Industry General Knowledge

What is Creativity?

Creativity is simply the expression of self through creation. All you have to do to be creative is to create. Creative artists use their creativity to convey an idea or emotion through a medium such as 3D animation.

What is Animation?

3D Animation is the process of designing, drawing, making layouts and preparation of photographic sequences which are integrated in the multimedia and gaming products. Animation involves the exploitation and management of still images to generate the illusion of movement. A person who creates animations is called an animator.

What is VFX?

Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a style of animation or illustration that relies on computer programs to create characters and motion. Visual effects (VFX) focuses on adding effects to existing imagery or film.

Importance of 3D Modeling

3D modeling is important because it allows Animation and VFX teams to generate all kinds of shapes, objects, creatures and characters while maintaining production capabilities, which helps visions quickly come together.

Importance of 3D Texturing

Texturing in 3D animation is the process of dressing up 3D models with 2D pictures. Texture artists oversee giving 3D objects physical characteristics. Texturing is one of the most important aspects of the 3D model creation process. Textures help to establish a framework of any person or scene before it achieves its final form.

Importance of 3D Lighting

3D lighting is the application of light and shadows to a computer-generated scene. Basically, professional lighting artists use different 3D software applications to illuminate a scene. These applications can simulate natural light, mimic how it behaves in real life, and interact with the surroundings to add realism to a scene.

Importance of 3D Compositing

The definition of compositing originates from photography; meaning combining two or more images to make a single one. Compositing is combining of visual elements from separate sources into one image, in a way it creates the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Compositing can include special effects, stage extension, environment creation, and green screen replacement.

Importance of Editing

Editing a 3D animation is quite different from editing a live-action film or TV show. 3D animation is expensive and labour-intensive, so unnecessary footage is not produced. In live-action, editors work with existing footage in post-production, choosing between a variety of shots whereas in 3D animation, the whole film is planned out beforehand and edited accordingly.

Importance of 3D Rigging

Rigging is a highly complex, very necessary step in the 3D animation process. Rigging allows a character's body to be articulated in a structured way. Without correct rigging, trying to animate a character would result in a very distorted and deformed mesh.

Importance of 3D Layouting

3D layout design takes the storyboard from the pre-production phase and establishes a good foundation for the rest of the animation project. Designing the 3D layout is a process of conceptualizing and creating the characters and the environment where the story will be taking place.

What is CGI?

CGI, meaning computer generated imagery, has dominated many movies, from dramas to blockbusters recently. CGI is the use of computer graphics in art and media. These can be 3D animations, objects, or renderings; the type of art or media can be a film, television program, video game, or simulation. CGI can be used in films ranging from science fiction epics to quiet intimate dramas.

Importance of Color

Colors can be used to tell the story or completely change the mood of a scene entirely, it can make or break your movie. Color holds power. It can impact our moods, emotions, and behaviors. It can also be a source of information.

Importance of Perspective

Perspective in 3D animation usually refers to the representation of three-dimensional objects or spaces in artworks, animation or movies. Artists use perspective techniques to create a realistic impression of depth, 'play with' perspective to present dramatic or captivating images.

Importance of Sound

Sound is important because it engages audiences: it helps deliver information, it increases the production value, it evokes emotional responses, it emphasises what's on the screen and is used to indicate mood. When put to good use, language, sound effects, music, and even silence, can elevate your video dramatically.

Cinematography

Cinematography is the art and technology of motion-picture photography. It involves such techniques as the general composition of a scene; the lighting of the set or location; the choice of cameras, lenses, filters, and film; the camera angle and movements; and the integration of any special effects.

Blocking & Staging in Film Making

Blocking is one of the most important aspects of directing a scene. It determines how you want your audience to engage with it and where they should be looking at any given time as well as figuring out sightlines for actors in and out of frame. Staging is the process of moving actors around a set, whereas blocking is the process of deciding where characters will be at any given point in time.

Director - Steven Speilberg

David Sandberg : Acclaimed director of movies like Lights Out, Annabelle Creation, Shazam and its sequel Shazam - Fury of the Gods. He is a Swedish filmmaker and is best known for his no-budget horror short films under the pseudonym 'ponysmasher'. In his early years as a film-maker, lacking any funding of his own, his shorts were made with no budget—his equipment and props consisted mostly of items he already had or could buy very cheaply. He released his films on both Vimeo and YouTube, using his alias ponysmasher. In 2013, he released his second horror short, Lights Out, which centered around a monster that only exists when the lights are turned out. The film was a viral success, and quickly garnered millions of views. Later, he moved to Hollywood and the popular Annabelle Creation and Shazam movies.

Upcoming India - Vfx / Animation

Recently, an increasing number of movies nominated for their edge-of-your-seat VFX have had some connection with India. Interstellar, Gravity, Shrek, Tron, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, Spiderman, The Avengers, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Martian, Cinderella and many more. Once the VFX back office for Hollywood, India is fast emerging as a global contender in the visual effects arena.

Importance of Practice Hours

As the famous saying goes ""practice makes man perfect!"" Practising is the only way you can make your desired skill, your best friend. Practice helps you with focusing better on your skills; it enables you to understand your art better and give you time to reflect upon your shortcomings to improve them with time.

What is Render Farm?

A 'Render Farm' is a group of networked computers devoted to rendering images, used in the production of computer-animated films.

Java / Mel / Python - Importance

Python, MEL, Java etc are easy to write scripts that automates processes like auto-rigs, pipeline tools, batch files etc. So if you want to learn languages for 3D softwares then you would need to learn these scripting languages like python.

Color Grading - DI

In the world of cinema, color grading refers to the manipulation of film and video images to create consistent color tones throughout a motion picture. Many filmmakers use a color palette as part of their overall production design. These palettes represent artistic choices that provide the film with a unified overall look.

Production Pipeline

A 3D animation pipeline is a useful tool for streamlining the 3D animation process of a project. It’s mainly used to manage the time, budget, and team members, and serves as a useful standard for the whole animation process. It’s split into three phases: pre-production, production, and post-production phase.

Importance of Story

A story is only as good as its execution. If you have a well-developed script with charming and relatable characters but fail to narrate it properly, your audience will get bored. The key to being remembered is emotional engagement, and this is where animation production comes into play. Storytelling comes down to two things – connection and engagement. And when we look at it from this perspective, we have many more opportunities to use storytelling to create influence, affect change and move big ideas forward.

Camera Angles

Camera angle marks the specific location at which the movie camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles simultaneously. This will give a different experience and sometimes emotion. The different camera angles will have different effects on the viewer and how they perceive the scene that is shot. Where the camera is placed in relation to the subject can affect the way the viewer perceives the subject. There are a number of camera angles, such as a high-angle shot, a low-angle shot, a bird's-eye view and a worm's-eye view. A viewpoint is the apparent distance and angle from which the camera views and records the subject.

Hair & Fur / Foliage

Creating realistic hair & fur and foliage has been one of the major special effects challenges in top blockbuster films like Brave, The Hobbit, and games like Tomb Raider. Storing and manipulating millions of dynamic, simulated hairs is demanding on today’s technology. Therefore, understanding the way hair & fur and foliage (grass etc) works in 3D animation is very important.

Importance of Fx / Simulation

3D simulation is a computer graphics technique that allows artists to create realistic effects like destruction, fire, liquids, smoke, and particles in their scenes.

Creature Pipeline

A special software called Ziva makes use of elastic solids, also called ‘tissues’ (these are three-dimensional solid deformable objects that return to their original shape). Tissues can be used to simulate biological solids like muscles, fat or skin and also be used for non-biological materials like gelatin, rubber, foam blocks and steel beams.