An Overview of the Short Animation Process - Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish - page 9

Postproduction
So you have gigabytes of rendered frames that must be compiled into a fi nal animation. You bring them into
an editor that is designed for cutting audio and video sequences together. You watch it over and over, adjust-
ing the timing of the cuts between the different shots so that the action seems to be continuous throughout,
even though it probably isn't.
Figure 1.13 The editor with fi nal shots in place
When the timing is right and the animation does exactly what you want it to do, you raid the kitchen and
the garage for anything that will make noise. Turn on a microphone and act out the shots, trying to sync
your noisemaking with what happens on the screen. Get a friend to help you, if you have any left. Find some
music that suits the theme of the story and approximates the running length of the fi nal cut.
Put the sound effects and music on top of the dialog track you recorded earlier, and you are . . . fi nished?
Maybe.
Maybe there's that one shot that bugs you. Your friends think it looks fi ne, but you know better. It's the shot
you animated fi rst, and it just doesn't cut it.
Go back. Make a duplicate fi le and redo the animation.
Then again, if you're out of time, maybe you won't.
At some point, you'll have to exert some discipline and call it done, whether it's ready or not. Rest assured
that even major animation companies release material that they would like to have spent just “a few more
weeks” on. Listen to the DVD commentary tracks on some of the best animated movies, and you'll hear open
admissions of things the animators and directors feel are lacking in the fi nished product.