Finish Your Film! Tips and Tricks for Making an Animated Short in Maya

Finish Your Film! Tips and Tricks for Making an Animated Short in Maya

by Kenny Roy
Released April 2014
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781135943097

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Book description

Finish Your Film! Tips and Tricks for Making an Animated Short in Maya is a first-of-its-kind book that walks the reader step-by-step through the actual production processes of creating a 3D Short film with Maya. Other books focus solely on the creative decisions of 3D Animation and broadly cover the multiple phases of animation production with no real applicable methods for readers to employ. This book shows you how to successfully manage the entire Maya animation pipeline. This book blends together valuable technical tips on film production and real-world shortcuts in a step-by-step approach to make sure you do not get lost. Follow along with author and director Kenny Roy as he creates a short film in front of your eyes using the exact same methods he shows you in the book. Armed with this book, you'll be able to charge forth into the challenge of creating a short film, confident that creativity will show up on screen instead of being stifled by the labyrinth that is a 3D animation pipeline.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dediation
  6. Table of Contents
  7. Acknowledgements
  8. Foreword
  9. Chapter 1: Introduction to Short Film
    1. Key Characteristics of Short Filmmaking
    2. Finish by Making a Plan
    3. Workspace is Essential
    4. Further Removing Distractions
    5. Beginning to Understand Short Film as a Medium
    6. How to Use This Book
    7. Introducing Booty Call and Our Supporting Films
      1. Booty Call
      2. Supporting Films
      3. Adrift
      4. Beat
      5. Crayon Dragon
      6. Devils, Angels, and Dating
      7. Drink Drunk
      8. Dubstep Dispute
      9. For the Remainder
      10. Meet Buck
      11. Our Wonderful Nature
      12. Paths of Hate
      13. Reverso
    8. Finish Your Film!
  10. Chapter 2: Introduction to 3D Production
    1. Using This Chapter
    2. The Standard Studio Pipeline
    3. Processes Explained In Depth
      1. Script
      2. Design
      3. Visual Development
      4. Storyboards
      5. Recording
      6. Animatic
      7. Modeling
      8. Texturing
      9. Rigging
      10. Layout
      11. Animation
      12. Lighting
      13. Rendering
      14. Compositing
      15. Editing
      16. Sound Effects/Music
      17. Color/Master
    4. Getting Started
  11. Chapter 3: Story
    1. Structure
    2. Beginning
      1. Instantly Recognizable Characters
    3. Middle
      1. The Modular Middle
    4. End
    5. Simple Structure
      1. Examples
    6. Keeping It Under Control
      1. Number of Characters
      2. Number of Environments
    7. Theme Versus Moral
    8. The Theme/Moral Feedback Loop
    9. Booty Call
    10. Our Supporting Films
      1. Adrift
      2. Beat
      3. Crayon Dragon
      4. Devils, Angels, & Dating
      5. Drink Drunk
      6. Dubstep Dispute
      7. For the Remainder
      8. Meet Buck
      9. Our Wonderful Nature
      10. Paths of Hate
      11. Reverso
    11. Pitching the Story
    12. Wrapping Up Story
  12. Chapter 4: Pre-production
    1. Setup
      1. Software and Hardware
      2. Hardware
      3. Ergonomics
      4. File Management
      5. Folder Structure
      6. File-Naming Convention
      7. Working and Publishing
      8. Push or Pull Workflow
    2. Design
      1. Drawing Skill
      2. Shake it Out
      3. Have Fun
      4. Babinsky’s Design
      5. Further Exploration
      6. Environment/Prop Design
      7. Environment Economy
    3. Storyboards
      1. The Cutting Room Floor
      2. Booty Boards
      3. More Boards
    4. The Animatic
      1. Work in Layers
      2. Adding Frame Counters
      3. Editing the Animatic
      4. Making Timing Decisions
      5. Animatic v1.0
      6. Cutting Audio for Layout
    5. Final Prep
      1. Setting Up Your Backup
      2. Communication and Planning
      3. Communication Methods
      4. Project Management Software
      5. Charting Progress
      6. All-Over Solutions
    6. Ready? Get Set
    7. Go!
  13. Chapter 5: 3D Pre-production
    1. Deciding What to Create and What to Download
    2. Booty Call’s Downloaded Assets
