia.eu

The design of the car evolved from a classical cartoon one to one that was futuristic with high-

resolution detailing

None of the concept artists had designed for 3D animation before so it was a

great opportunity for experimentation David Tousek, animator and founder of Anomalia

atmosphere becomes intensely creative. No book can teach you creativity under pressure. It has to be experienced,” David asserts. ”And if somebody has to perform under limited resources, this is the true test of their entrepreneurship.”

Streamlined processThe Anomalia Boot Camp was fortunate to partner up with Chaos Group, which provided them with V-Ray licenses for the Wildlife Crossing training project.

The Foundry provided Mari and Nuke, and Uberware set them up with Smedge for rendering management. ”We were really nicely approached by the major software companies and received personal support throughout the entire production,” David explains. ”In addition, we have also developed some simple, but very useful pipeline tools that streamlined the work.”

No surprises here. Animation is time-consuming and labour-intensive. If someone is creating

51 3D WORLD October 2014 3dworld.creativebloq.com

START RIGHTKeep the story clear

and simple. This is the foundation of your

animation, get this right and the project will be easier later. Consider a classical story structure and try to tell the story

with as few shots as possible.

GET FEEDBACKAsk producers what

they think about what audiences want. To do this, it helps to

produce samples and look for early feedback

wherever possible.

BE REALISTICYou have a small

team and budget, so don‘t overstretch your

resources. Keep the number of locations

low and ensure that the number of characters and rigs is also low.

FIND NEW STYLESConsider the different

styles of animation other than the ‘Pixar‘ way.

There is huge room for creativity in the way your characters are

animated, and finding new styles can be both

creative and original as well as time-saving.

KEEP DEADLINESConsider the animation

stage to be the most critical deadline and work

toward that moment adjusting everything else

to it. If you know you have only four animators

and two weeks, plan your story, assets,

and animation style accordingly. If possible,

plan to animate under one roof. Team collaboration is a huge boost to solving

issues in real time.

ANIMATION TIPS

managed to get the animation to 95 per cent complete,” explains Anthony. ”Of course, that challenge is nothing new. There are these kinds of crunches in professional productions as well.”

David believes the tight deadlines that animators work to can encourage teamwork and even enhance the process, heightening focus and creativity.

”We always work hard in those short two weeks, and because we know that everything has to be animated and working, the

Maya was the main 3D weapon of choice for Wildlife Crossing,

used for modelling and animation

EYESThe team debated over whether to go with straight versus slightly bent eyelids and also looked at simplifying the shape of the eyes and head for better communication

TRIANGLESTo make the snail come alive

and offer balance, an eyes-mouth triangle was devised to

keep the features in check

EXPRESSIONSSimple shapes were used to give

the snail an expressive face: moon- shaped lids for concern, tilted eye-line

for determination and a simple directional lid tilt for anger

SHAPE IDEASThe team used simple angles and shapes to create the body. The neck and head is angled up and way from the shell for realism and movement, the body is thicker for the male snail and is used to act out emotions

52 3D WORLD October 2014 3dworld.creativebloq.com

FEATUREWildlife Crossing

FIND YOUR FILM

It’s important to see the whole, bigger picture

so don’t get stuck with polishing until the entire film seems to work. Try to catch problems early on. Storyboard your film early and show it around

to people you trust for feedback.

USE YOUR COMMUNITY

Set up an online forum – a communication

platform. Get people to follow the progress and comment on it. People

need to know, especially if they work online, that there is some progress

being made.

FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLEGet a director that is

hard working, loves to work with people, is full

of empathy, wants to learn new things and communicates well. A

good director must be a step ahead of everybody

else on the project.

PUT IN THE EFFORT

Always do more work than others. If it is your

film, people need to know you care and are working harder than them. Be an example. Don’t go into a project you are not completely

convinced with.

to mean low quality. So keep in mind that you have limited time and resources, plan well and get collaborative people that understand the ups and downs of the whole journey.”

David says having top animation supervisors on a team is the first step toward the success of

an animated short. ”Animation supervisors may be expensive, but they ensure your team has solid guidance, and that you have a decision maker that can quickly spot issues and steer the whole ship away from an iceberg,” he says.

Team spirit is also the key to success. An independent

an animated short, they need to work on lighting, design, sound, simulation, and animation, all at the same time. As a result, the short filmmaker should use these limitations to their advantage instead of being overwhelmed by them. ”It is a luxury to make a short film. Any completed animated film should be celebrated,” says Anthony.

Success story”After organising an animation team, keeping the quality as high as possible is the key to success to any animation project,” says David, ”but even more so on a low budget, independent production, because animating takes the longest time, not to mention that it takes years to gain the appropriate level of quality, talent and experience.

The animation stage influences all other areas such as story,

design, look, detail level, production complexity, timetable and budget. And because the resources are limited, and a team has to work faster in order to successfully meet its goals, all the planning has to revolve around the ability to assemble a good team that animates fast. And we believe that fast does not have

production just needs to spend its time to get a really good core team before they hit the road. In effect, such self-motivated and responsible team players understand the value of the experience of having a goal to achieve. A good director is able to listen and accept new ideas in evaluation of the overall situation. Such an attitude is the key in an independent, low-budget production.

David sees a great value in gathering as many animators in one location as possible. Being able to set up the environment as friendly and dedicated, makes it easier to perform and enjoy themselves in a short, intensive time than having fewer animators work over a long time,“ he says. And with Anomalia 2014 about to begin, we can‘t wait to see what this new group can create in the coming months, holed-up in their European countryside retreat.

FYIFind out about the production at www.wildlifecrossing.eu

The Wildlife Crossing project covered character

rigging in production using Maya. The training

was provided by Josh Carey from Reel FX, who

rigged the main character

The production values are very high for a short that took just one year

to create from start to finish; David says the key is solid planning

Animation supervisors may be expensive, but they ensure your team has solid guidance, and that you have a decision maker that can quickly spot issues

David Tousek, animator and founder of Anomalia

ANIMATION TIPS

Animation supervisors may be expensive, but they ensure your team has solid guidance, and that you have a decision maker that can quickly spot issues

David Tousek, animator and founder of Anomalia