Animation
Workflow
Prepared by:
honey fate joy d. villegas
Traditional
Animation
Workflow
In a traditional workflow, many steps are done
manually. Harmony is used for the digital
portion.
the traditional workflow is a very
straight forward pipeline. many of the
steps cannot be done simultaneously,
meaning they must be completed before
continuing on to the next step in the
process.
In the following
illustration, all the
purple steps are done via
software (like recording)
or on paper (character
designs, animation,
backgrounds, etc).
SCRIPT
• It is the foundation of the whole
project.
• This comes from either the studio
itself or the client requesting
the project.
• By closely following the script,
the design team will begin the
character, props and locations
and design.
• The storyboard artist will start
working on the storyboard. This
process is similar to any other
workflow.
Designs
• The design team will take charge
of the character, prop and
location design as soon as the
script is locked.
• For a traditional project, the
designs can be done on paper or
digitally.
• They are cleaned up, added to the
model pack and sent to colour
styling.
Colour Styling
• Colour styling can be done before
or after the animation. It
doesn't really have an impact on
the pipeline.
• It can be done on paper or
directly in an animation
software.
• If the backgrounds are painted in
an external software, it is
recommended that you do the
locations (key backgrounds)
colour styling in that same
external software.
Audio Recording,
Dialogue and Nat Pause
• The dialogue is also recorded
from the script.
• The voices are often recorded
outside of the studio.
• If there is dialogue involved in
the project, the final version
must be recorded soon enough to
import it into the project before
the animation.
• This allows the animator to do
the sound breakdown and animate
the mouth and expressions, as
well as the storyboard that's
required.
Audio Recording,
Dialogue and Nat Pause
• Nat pause is a generic audio
read-through used by the
storyboard artist to hear what
the characters are saying and how
it is said.
• In this way, they can draw the
correct facial and physical
expressions to coincide with the
dialogue.
• It is important to minimize the
revision to the visuals during
the animation process.
Storyboard`
• The storyboard is the illustrated
script of the film.
• It can be started in parallel
with the design and the audio
recording, but some studios may
wait until the designs and the
audio recording are locked.
Animatic Reel
• The animatic reel, or leica,
is made from the storyboard.
• Each scene is timed along
with sounds, dialogue and
music.
• Before the animatic can be
created, the storyboard must
be completed, approved and
locked.
• Only one person is in charge
of the animatic production
to ensure consistency
throughout the whole
production.
Animatic Reel
• If the storyboard is
done on paper, a person
must be added to the
team to scan the
storyboard and prepare
it for the animatic.
Background
Layout and Posing
• Layout and posing step is
very important to communicate
the storyboard information
very clearly to the
animators.
• The layout contains all the
information needed to
complete the animation in the
scene: background, overlay,
underlay, and key poses
(usually referenced from the
model pack)
Background
Layout and Posing
• The layout and posing
process links the
storyboard artist and the
animator.
• The layout artist uses the
storyboard and prepares an
organized folder for the
animator.
Background
Layout and Posing
• This folder contains a
field guide that shows the
proper camera move and the
right size of the scene.
• It also includes the
character's main poses
from the storyboard
following the official
design, and the effects,
backgrounds and all the
other information
necessary to the animator.
Background
Layout and Posing
• The backgrounds are done
directly out of the
storyboard and location
design.
• A background is a section or
an angle of a location. The
background artist refers to
the storyboard and draws the
background for each scene.
• Once the background is
completed, it is added to the
layout folder.
Background
Painting
• The backgrounds can be
painted in the animation
software or in an external
software.
• On a small team, one person
can handle the background
painting and on a medium-
sized team, there will
probably be two people
painting the backgrounds.
Animation
• The animator receives the
layout folder and uses the
references to animate the
scene.
• The animator will draw
each frame of the
animation or each pose of
the character.
• If there is dialogue in
the scene, the animator
will follow the breakdown
and animate the mouths and
expressions.
Animation
• The animator will do all
of the work, from the key
poses to the in-betweens
and then the clean up.
• Bigger studios will have
the animator doing only
the key poses and then
send the scene to the in-
between department and
finally to the clean up
department.
Animation
• Once the animation is
completed, it is sent
to the digital part of
the process.
• This applies only to
modern processes. In
the traditional, old-
fashioned pipeline, the
animation was sent for
hand-inking and
painting.
Line-test
During the animation
process, the scenes are
regularly passed through
the line-testing process,
which consists of quickly
testing the rough key
poses of an animation to
see if the animation is
going in the right
direction.
Digital Exposure
Sheet
• The digital exposure
sheet is the first step
done in Harmony.
• This controls the timing
of the animation.
• The traditional animator
creates a paper exposure
sheet in order to create
the timing.
Digital Exposure
Sheet
• The person in charge of
the digital exposure
sheet reads the paper
version and recreates it
in Harmony.
• Once the drawings are
all in place on the
exposure sheet, the
scene is ready for the
scan.
Scan
• The scan step is the
gateway between
traditional and digital
animation.
• To import the animation
drawings into the
project, a person is
assigned to the scan
task.
Scan
• Scanning is the second
step in Harmony.
• The cleaned-up drawings
are scanned and imported
in the software in a
simple step that
incorporates all of the
drawings in the scene.
• When all the drawings
are scanned, they are
ready to be inked and
painted (coloured in).
Scan
• The scan is either done
prior or after the
exposure sheet.