    3. Level of Detail
    4. Prop Creation
      1. Working From Designs
    5. Starting the Props
      1. Anchor Model
    6. Stitching It Up
      1. Asymmetry
      2. Smooth Mesh Preview
      3. Creased Edges
      4. UV Tricks
      5. Is It Necessary?
      6. Making the Most of UVs
      7. Purposeful Seams
    7. Character Modeling
      1. Start With Edge Loops
      2. Creased Edges and Character Models
      3. Separate Geometry
    8. Environment Modeling
      1. Variations in Your Environments
    9. Texturing
      1. Photoreal is Not the Only Choice
      2. Reusing Colors
      3. Painting Textures in Maya
    10. Blocking in Matte Paintings
    11. Prop Rigging
      1. What is What?
      2. Adding to the Prop
    12. Character Rigging
      1. AB Autorig
      2. Rapid Rig
      3. The Setup Machine
      4. The Face Machine
      5. More Custom Rigs
    13. Facial Rigging
      1. Left/Right Facial Workflow
      2. Blend Shape Nodes and SkinCluster Nodes
      3. Connecting Blend Shapes to Controllers
    14. Environment Rigging
      1. Modularity
      2. Prop Locations
      3. Light Locations
    15. Layout
      1. Referencing
      2. Starting the Layout
      3. Multiple References
      4. Relative Paths
      5. Starting Position
      6. Set Render Size
      7. Camera
      8. Importing Sound
      9. Frame 101
      10. Save and Close!
    16. Pre-Lighting/Look Development
      1. Prelight
    17. Light Placement
      1. Key Light
      2. Fill Light
      3. Rim Light
      4. Background Light
      5. More Setups
    18. Creating Light Rigs
    19. Render Settings
    20. Final Thoughts
      1. Take Notes
      2. Take Pictures!
      3. Double-Check Naming Convention and Cleanup
      4. Watch Your Animatic
      5. Test Your Backup System
  14. Chapter 6: 3D Production
    1. Scheduling
    2. 3D Animatic
    3. Animation
      1. Working Too Long
      2. Shots Too Long
      3. Create Cycles for Common Actions
      4. Testing Your Export
      5. A Few Notes On Exporting Animation
      6. Frame 101 Revisited
      7. Starting Your Shots
      8. Work flow
      9. Sticking to Workflow
      10. Great Video Reference
      11. Reference Video as a Timing Tool
      12. Animating With Tempo
      13. Incorporating Style
      14. “Finishing” Shots
      15. Creating Playblasts
    4. Effects
      1. What’s the Big Deal?
      2. Caching is the Name of the Game
      3. Caching Objects Attached to Your Character Rigs
      4. Caching Dynamics Affected By Your Characters
    5. Lighting
      1. Applying the Light Rig
      2. Using Viewport 2.0
      3. Setting Up Render Layers
      4. The Main Passes
      5. Beauty
      6. Layer Overrides
      7. Diffuse
      8. Specular Pass
      9. Shadow Pass
      10. Reflection
      11. Ambient Occlusion
      12. Depth
    6. Rendering
      1. Resolution
      2. Render Options
      3. Matching Settings to Your Scene
      4. Final Gathering
      5. Other Render Settings
      6. Bit Depth
      7. File Formats
      8. Batch Rendering
      9. Remote Rendering
    7. Final Thoughts
  15. Chapter 7: 2D Production
    1. Compositing
      1. Setting Up Composites
      2. The Basic Comp
      3. Scared of Compositing?
      4. Back and Forth
      5. Triage Problems
      6. File Formats
      7. Compositing Effects
      8. Other Effects
      9. Hand-Drawn Effects
    2. Credits
    3. 2D Films
  16. Chapter 8: Editorial
    1. The Final Cut
    2. Revisiting the Modular Middle
    3. Handles
    4. Double Cuts
    5. Cutting a Trailer
    6. Other Editing Considerations
      1. Energy
      2. Opening
    7. Final Thoughts
  17. Chapter 9: Sound
    1. Build an Environment
    2. Smart Sound Effects
    3. Efficient Dialogue
    4. A Crafty Narrator
    5. Music
    6. Sound and Picture
  18. Chapter 10: Finaling
    1. Final Sound
    2. Final Color
    3. Credits
      1. Outputting to Media
    4. DVD/Blu-Ray Authoring
    5. Internet Streaming
    6. Wrapping Up
  19. Chapter 11: Festivals and Markets
    1. Deadline
    2. Categories
    3. Eligibility
    4. Withoutabox.com
    5. List of Festivals
  20. Glossary
  21. Index

Product information

  • Title: Finish Your Film! Tips and Tricks for Making an Animated Short in Maya
  • Author(s): Kenny Roy
  • Release date: April 2014
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781135943097