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3D Animation- Potential and Challenges
- Munjal Shroff

Potential of 3D Animation
Historically Printing Revolutionised the Reach of the Written word.3D Animation is going to be do the same for the Language of the 21st century - Multimedia.
It will be the common content base for

  • Education/Training
  • Films
  • Television
  • Internet
  • Gaming
  • Amusement Parks
 
           
3D in Entertainment
Over the last five years there 3D CG technology has dramatically changed the way movies are made. Here are some the technologies that are making it all happen.

Performance Animation
Characters that have never been seen before on the large screen are now possible. Not only do these virtual characters act but give fantastic emotional performances.
Example: Lord of the Rings: Gollum
The performance of Gollum is driven by that of the actor AndySerkis.

Pre-Viz for Feature Film
More and more directors and producers are going in for pre-visualisation (Pre-Viz) of their scripts. It helps them visualize their ideas earlier. It also enables to bring down costs as the director is clear how much of the huge set is he going to actually use based on the camera movements that he has chalked out during the pre-viz process. Complex camera moves are planned using pro-viz software and then implemented on the set saving time and money.
Example: Panic Room: In this movie the long complex camera move which starts on the top floor of a multi-storey apartment to the ground floor.
Virtual Actors as Stunt Double
More and more effects supervisors are using CG Stunt double to do daring stunts that are difficult and at times impossible to do by real actors or stuntmen.

Example: Spiderman
Here are two images of the real actor Spiderman and that of CG Stunt double. As you can see that they are indistinguishable.
 

Here is an example of an adverse environment in which the CG Model is
used to do the daring stunt.
 
Hostile Environment
     
Wireframe of the CG model in the same perspective
 
Final composite of the CG Model
seamlessly integrated into the live shot.
 
Rough composite of the CG Model
with the live plate of the Environment
Virtual Sets
Virtual sets are used to bring down the cost of production. CG sets are built when shooting in the real environment is not possible.
Example: Spiderman: In the movie the entire cityscape was build as a CG Set for the sequences where Spiderman was swinging from one rooftop to another. This is a prime example of a shot that could not have been possible without CG.
  
 
Virtual Crowds
Imagine a director telling
the producer that he wants an army of 25,000 soldiers all fully attired and armed for a sequence. The producer would probably start sweating considering the costs and huge production crew required to do a sequence like this. This is where virtual crowds come in. Large number of computer-generated crowds can be put at the director’s disposal at a fraction of the cost.
Example: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
In this film for the battle between men and orcs, the army of orcs and other creatures was generated using virtual crowds. Below is a still from the shot using virtual crowd.
  
       
3D Animated Feature Films
Box Office trends of last 3 years indicate a demise of 2D Animation Films.
The only animated films that have worked in the past couple of year are 3D animated films. To name a few Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Antz, Bug’s Life, Ice Age, Monsters Inc, Shrek and the current hit Finding Nemo.

“I think the idea of a traditional story being told using traditional animation is likely a thing of the past.” That is what Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks SKG had to say on the box office disaster of their 2D animation feature Sinbad-Legend of the Seven Seas.

As the market for 2D animation feature film is diminishing the same phenomenon is expected to occur in the Television markets as well. Typically Box Office trends percolate to TV within 18 months. So we will see a huge surge in the demand for 3D animated shows for the broadcast medium in the coming 12-18 months.

Also 3D Animation has applications beyond the classical entertainment mediums of TV and Films. New emerging mass entertainment mediums such as Stereoscopic Projection Systems and Holographic Projection systems also use 3D Animation as a content base.

The Challenge
Talent Training
The biggest challenge is getting the right talent to drive this technology. Unlike training for IT 3DAnimation training is very different. For IT one is training people to be technically competent to deliver a technical product such as accounting software but for animation people are being trained technically to deliver a creative products such as Animation film.
The most common shortcoming with all training programs is that they train students to be software operators and not filmmakers. Training institutes need to realize this and tune their curriculum to the needs of the industry.
Also there is a growing demand for specialists. People having core competence in areas such as modeling, texturing, character setup, animation, imaging, compositing and editing.

Research and Development
Every studio needs to have an in house R&D team. The objective of this team is three fold
1. Develop tools to Serve Creativity
Any technology/software should help an artist achieve his creative potential
2. Adapting Off-the-shelf Technology to piece solutions
The off-the-shelf software available today needs to be adapted to existing workflows.
3. Develop your own tools
Every studio has unique needs and there are times when these needs cannot be fulfilled by off-the-shelf software. This is where the R&D team comes in handy.

The idea is that technology should aid the creative process and not hamper it.
Every studio needs to have its own pipeline. It should be customized around Key Talent. The key to a good pipeline is how you tailor off the shelf software to work for you. This is where a good R&D team comes in handy. A Good Pipeline will help you lower production costs by optimizing resource utilization and making workflow more efficient.

Big Opportunity for India
The big opportunity for India has emerged due to the Crossover Phenomenon. Today the cost of Brainware is higher than cost of Hardware. The crossover took place in the mid 1990 with the Rise Of Window-Intel Platform, which replaced SGI. As a result technology costs started coming down and cutting-edge technology became affordable.

I believe that the next upheaval will happen due to Linux. Linux is fast emerging to be the Platform of choice for Graphics Workstations for 3D animation.

Important to Create a Local Market
We need to create the market locally for animation. Thus we must not ignore Local TV Channels. Graphiti has created India’s First Animated 3D Character for TV “Genie” the co-host of Khulja Sim Sim. Starting as a 30 second novelty on the show Genie today holds his own ground on the show with 3 minutes of animation in every episode. Graphiti strongly believes in the potential of the local market and continues to develop it further. We think the two big milestones for the local market are
1. First Indian Full Length CGA Feature Film?
2. First Indian Full CG TV Show?

Competing Globally
In the international market we can leverage the cost advantage to a certain extent. But what will be the real clincher is Original Content. We need to offer the complete package - Brilliant Original concepts at lower production costs. That is going to be the Winning combination! Graphiti has already developed two Original concepts for the international market - Action Hero BC and Treehouse Set.

Action Hero BC
Action Hero BC is targeted at youth across the world. Based on Katha Sarit Sagar, the oldest collection of stories known to mankind, Action Hero BC is a series of 6 tales about action heroes who lived in ancient India. Each tale is a take on the morality of cool. While gripping as drama, each tale weaves an attitude structure that our target viewership will appreciate. Supporting this camp-appeal will be genre-creating music and fashion-creating trends in apparel and accessories.

The Treehouse Set
The Treehouse Set is a patented toy concept. Animals and other figurines that can exchange heads and torsos with each other and in the process forming new creative identities! The Treehouse Set TV Series is aimed at the 5-8 age group and is centered around a boy who’s Treehouse Set comes alive every night! Helping him to solve problems and mysteries! Leading him to new adventures! Between the Toy set and the TV series, The Treehouse Set offers tremendous marketing synergies.

  

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