Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Modeling versus animating
Let's start by changing how you think about 3D animation. It's not like motion
graphics, and it's not like cell animation (2D). If you were to draw an analogy between
3D animation and any other style, it's more like claymation or stop-motion animation
than anything else. This is because before you actually animate anything, you have to
make it. You literally have to make a 3D model of it.
To be perfectly clear, Element 3D is an animation package and not a modeling package.
Before you can jump in and animate an object, that object must exist. Therefore, you'll
either need to make the objects yourself, have someone else make them, or buy them.
We'll show you how to make your own basic objects in this topic using other software
packages and prepare them for import into Element 3D.
Setting up your first project in Element 3D
Now that we know what Element 3D is (and isn't)—and I'm sure you have a ton of
ideas of how you're going to use it—let's cover our final step of groundwork before
we turn you into a 3D pro! It's extremely important to set up your projects from the
ground level.
Staying organized
As any professional knows, you never have enough time to make everything perfect.
This is precisely why it's important to take the time at the beginning of a project to
set up everything in an ultra-organized manner. This will make it much easier for
you to distribute your renders across multiple machines, take your work to another
machine, or ship everything out to a render farm.
Directory structure
If you've ever had to pick up a project from another artist, you know well what
a nightmare a poor directory structure can be. An extremely organized directory
structure is the key. Projects (especially when you start using 3D) can get very
complex very fast. You can quickly set up a template directory structure of your
own using the following three principals:
•
K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid)
: Sorry for the last word, but that's what
it really stands for. Make your directories are simple so that someone with
absolutely no idea about what he/she is looking at can figure it out. This
way, if you have to come back to a project months from creation, you don't
have to relearn everything.
