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| Sunday, 12 March 2006 |
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3D Animation ASK an artist what they do for a living and you wouldn't get a simple answer. Ask a Digital Artist what they do for a living and they'd be no different. For these creative individuals, what they do can never be compared to Engineering or Vector Mathematics. It's a far more profound and broader area of expertise. There was a time when anyone keen to work creatively within a digital dominion, would have needed some knowledge of mathematics or at least a basic grasp of a programming language. But with the advent of 3D software the boundaries began to shift and now can accommodate people from a purely artistic background. Today as we go through the new trends in 3D animation let's pay homage to the brilliant people that shape and construct whole different worlds from scratch. 1.) Concept Artist This is perhaps the most traditionally based job title of all as it involves a lot of work done on paper in the form of rough concept sketches and small scale colour studies. They will be called upon to come up with design styles, character designs, create environments, and even colour schemes as well as ensuring there is a consistent look and feel throughout the project. 2. )Modeller A modeller is someone who will dedicate their time to creating meshes based upon specifications set down by the concept artists. Modellers will often be given a drawn template of a character or vehicle for example and will be required to build a 3D version that resembles it as closely as possible. In the case of games development they will undoubtedly have a number of restrictions imposed upon them concerning the hardware and game engine such as poly counts and mesh topology. In film production there is generally a freer reign in this respect and more detail will be afforded to the artist. Any kind of 3D package is of relevance here as they all deal with similar principals so software such as Maya, Max, Softimage, Lighwave, Cinema4D etc will measure up equally. 3.) Texture artist The role of the texture artist is to apply descriptive surface detail to a mesh by way of a painted texture map which will wrap around the geometry using mapping co-ordinates. It is essentially a 2D job but is done almost exclusively on a computer although freehand drawings and photography are also applicable here as a starting point. The kinds of software needed for this are similar to those used by the concept artists, ie. Photoshop, Painter but if the artist is asked to map any of the meshes or try out the textures on the models then some rudimentary knowledge of one or so 3D packages will be necessary. 4.) Animator Studying expression and motion in both people and animals through a run of rapid sketches is probably one of the most useful exercises in starting out as an animator and will help when trying to flesh out a characters personality and working out how they move. Having access to almost any 3D package that incorporates animation will prove effective. (Packages such as 3D studio Max utilise character animation tools such as Character Studio which are specifically geared towards these ends and are common among game developers.) Although it is a 2D discipline, nowadays artists incorporate elements of 3D, photography and painted elements to come up with imaginary scenes that fool the viewers eye into believing something exists when it doesn't but still remains a painting skill. While at home most of you will try to do the modeling, texturing, and animating all by yourself when going into larger projects like animated movies, these aspects will be done separately because so much of attention is needed for every detail. But whether you choose to specialize on modeling or texturing or what ever field you choose, there is one thing to bear in mind; the field of 3D Animation shows much promise. The new Shockwave standard that Intel and Macromedia have produced will increase the 3D content on the Internet drastically. (of course there's no better place to promote something worldwide than the Internet....) Then there's the new breed of movies like SinCity and Ice Age that exploit every area of 3D animation. But the most exciting prospect about the field of 3D Animation is the fact that it may be integrated with Artificial Intelligence in the future. We humans 'perceive' things most of the time with a visual image. Say for example we show a model car to a child, there on the child will have the ability to identify any other 'car' that he might come across. Artificial Intelligence experts are trying to get Neural Networks to do the same thing. And you guessed it- they're using 3D animation. Whether you're in for it for artistic pleasure, technical thirst, futuristic applications or just for the plain fun of it; 3D animation is quite an enthralling experience. If you get the knack of it, you'll live with it for the rest of your life, enchanted and obsessed. So beware there's no turning back. (Comments : [email protected] ) |
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