Production News–2/1/2010:
Still trying to make up for time lost last Summer/Fall to replacing lightning-fried hardware, so I'm releasing only the first half of Part 4 for now (plus updates to Parts 1, 2, and 3).
That said, I'm really pleased with the look of the new motion-captured animation I've gotten out of my mocap system--it's still a lot of work, but it certainly allows for much more expressive movements than I was able to get before by hand. It's also satisfying to have a more complete performance by Jeannette, who now not only does the voice of Kara, but is also the one in the mocap suit for her scenes. (That's me as Captain Stratton, and as Mr. Trang with the voice very smartly performed by British actor/writer/presenter/scientist David Ault, who, among his other voice work, appears on a different Yorktown as Lt. Winfred in Star Trek: Lost Frontier.)
Note also that I've updated Parts 1, 2, and 3 with some really nice music kindly written for Aurora by musician John Catney, plus a few little touches here and there, including a tiny bit of clarification of something in Part 2, so even if you have already seen these earlier parts, I urge you to watch them again.
One additional note of thanks to Samuel Noyes for working up the technical specs for the Aurora and some of the other ships featured in the show, and particularly for the name "Monitor Class." Check out the specs on the Downloads page.
As always, thanks for checking out Aurora, and thanks to all who have been kind enough to email me with their thoughts and observations. I hope you like Part 4 (so far)!
–Tim
Aurora's Production Process:
Star Trek: Aurora is produced using a variety of software programs and techniques. Until just a few years ago, these necessary tools for creating a full animated production were far out of the reach of the ordinary consumer, or even of small companies, but the technology has advance rapidly to the point where one person can create an entire animated production on their own. Except for voice work–and not counting 3D models I have purchased or downloaded–Aurora has been produced by one person on a single Mac computer.
My main tools are Smith Micro's Poser , Maxon Cinema 4D, and NaturalPoint Optitrack motion capture system. Kuroyume's Interposer Pro is instrumental in importing Daz/Poser content into Cinema 4D. In any case, my basic workflow for animating characters (Daz V4 and M4) is:
1. Record voice using a decent microphone (M-Audio Nova mic, Mobile Pre preamp, Apple Soundtrack)
2. Record motion capture movements with Optitrack motion capture system.
3. Import mocap data into Daz Studio via Arena plugin; export bvh.
4. Import bvh file into Poser; edit/refine animation, add hand movements.
5. Create mouth moves in Daz Mimic
6. Apply Mimic file to character in Poser; save pose
7. Apply pose to character in Cinema 4D environment and render to TIFF files
6. Create .mov file from TIFFs (using Quicktime Pro)
7. Import .mov file into Apple Final Cut Pro, edit into animation
8. Add voice file/sound effects
Other programs used: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator.
There are a number of software/hardware quirks and workarounds necessary throughout the process, but that's the basics. (Note that this is my current workflow: Parts 1, 2 and 3 were animated largely by hand.)
General and Specific 3D Animation Advice–a Top 5:
1. Create a storyboard (in conjunction with finalizing your script) for all your shots–it can be stick figures, but a storyboard will save you a lot of trouble--and re-rendering–since it will allow you to work out the setup of your characters, framing, camera angles, and moves in advance rather than flailing around when you're trying to animate. This is probably the least appreciated and most important single thing you can do if you're doing a longer work with multiple shots (even 2 minutes of animation can have dozens of shots).
2. Pay attention to lighting–lighting is the one thing that 3D animation does better than any other method, and can make a huge difference in the look and feel of a scene. It takes a little longer to render, but if your stuff doesn't look good, why bother? And don't be afraid to "cheat" with your lights: when filming movies/TV, there are all kinds of subtle lights just outside the camera frame lighting the characters and scenes from angles that would never happen in the real world–the trick is to balance lighting your character well with making the lighting look natural.
3. Don't be a 3D purist: concentrate on what is in the shot, and don't worry about things that aren't. This is where a good storyboard really helps, since, for example, if you were shooting a street scene and your storyboard doesn't include the other side of the street, then you know you only need to build and light the buildings on one side, and if your character is just walking down the street, then the "buildings" in the background can just be the lower fronts, no need to build the backs or roofs of buildings you'll never see.
4. Eyes are the first place people look at a character, so get them right. This is kind of specific advice, but I always have "Point At" on my character's eyes, and have them looking at a ball prop (made invisible). People's eyes are almost always fixed on a particular place, so when they walk, gesture, etc. their eyes don't just stare ahead move with their head like a robot. Also, people almost always blink when they move their head to look in a new direction (try it!), so make sure you add that (you move the invisible "look at" ball during the blink). Mimic will give you an idea of how the blinks work.
5. If you're using Poser, use the Graph Editor to do almost all your animating and editing. The Animation Window is virtually useless. The graph editor allows you control over the character movements, so you can make slow graceful moves (long slow curves) or more abrupt moves (short linear curves)–people move with both, at the same time, and having only slow graceful moves makes the character look like a motorized store mannequin, and only sharp moves looks like a clanking robot or bad stop-motion animation.
Daz 3D–home of the most popular human models used for Poser; lots of accessories (like clothing, hair, etc.): http://www.daz3d.com/
Renderosity–tons more content for Poser; very active Poser community; a good place for advice: http://www.renderosity.com/
CGSociety–active community for Cinema 4D; also, lots of high-end professional work, good inspiration: http://www.cgsociety.org/
Kuroyme's Development Zone–home of Interposer Pro plugin for Cinema 4D/Poser; excellent customer support: http://www.kuroyumes-developmentzone.com/
Phil C Designs–many useful plugins for Poser (Wardrobe Wizard is a must); excellent customer support: http://www.philc.net/
I hope some of this is useful to anyone interested in 3D animation. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me.
–Tim
