设计匠人 | 一个人完成的3D动画片

QQ和PUPU的第二集动画《Begin the Adventure》已发布，这一集讲的是Space QQ 和PUPU去太空寻找最美声音之前的故事。
The second episode of QQ & PUPU animation “Begin the Adventure” has been released. This episode contains the fun story of SpaceQQ and PUPU before they go on the space trip to find a beautiful sound.

一般来讲，3D动画制作流程可以分为规划和制作两部分。在规划部分，流程可以分为两个阶段：剧情梗概与故事板分镜。制作则分五个阶段：可视化预览-建模-校正-渲染-合成-配音。本文将详解QQ和PUPU第二集动画的制作过程。

Generally, 3D animation work process can be divided into planning and production parts. In the planning part, the process can be classified into two stages: synopsis and storyboard. For the production part, it is divided into five stages: pre-visual, modeling, rigging (set up), animation, lighting & rendering, compositing & sound in order. In this article, I will introduce the whole production process of short animation in detail.

STEP 1

Pre-production 前期制作

分镜在前期制作中很重要，因为它决定了动画最核心的部分：故事的主题和情感。由于是计划做成15到24秒的视频，分镜的设定只使用了制作阶段的两到三个场景。如果制作成15秒的动画，观众将很难正确地理解视频，或者当视频多于3个场景时，也很难准确地传达角色信息，考虑到这些问题，我们尽可能地固定摄像机的运动，以使观众能将更多的注意力放在角色上。

Storyboards are very important in the pre-production process because it determine the theme and the mood of the story which is the most core part of the animation. Since this video was planned as 15 to 24 seconds animation, the storyboard was set up to use only two or three scenes from the production stage. In the case of a short animation produced within 15 seconds, the viewer could have less understanding about the video or the video may be difficult to convey the message of the characters when there are more than 3 scenes. With these issues in mind, we tried to fix the camera movements as much as possible so that viewers can concentrate more on the character’s movements.
STEP 2 Post production 后期制作

本视频我们采用一种比传统工作流程更高效和快速的方法。这种压缩式的工作流程是基于事先准备好的角色设定和视觉化工作，通过从头到尾不断地循环从建模、摄影机剪辑、动画、照明、阴影、纹理、渲染到合成的生产周期，快速地进行视频创作的方法。

In this video, we proceeded in a way which is more efficient and faster than the conventional work process. The compressive work process which we used in this video is to develop the video rapidly and repetitively circulating one production cycle from the start to the end: modeling, camera editing, animating, lighting, shading, texturing, rendering and compositing based on the prepared character setup and pre-visual work.

举个例子，如果上一阶段没有发现的各种问题出现在下一阶段，比如依照角色动画的可读性，建模位置和相机组成发生变化等，将需要额外的时间去调整。在压缩工作流程中，我们多次有效地调整和优化从建模到最后的合成过程，在最大程度减少额外修改时间的同时进行工作。但这种方法要在设计过程中根据设计师的客观判断来进行。For example, if various problems that were not found in the previous stage occurs in the next stage such as change of the location of modeling or the shift of the camera composition according to the readability of character animation, extra time will be needed for the correction work. In the case of the compressive work process, we can efficiently modify and develop the process from modeling to last compositing several times so that the work can be carried out while minimizing the additional correction works. However, this method should be carried out with the designer’s own objective judgment during the progress.
a. 建模-服装：为呈现PUPU博士与一般PUPU 的差异，我们设计了博士衣服和实验室护目镜。白色的实验服和护目镜与学习先进技术的PUPU博士非常相配。

– Costume: Dr. PUPU’s clothes and laboratory goggles were designed to make viewers recognize how Dr.PUPU differ from the general PUPUs. The white experiment costume and goggles are well matched with Dr.PUPU who studies the advanced technology.

