Creating Stereoscopic 3D Images

Recreating Cameras and Lights in Maya

Bonus Points: Lighting a Scene in Maya

Key Light:



Key + Fill:



Key + Fill + Rim:

Building a Scene in Maya

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

Animated films and shows are comprised of many different elements that come together to create a compelling experience for the viewer by supporting the story and design of the film. These elements range from characters to props, environments, music and so forth. One critical part of an animated film is the special effect, which can take many forms from lightning to water to dust to wind, and more. Although special effects are often flashy and interesting, demanding attention, it is easy to overlook their importance in supporting the story of a film and communicating the look and feel of the setting to the viewer. Two examples of how a special effect can be an important part of the story of an animation can be seen in the 3D animated film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the stop-motion animated episode of Adventure Time, “Bad Jubies”. These two animated works both use the same special effect (a tornado) but design the effect in different ways to fulfill different goals. I will cover briefly how these effects were created and how successful they are within their respective animations.

In “Bad Jubies” a violent storm is approaching and the main characters build a shelter to hide from the storm. In the climax of the episode it is revealed that the storm is itself a character and is rampaging across the land because he is in a bad mood. This character is a great example of a situation where special effects are not simply decoration but are actually necessary in order to convey a story. Were the stormcloud built in the same way the other characters are, it would not be believable within its setting.

Several special effects are employed to make the storm character work, such as lights within his body which blink on and off to look like lightning flashes. His arms are the aforementioned tornadoes, which consist of a cloth-like material wrapped around a flexible but firm underlying structure and attached to the character’s body in a way that allows rotation. As the animator captured frames of the storm, they rotated the tornado arms a little bit each frame to make them look as though they were spinning. For the tornado effect to be successful it needed to accomplish two main goals: it needed to read clearly as a tornado, and it needed to function as the character’s appendages allowing him to emote and manipulate objects. Given the context of the tornado effect within the story and the minimalistic art style of the show, simply having the arms able to spin while being roughly tornado-shaped is enough to make the arms read as tornadoes. The tornado arms are flexible enough for the animator to pose yet stiff enough to hold their shape once posed, thus allowing the character to emote effectively. The tornado arms help the character emote and interact with his environment. He is initially angry but then calms down, when he does this the tornadoes stop spinning and become cloud arms that look like his main body, reflecting his calmer mood. He also uses one of his arms to pick up a book (important plot point) by spinning it around the tip of his arm, suspended by wind.

In Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs a storm with a tornado is once again at the center of the climax of the story. In Cloudy the main character invents a machine which creates food, but eventually it runs out of control and forms a massive storm with a twister made of spaghetti and meatballs. Although the storm in this animation is not a personified character it is important as a centerpiece of the film’s story. The tornado effect in Cloudy was created in Maya (or similar 3D design software) by creating many solid hairlike strands which are rigged to deform and animate in unison as well as spin around. Several layers of particle, lighting, and other effects are added in to increase the realism of the storm effects, but not so far as to break away from the cartoony style of the film.

The spaghetti twister is massive in size and represents the final level of escalation of both the main character’s internal struggle and the actual physical conflict at hand. The staging of the scene is dramatic and exciting, with the camera trailing low in an upshot behind the main character and debris flying everywhere. These choices help convey the tension and action of this point in the story, but I believe the storm effect would have been even more successful if the creators had used more atmospheric perspective on the twister. Considering a number of more realistic lighting and particle effects are already at play this addition wouldn’t break away from the visual direction of the film and the sense of scale would be much more dramatic. That said, the effect does work well and fits into the world while serving its purpose in the story.

In each of these animations the creators of the effects had to work under considerable design limitations. In “Bad Jubies” the main constraint is the medium of stop motion animation, but in Cloudy the design constraints are mostly self imposed due to the near limitless possibilities of 3D animation. By working under consistent design limitations and having strong visual direction to guide the designs, the creators of each animation produced effects that fit in well in their worlds. Had the creators of Cloudy or “Bad Jubies” opted to create a more realistic tornado (even one made of realistic spaghetti) it would have taken away from the scene, not enhanced it. Ultimately the script of an animation and the requirements of a specific scene/character/etc should be the main determining factor in how an effect is built. In each of these animations different things were required of the effects and neither could have filled the role of the other, but each fill their own role very well.

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Introduction

Tornadoes are a special effect featured prominently in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and a recent stop-motion animated episode of Adventure Time, “Bad Jubies”. In this paper I will explain the different ways these effects were created and how effective they are in their respective animations.

Body

Adventure Time

• What is the effect
• A storm-cloud character has tornadoes for arms
• Arms are made of a cloth-like material wrapped around some underlying structure, they are attached to the character’s rig in a way that allows them to rotate. While filming the episode they rotate the arms a bit each frame to make them look as though they are spinning.

• The effect is successful because
• The effect fits the style of the show
• The tornado arms help the character emote and interact with his environment. He is initially angry but then calms down, when he does the tornadoes stop spinning and become cloud arms that look like his main body. He also uses one of his arms to pick up a book which spins around the tip of his arm, suspended by wind.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

• What is the effect
• A massive tornado made of spaghetti and meatballs wreaks havoc
• Spaghetti twister made in maya
• Twister is made of many solid strands animated in unison, with several layers of particle effects added on for smoke etc

• The effect is successful because
• The effect fits the style of the film
• The effect is visually entertaining
• The effect helps tell the story

Conclusion

These effects are not simply eye candy but are crucial to the story in their animations. In each of these animations the creators of the effects had to work under considerable design limitations. In “Bad Jubies” the main constraint is the medium of stop motion animation, but in Cloudy the design constraints are mostly self imposed due to the near limitless possibilities of 3D animation. By working under consistent design limitations and having strong visual direction to guide the designs, the creators of each animation produced effects that fit in well in their worlds. Had the creators of Cloudy opted to create a more realistic tornado (even one made of spaghetti) it would have taken away from the scene, not enhanced it.

Character Animation

To produce this animation I created the character by making a skeleton from armature wire and covering it in modeling clay, with a paper ball to bulk out the head. I used a simplistic rig made of armature wire to support and balance the puppet and masked out the rig and in some cases my hands in photoshop before compiling the final animation in after effects. Finally, I recorded the sound effects myself.