The questions as always are these: Which element leads? Where are the contact points? What media will be used?
Usually the prop animation is the first one to be considered. Props either lead the character or are led by the character. As in our earlier discussions, props themselves can become compli- cated in line mileage and perspective. So using 3D props has become popular.
After considering props, the next factors to consider are the environment and the elements. Most elemental items react to the character; therefore, they follow after the character animation. Even when the environment and elements to do not react to the character, they are still usually done after the character animation so that they do not accidentally obscure the important story points trying to be conveyed in the scene.
The last element that is usually drawn is light. This is the light that is cast upon the characters, props, water, goo, and so on.
Trench Note
You can imagine that after the character animators are done and having their celebratory “animation is done” parties, EFX artists are still bent over their desks working on the light, props, and abstract shapes that are in the very scenes whose “doneness” is being celebrated. The same can be said for the other departments that follow EFX. These departments are referred to as the “back end” of production. At the Disney studio, these departments were called scene planning, scan- ning, color models, ink and paint, compositing, and final check. The departments and the breakdown of tasks vary from studio to studio. The takeaway here is that the waterfall of “doneness” is never com- plete until the wrap party.
industry examples
You do not have to look very hard to find plenty of examples of props leading 2D animation: Futurama, Family Guy, The Simp- sons, Lilo and Stitch, Triplets of Belleville, Mulan, Atlantis, Trea- sure Planet, Sinbad, The Road to El Dorado, Pokemon movies, Macross Zero, and the list goes on and on.
You might have noticed the heavy use of 3D spaceships and environments in Futurama. I’ve had students comment that they did not notice it until taking my class, where they were told to go look. The flat shading and toon shading did not cause the 3D to stand out too much, which we know from Chapter 1 is a sign of success. Other examples that students have commented on include the obvious use in the Family Guy movie, Clone Wars.
Other films have used 3D and you might not have even noticed. Mulan, for instance, used a large amount of 3D for both character and EFX. One complicated shot comes to mind where Mushu is looking for Mulan while riding a shield down a 2D avalanche. The background was a traditional painting. The snow avalanche was done in 2D. In this case, the 2D EFX avalanche was leading, so an animated grid was created to help with the perspective of the sloshing snow. A 3D shield holding a 3D reference Mushu was also created. The 3D shield was the only 3D element that was to be used in the final composite; all else was reference. The Mushu character was so small for some of the shot that they kept the 3D stand-in for that section, much to the happiness of the 3D anima- tor. The 2D avalanche was added along with snow chunks, snow particulates, tones, shadows, and a Hun head. This scene itself was extremely challenging because it contained a traveling pan across so much 2D snow, and this was done before we had Cintiq tablets. Lacking a way to do digital 2D animation meant that a printing/pegging process had to occur so that the 2D animators could use the 3D reference. Because this was a large camera pan, the paper that was used for printing was extremely large: 24 fields, the printing/pegging days. Come to think of it, wouldn’t that be a great shot to re-create as a homework assignment? Note to self: maybe for the advanced version of this class.
Using 3D for props and environments, if not having contact with the 2D character, is relatively easy, and therefore the use of 3D props is widespread. As we have found, once the different ele- ments begin interacting, things take on a bit more complexity. The trick when combining the 3D prop with the 2D character is making sure that their dimensionality matches. Either the 3D prop needs to be flattened visually to match the 2D, or the 2D needs to be made more rounded by using tones and highlights to match the 3D. If the 2D appears to be very flat and the 3D appears very highly rendered and round, the styles may clash
considerably. In the last chapter’s assignment you may have already found some of your own examples of good and bad 2D/3D that might show this style mishmash.
Using 2D animated EFX on top of 3D usually would not seem cohesive if the style were a highly rendered 3D look. However, if the visual style is flat or toonish, then 2D EFX elements can be used. We examined the goo used on the hydra’s head in the previ- ous chapter. We also took a look at shots from the group project Jaguar McGuire. Next we will examine a few shots that had 3D props, 2D EFX elements, and some interaction between both.
Hands-on examples
We will now examine five EFX issues that might need to be resolved in a 2D/3D film:
1. 3D props leading 2D 2. 2D leading 3D 3. Tones
4. Shadows
5. Compositing tricks with ink lines