Melting Man.
Lecture Notes
In the previous topic, we discussed 3D characters with 2D parts. One of the examples we talked about was goo on a three headed hydra. For this topic, let’s take a look at the art of special effects (EFX). It is a worthy topic that is more than often left out of animation discussions.
When training the different departments in feature animation studios, I found that the EFX team was composed of odd, quirky individuals, more so than the other departments. In a building of more than 150 artists, who are normally slightly odd and fun loving, these individuals looked at things completely differently than the character animators. Where character animators look at the body mechanics and acting as a whole large unit, the EFX animators look at the subcomponents of the character. EFX animators look at the self-cast shadows on the body, the highlights from a key light, water dripping down the hair, goo (if any), inci-dental props, and the like. In other words, they see the world completely differently than do character animators, and in my opinion they are underappreciated and lack appropriate representation in animation tombs. Of course, that is understandable, as few EFX animators have written anything, although a few topics have been published on the subject. We will not be able to do the topic justice here. We will only be able to gain an overview and apply it toward our 2D/3D adventure.
Dig Deeper
If you want to dig deeper into the topic of traditional EFX, read Joe Gilland’s topic Elemental Magic: The Art of Special Effects Animation.
FIGURE 6.1 EFX example
Let’s try to categorize the types of EFX elements to give you a better understanding of what to look for in your scenes. The constant rule throughout all EFX elements is that usually these are nonacting, or noncharacter, elements in the story. However, there are exceptions to that rule, which we will discuss later on in this topic. When discussing this topic with many individuals, we have come up with the following categories for EFX animation and example elements:
1. Solid shapes
a. Props with contact points: leading the character or led by the character
b. Moving manmade objects without contact points to a character
c. Moving organics: trees, flowers, rocks
2. Abstract shapes
a. Liquid: flowing, contained, drops, or streams
b. Fire: small, large, linear, billowing
c. Smoke/vapors: linear, billowing, wispy
d. Wind/weather: rain, snow (while in the air)
e. Earth particulates: dust
f. Magic/sparkles
3. Light
a. Highlights
b. Shadows
c. Tones
No matter how you dissect the subparts of EFX elements, there are at least two separate groupings: a solid shape group and an abstract shape group. Solid shapes are, if you remember your science class, solids. They have definite form and shape and can usually be broken down into smaller shapes. The abstract category includes liquids, gases, and plasmas. We define them as abstract because the shapes they form, when drawn, include a certain level of design that is inspired by nature but does not mimic it exactly. There are those who prefer to animate the solid shapes and those who prefer to animate the abstract shapes. For either category, 3D tools, particle systems, fluid simulators, and procedural shaders have been designed to aid in the creation of these EFX. The third category, light, could arguably be placed under either the solid or abstract category based on the property of light being observed. The thing to note is that in EFX, we are thinking of the shape of visible light or the absence of it. We are not looking at light as in 3D lighting and rendering. We’ll look at each of these categories more in depth.
SOLID SHAPES
In our listing of solid shapes, our first item is props with contact points. These are things that the character moves (coffee cups, cigars, pipes, forks, newspapers, etc.) or things that move the character (bicycles, cars, spaceships, etc.). The second listing is objects that move but have no contact point to the character. This can include just about anything you see in an environment that is man made: trash, road signs, garden gnomes, and wind wheels. The next category is moving organic objects such as trees, flowers,and grass. Depending on animation style, the amount of movement to these items may be kept at a minimum because it can be extremely time consuming to create this movement, even when done in 3D. Rocks and boulders are in this category because they are solid shapes that can fall and react to gravity. If we must continue to categorize, you would want to include ice and glaciers into this category as well, because they are solid in shape.
FIGURE 6.2 3D BMX bicycle modeled
ABSTRACT SHAPES
In calling these elements abstract, we do not mean that their shape or movement is abstract, because there is reason for their form and path of movement. However, as stated earlier, these elements are more able to be designed and are actually a designed form abstracted from their observance in nature. Each element— liquid, fire, smoke, wind, earth, magic, and so on—has its own law of movement, reaction to gravity, loss of energy, entropy, and volume that the animator must adequately study in order to reproduce.
FIGURE 6.3 Fire and smoke example.
LIGHT
FIGURE 6.4 Tones and shadows on a character.
In 2D EFX, light must be drawn. It is usually drawn as animated mattes that are used at compositing time to affect the coloring of the character and environment. An artist can also pull animated mattes from a 3D render and use them when compositing to achieve different lighting and shading effects. There are three visible elements to lights when drawn in this manner. Highlights are the bright areas on a character. They are usually caused by a kicker light, or rim light. Tones are the darker areas on a character where the light is not illuminating the character. Tones add great depth to a character, especially when combining a 2D character with a 3D character. However, beware: drawing tones on every character in every shot takes a lot of time. During a time crunch, this is usually the first element to be removed. Shadows are, obviously, the shadows that a character or object casts upon the environment. All three elements are usually blurred and minimized in movement so that they do not distract from the main action of the story.
EXCEPTIONS
FIGURE 6.5 Melting character with rough character level, rough EFX level, and final cleanup EFX level.
There can be a blurry line between character animation and EFX animation in certain cases. What if the shadow is telling the story? In that case, it is a character and may be taken over by the character animators. What if the character is made of wind or fire? (Think about the element characters in Disney’s feature animation Hercules.) What do you do with a character who is basically composed of an EFX element? Something like that might be roughly animated by the character animator, and then the EFX animator adds his or her expertise of fire/wind/ice to the animator’s expertise of character movement. What if the prop that the character is holding is intricate to the acting? Depending on the character animator, he or she may rough in the placement of the prop or even animate the complete prop. The EFX animators would do what was needed to finish the prop’s animation.
Trench Note
All of these examples are based on studio culture and the artists found therein. This information is based on the general pattern that I witnessed in the two studios where I have worked. Both studios were large. In smaller studios where individuals have to wear many hats, of course, these ideas can be found to be very different based on the talent found there.
