Pixar Animated Shorts
After experimenting with the very basics and creating different shapes on Maya, I thought it would be interesting to dissect a professional 3D animation. I recalled a particular Pixar animation short called Partly Cloudy that aired in theaters before the movie Up. As I was searching for the video online, I came across another equally entertaining Pixar creation called Presto (below). What really strikes me about these videos is the expressiveness of the characters. It amazes me how the animators develop such dynamic characters whose emotions flawlessly change from anger, to excitement, to curiosity, using minimal audio.
As I watched, I tried to identify simple shapes and textures in the video. When viewed in this frame of mind, the animations are much easier to comprehend; although it is still very hard for me to determine what shapes/characters are more challenging to replicate than others. In the description under this video it says, “Problems arose when trying to animate the theater's audience of 2,500 patrons—which was deemed too expensive—and was solved by showing the back of the audience.” I assume with more experience and practice it will become easier to gauge the difficulty of producing specific objects in 3D.
As I watched, I tried to identify simple shapes and textures in the video. When viewed in this frame of mind, the animations are much easier to comprehend; although it is still very hard for me to determine what shapes/characters are more challenging to replicate than others. In the description under this video it says, “Problems arose when trying to animate the theater's audience of 2,500 patrons—which was deemed too expensive—and was solved by showing the back of the audience.” I assume with more experience and practice it will become easier to gauge the difficulty of producing specific objects in 3D.
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