• Once the drawings are
scanned in, the person
in charge of the
exposure sheet will see
the timing.
• If the timing was set
prior to scanning, the
drawing will already
appear on the right
frames.
Inking and Painting
• The colour models are ready
and the drawings are
scanned in and properly
exposed.
• Using Harmony's optimized
tools, the colourist can
clean the scanned artwork
and start applying colour
to the different drawings.
• When the drawings are
cleaned, as well as inked
and painted, they are ready
for compositing.
Inking and Painting
• The ink and paint process
is probably the longest
digital step.
• It requires cleaning all of
the drawings, inking lines
and filling all of the
colours on all drawings.
Inking and Painting
• The length of time this
procedure takes depends on
the complexity of the
drawings; if there are a
lot of details and lines to
be inked, the colour step
will be longer.
Compositing
• The compositor imports the
coloured background,
animatic reference and
sound as required.
• Referring to the exposure
sheet, animatic and
animation, the compositor
assembles all these
elements and creates the
camera moves and other
necessary motions.
Compositing
• The compositor adds any
digital effects required by
the scene. These can
include tones, highlights
and shadows.
• When the compositing is
completed, the final step
is the rendering.
Export - Render
• Once the compositing is
completed, the last step is
to render the scene as a
movie or an image sequence.
• Generally, the compositor
will be the same person
doing the render.
Post-production
• When all the scenes are
rendered out, the user
assembles them in an
external application and
adds sound to the project.
• The final effects and
filter are added
Post-production
• The final step is to render
out to the master and
distribute it, unless there
is dubbing to be done.
• The final transfer is done
by an external post-
production company.
3d ANIMATION
pipeline
3D Animation Pipeline: A Start-to-Finish
Guide (2024 update)
3d ANIMATION
pipeline
The process of creating a 3D animation is much more complex than
most people think. The number of steps to produce a 3D animated
piece can vary to a great extent, depending on the animation
studio involved and the scale of the project itself.
What is an animation pipeline?
• The final product could be a traditional animation such as a feature
film, short film, animated commercial video, television show, game
trailer, or video game asset, or it could be something totally
different.
• Animation workflow or pipeline is a system consisting of people,
hardware, and software aligned to work in a specific sequential
order to do pre-determined tasks in a pre-determined time frame,
which will lead to a 3D animation product or asset as the final
output.
Key components of CGI
animation pipeline
3D animation production pipeline has three main stages:
• Pre-production
• Production
• Post-production
1- What is pre-production in the
animation pipeline?
• Pre-production is the research, designing, and planning
phase of the entire 3D project, which is split between
two teams:
• The design team creates the idea, story, and designs,
and the management team, who writes down the
production plan (including budgets, teams, and time
frames).
• The better the pre-production phase is done, the easier
the production stage will be.
• Idea Generation:
• Every great story starts with a brilliant idea.
• Thus, it is essential for a successful animation to
have a solid, well-thought idea.
• Story Creation
Ideas will be developed and improved until the whole
story is shaped. This is a basic version of what’s
going to happen in the animation, including the
characters, conflict, et cetera.
• Script Writing
The script is the formal, written, literary version of the
story; including the character movements,
environment, time, actions, and dialogues.
• Storyboarding
A storyboard is a non-moving visual version of the
script. It basically looks like a comic book, including
early ideas of camera staging, major character
poses, or scene events.
• Animatic
A moving form of the storyboard is called the
animatic which will evolve into the final edit of the
entire project. The animatic is created in its most
simple form, portraying the sequence timing of the
project through 2D storyboard drawings.
• Design
The final look of the project is decided at this stage;
including the concept design, character design,
costumes, prop design, and environment. The mood
and the concept of designs must be fully conveyed
here
2- What is the 3D animation
production process?
The production stage is where all
previous efforts must pay off and
transform into action. At this stage,
visual elements of the 3D animation
will be handed out to the designated
teams and artists.
• 3D Layout
A 3D version of the 2D animatic is called a 3D layout.
The 3D layout contains basic 3D attributes such as
the characters’ size, shape, environment, a simple
animation of the characters, proxy geometry, et
cetera.
• 3D Modeling
3D modeling is the process of developing a
geometric surface representation of any
object in a specialized 3D software such as
Maya or 3Ds Max.
• 3D Texturing
The process of creating and applying
textures (colors and surface properties) to a
3D model is called 3D texturing. Before
coming to the texture artist, 3D models are
usually in a default shaded flat color
• 3D Rigging
During the rigging process, a bone structure
is put into the 3D object so that the animators
can move different parts of the geometric
object (in character rigging, for example) as
quickly and efficiently as possible.
• 3D Animation
The movements of the 3D objects or
characters in a scene or setting are created
during the animation stage. Animation is
usually the most crucial and time-consuming
part of producing a 3D animated video
• VFX
A 3D animator animates almost everything,
but elements like hair, fur, water, fire,
clothes, or dust; key-framing them would be
too difficult or even impossible.
• Lighting
Lighting is the stage at which the mood of a
3D scene or sequence is created through
light based on the pre-production designs.
• Rendering
When dealing with a 3D animation, every
scene is separated and rendered into
multiple layers, including objects, colors,
background, foreground, shadows,
highlights, et cetera. The layers are going to
be united again in the post-production stage
(Compositing).
[Link]
workflow/topic/traditional-animation-workflow
[Link]
animation-pipeline/
REFERENCES