Camera: Flat, Limited, and Deep Space (Hybrid Animation-Integrating 2D and 3D Assets) Part 3

Flat Space

The files for this hands-on project can be found in the companion data. The files are as follows:

•    Maya_Files/FlatSpace_HatPinLadies.mb

•    Maya file with animated objects

•    Maya_Files/2 psd textures

•    Image_Sequence/pinGirls.[1-80].tga

If you open the FlatSpace_HatPinLadies.mb file in Maya, you will see that two cameras are set up for the scene. The persp camera is set up for the flat space shot. The perspl camera is set up for a deeper space shot. Let’s look at what makes this scene flat space.

The points to remember when creating a flat space shot can be broken down into the following elements:

1.    Camera: placement, lens, and movement

2.    Lighting

3.    Texture

In this project, you will note that the camera has been placed looking down directly at the characters. There are no perspective lines, and horizon lines are hidden or minimized. The camera lens is an important aspect when planning a flat space shot.

A flat space shot.


FIGURE 7.13 A flat space shot.

In Maya, the focal distance is what you would adjust to get a narrow or wider lens. A telephoto lens is simulated by having a large focal distance. A wide-angle lens is simulated by having a small focal distance. You have probably learned something about cameras and know that a wider-angle lens exaggerates your perspective and basically creates a deeper space in your shot, whereas a telephoto lens compresses space and minimizes the perspective shift in your shot.

In Figure 7.14, the original persp camera is looking down at the characters. The focal distance is a very large 197. In Figure 7.15, the second camera in the scene, persp1, is in a similar position, looking down at the characters, but this camera has a focal distance of an incredibly small 9. You can see the difference in the exaggerated perspective lines of the characters.

To make the shot as flat as possible, lighting should be used to limit the tonal range seen. In other words, you do not want a high level of contrast in the lighting. You do not want tones and shadows, or if they are present, they should be close in tonal range. I once saw a great example of a live-action set that looked like a Japanese pen-and-ink illustration except that there was a live model standing amidst the stylized set. The final image looked completely flat and lovely: a young woman in a kimono stood framed in pen-and-ink (at least in my memory they were pen-and-ink) cherry blossom trees and flowering bushes. However, a picture taken from the side of the set showed exactly what was going on to accomplish this amazing flat image: the stage was tilted toward the camera, and there was indeed depth in the shot. However, there were dozens of lights positioned all around the stage to illuminate everything and absolutely abolish shadows. The result was a lovely flattened space. That model had to have been extremely hot under all of those lights.

Camera with focal length of 197.

FIGURE 7.14 Camera with focal length of 197.

Camera with focal length of 9.

FIGURE 7.15 Camera with focal length of 9.

The same is true in your digital 3D space. You will need to light to get rid of shadows and flatten the image out. Welcome your friend the ambient light. I know, I know. Students of mine have just raised their hands to state, “But you said never to use ambient lights.” Yes, this is true. “But, you said they just washed out the scene.” Yes, I admit it. This is precisely what we want for this type of shot. We want to wash out all darkness. We have ultimate control and do not get shadows unless we ask for them; try doing that on a live-action set. Yet we still need to make sure that the darker areas on an object’s materials are minimized. Ambient light will help with this.

Ambient light added to the scene to flatten out the lighting.

FIGURE 7.16 Ambient light added to the scene to flatten out the lighting.

For the material and texture aspect of flattening your scene, the first idea is that the levels of texture detail should be the same throughout the image. If textures lose detail as they fade in the distance, this is a depth cue and starts to deepen the space. You might become annoyed with any darkness in the material color. If you are not using toon shading (which we realize does not react to light and flattens the 3D character), you can adjust the ambient color in the material. Let’s do this together:

1.    Open the Maya file from the companion data: FlatSpace_Hat-PinLadies.mb.

2.    Open the Hypershade window either by clicking the button on the toolbar or by going to Window > Rendering Editors > Hypershade.

3.    Locate the PinMaterial. Middle-mouse-drag it into the Work Area tab of the Hypershade. With that node selected, click the Input and Output Connections button. This will display the textures that are connected to the material node. You will see that a Photoshop file is being read into for the specular channel and color channel.

Seeing the input connections to the material node.

FIGURE 7.17 Seeing the input connections to the material node.

4. In the fold-down tab menus on the left of the Hypershade window, locate the Color Utilities fold-down tab. Click the Blend Colors node. This will add a blend colors node to your hypershade work area.

Adding a blend colors node.

FIGURE 7.18 Adding a blend colors node.

We want to add the color texture to the ambient channel. However, if we add it straight in, it will completely wash out any 3D shading. That might not be what you want. Let’s look at that possibility first before we continue with how we’ll do it in this tutorial.

An easy way to hook up the texture directly to the ambient channel is to double-click on the PinMaterial node. This should open the Attribute Editor for the PinMaterial.

Then middle-mouse-drag the color texture on top of the Ambient color chip in the Attribute Editor. You will see the connection is automatically made in the Hypershade window’s work area. Figure 7.19 presents an example of this connection. The images at the top of the figure show what the material looked like before the addition of the ambient texture and afterward. You can see that the shading is completely flat, maybe too flat for our needs.

Adding the color texture directly to the ambient color.

FIGURE 7.19 Adding the color texture directly to the ambient color.

Instead we will carry on with our method. What we want to do is use the same color as the texture but knock it back a bit. In step 4 we created a blend colors node. We’ll use it now.

5.    Click the Blend Colors node so that it opens in the Attribute Editor. Middle-mouse-drag the Color texture to the Blend Colors node’s Color 1 color chip.

6.    Add a gray color to the Blend Colors node’s Color 2 color chip.

 Adding color texture to the Blend Colors node.

FIGURE 7.20 Adding color texture to the Blend Colors node.

7. Click on the PinMaterial so that it appears in the Attribute Editor. Middle-mouse-drag the Blend Colors node to the Ambient color chip in the Attribute Editor. The connection will update in the Hypershade’s Work Area tab. The image preview of the Attribute Editor shows a small amount of shading but not a lot.

Connecting the blend shape node to the ambient color.

FIGURE 7.21 Connecting the blend shape node to the ambient color.

8. Click on the Blend Colors node and adjust the Blender attribute in the Attribute Editor. A value of 0 will give an ambient color of gray (or whatever Color 2 is). A value of 1 will give the texture as the ambient color. Anything in between is a mixture of the two.

Figure 7.22 presents four material previews. The one in the top left is the original anisotropic material that we started with. The one in the top right is with the color texture used directly as the ambient color; it gave a completely flat look. The bottom chips use the Blend Colors node to blend between the color texture and a gray color. This allows some shading but still keeps the render looking flat.

Materials with and without ambient color.

FIGURE 7.22 Materials with and without ambient color.

The final project for this tutorial is saved in a file named Flat-Space_HatPinLadies_v2.mb. In this file, a similar Blend Colors node technique has been applied to the ladies as well.

Flat space scene with flat lighting.

FIGURE 7.23 Flat space scene with flat lighting.

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