-环境物：视频需要有用于空间中的各种模型，比如PUPU博士实验室的实验设备和飞船内的机器。这些模型要设计得与整体氛围很好地相融合，以便匹配PUPU小小的身高比例和Q萌而又具有高科技感的形象。

– Environment object: In this video, various modelings were need to to be used in spaces such as experimental devices of Dr.PUPU’s laboratory or machines inside the spacecraft. The modeling was designed to go well with the overall atmosphere so that the machines match the scale of PUPU’s low height and have cute and high-tech style.
b. 可视化预览&动画可视化预览是在分镜的基础上产生的，它可以让你检查分镜编辑点和角色动画的时长，是很重要的一个步骤，在可视化预览中，编辑点和摄影机的位置会发生变化。一般来讲，动画中有“hold”和“bridge”两部分。hold 是指角色不移动但可以传递信息和情感。bridge则是通过角色的移动来连接hold的部分。在这个视频里，我们用少量的信息传递来尽可能地减少bridge部分, hold部分则增加信息传递，这样即使这是一个短动画，观众也能理解其中的含义。The pre-visualization was done based on the storyboard. Pre-visualization is an important step that allows you to check the edit point of the storyboard and the overall timing of the character animation. In this pre-visualization step, changes in editing points or camera composition are made. In general, there are ‘hold’ and ‘bridge’ sections in animation. Hold is a section in which there is no movement of the character but can convey messages and emotions. Bridge is a section that connects the hold sections through the movement of the character. In this video, we have minimized the bridge section with low meaning transmission and increased the hold section that enhances the message and meaning transmission so that viewers can improve their understanding about the video even though it is a short animation.

c. 灯光&渲染

由于视频的基础环境是一个有PUPU飞船的大型实验室，原本计划和实验室一样以白色为基调。但白色很难在较小的摄像机视图中产生较大的空间感。为了营造出空间感，我们在飞船入口外增加了额外的灯光效果，就像舞台上的聚光灯一样，使人们自然而然地把注意力集中在巨型飞船上。

Since basic environment in the video was a large laboratory for PUPU’s spacecraft, it was planned to be a white tone just like a laboratory. However, since it was difficult to give a large spatial impression in a small camera view in the white tone laboratories, I’ve added an extra lighting effect outside the entrance of the spacecraft to give a sense of space. This lighting effect worked like a spotlight on the stage, allowing the people to naturally focus on the giant spacecraft.

视频是用Maya做的，渲染用的是Vray(Chaos group) 。因为实验室的底部是用反光性良好的材料做成，所以在3D渲染过程中，我们集中解决减少裂缝的问题。此外将每个对象的RGB通道提取到一起，以修改接下来合成阶段的输出。This video was produced with Maya (3D program), using Vray(Chaos group) for the render program. Since the bottom of the laboratory is made of a well-reflective material, I have focused on solving the problem of reducing the fracker made in the 3D rendering process. In addition, the RGB passes of each object are extracted together to modify the output in the compositing process which is the next step.
d. 合成

为了补充初始照明和渲染工作中不完善的部分以及校正整体色调，在渲染过程中，我们通过同时设置几个RGB通道和照明效果来进行了合成。为使每个场景都能合成，每个RGB通道在渲染阶段从15被分割成了24。

The compositing progress was done to complement the imperfect parts in the initial lighting and rendering work and to correct the overall tone by setting several RGB passes and lighting effect together during the rendering process. Each RGB passes was divided from 15 to 24 in the rendering stage to composite in each scene.
e. 音乐

背景音乐涵盖了发生在神秘实验室里的故事，旨在表达一种神秘而令人愉悦的声音。根据图像的流向，我们划分了背景音乐和声效的侧重点。前半部分的声音集中在背景音乐上以强调实验室的神秘氛围，后半部分则更多地用声效来让观众专注于了解动画。The BGM tone of this video, which contains stories that take place in a secret laboratory space, is directed to express a mysterious but pleasant sound. In the case of BGM and sound effect, the importance was divided according to the flow of the image. In the introduction part, the sound focused on BGM to highlight the secret laboratory atmosphere. In the latter part of the video, the effect sound supporting the animation was more emphasized than BGM, which was designed to be more focused on understanding the animation.
FINAL Final Video 最终输出

在QQ和PUPU的第二集动画《Begin the Adventure》里，我们试着把QQ和PUPU每个角色的特征、行为以及整体概念更加直观地传达给观众。希望它能被观众所熟悉和更加地贴近观众，同时被认为是一个很有趣的形象。希望在将来制作的短动画中，QQ 和 PUPU会成长为被更多人喜欢的角色。

In this QQ & PUPU Animation Episode2 “Begin the Adventure” video, we tried to convey the character, behavior and overall concept of each character of SpaceQ and PUPU more directly to people. I hope that the characters will be more familiar and closer to the public and be recognized as fun and fun characters while watching the video. I hope that QQ and PUPU short animations to be made in the future will grow into characters that are loved by more people.