3D: Inspiration

My favourite kind of 3D animation and modelling is 3D models textured to look 2D, for example, Paperman. Since my main interest is 2D hand drawn animation, I really like that 3D can be made to look 2D! Although this technique will be unachievable for me in this unit, I do find it very inspirational and so I will be taking a look at how it is done.

I found this video to be a really interesting look into the process not only behind 3D animation but the process behind getting the 2D look and feel from this short movie, though I'm no closer to understanding all the processes that went into the production of his movie and there is probably a lot more the Disney company will do to refine and perfect this technique. 

Another 3D character made to look 2D and blend in with other 2D characters is Drix from Osmosis Jones. This character was brought to my attention by a presentation given by a couple of people in the class and it made me want to go back to watch the movie because it featured a form of animation I would really enjoy looking into if I was more into 3D itself.

 It was interesting to see how well the 3D character blended in with the 2D, when it was noticeable that he was animated differently and when it wasn't. If they had not said that he was a 3D character in their presentation, then I wouldn't have had any clue at all even after rewatching the movie.

As I have said, although these styles are not something I will be able to achieve in my own work, they are definitely something I admire and if I was to specialise in 3D, this is the look I would strive to achieve, but I think that is me speaking as somebody who's primary interests lies with the look and feel of 2D hand drawn animation.

I found some interesting information on the character and about why they went with the decision to make him a 3D character, which was retrieved from anarchived webpage. Provided by Richard Bazley, who was the lead animator for Drix:

I very much wanted to keep the two colour theme of the pill throughout the design to make a bold statement that he is literally a floating pill! I was also very keen on keeping the head as a separate floating element so it looked like a pill with a mouth. The neck is implied but there is no physical connection….so if the character was walking and stopped there would be a little overlap in the head and then it would settle back almost as if there was a magnate at the centre.

The character initial was going to be in 2D, but as I drew and designed the character with this perfect pill box shape and a cross on the front I realized that such a perfect symmetrical shape was going to be a nightmare to draw and keep consistent with so many artists on it. Therefore I suggested it be done in CGI. Once a model is built in 3 dimensions in a programme such as Maya, the model can stay consistent and the animators then just need to worry about the animation and performance. The rest of the characters were 2D so we had to make sure that it integrated into the 2D world. I also made sure that there was enough flexibility built into the design so we could squash and stretch the shape to so that it wasn’t too rigid. In 2D it is quite common to draw in cheats to get the desired effect….and no one will notice. With 3D, unless you have built these cheats into the design some movements would be impossible. For example when Drix goes to open his chest to get out some pills (grenades). If this is drawn we can cheat the arms so that they can reach into his chest…whereas with a literal 3D model this would not work, so we built in a function where we could lengthen the arm a little in the 3D model for Drix to be able to do this and it works..and no one would no the wiser!