Lab 8: Animation Production
IDS252: 3D Animation, Spring 2018

Due dates are given in the gantt chart

Goal

The goal of this lab is for you to collaborate with 2-3 other classmates to write and produce a complete 1 minute animation based on the stories developed in Lab 7. You will also be collaborating with several students in a music class taught by Professor Mike Nord. Good communication with your group members and with the muscians is very important.

Schedule, Due Dates, and Grading

The schedule is given in the gantt chart . Items in red are hard deadlines. Critiques will be held on these dates and groups are expected to have indicated items completed. Each individual in the group is expected to demonstrate their contribution to this completed work.
This project is worth 50% of your total grade: 35% is for your individual work and 15% is for the group as a whole. Grading (group & individual) will be based on the following:
- Ability to meet deadlines (red items) set in the gantt chart.
- Ability to respond to feedback.
- Maintaining good communication with group members and musicians.
- Doing your fair share of work.
- Status reports.
- Project organization.
- Final presentation (see items listed in the final deliverables given below).
- Quality (esthetic and technical) of the final animation.

Process (Check Gantt Chart for due dates)

Story, StoryBoards, and Storyreel: In Lab 7 you developed a one minute story. The first task for Lab 8 is to create a storyreel. It is important to try to get the storyreel timing as close as possible both for the sake of the music students and also for the people in your group doing layout/animatics. A lesson learned by previous groups is that it pays to get as much detail (timing, camera angles, story line) worked out as possible at the storyreel (and animatics) stage. You save time in the long run.
Shot List & Task List: Each group should fill out a Collaboration Form which will contain the story summary along with the task and shot lists.
The tasks should be assigned in a way so as to insure that each group member has something to do in any given week. Note that everyone should do some of the animatics, and the animation.
Based on the storyreel, each group should fill out the scene/shot list for the animation. Each member of the group should be assigned several of these shots and be responsible for the making sure they are completed.
The Collaboration Form should be placed on cs-render in the lab 8 group folder for this animation. If changes are made to the shot or task list, please make sure this form is kept up-to-date.
Music students will generally be assigned to each group sometime between the storyreel and animatics phase. Be certain that everyone (animators and musicians) exchange contact information. Once the musicians are assigned, animators must not change the high level timing without consulting first with the muscians. If any animations involve dance scenes, the animators should ask the musicians for a click track.
Concept and Reference: As the story is being developed, individuals in the group will begin to work on the look and feel of the characters and scene. Collect or take photos of actual items. Reference materials should be collected and placed on cs-render in the lab 8 group folder for your animation.
Scene and Props: Once the "look" of the animation has been decided and the reference materials have been collected, work can begin on the scene and prop modeling in Maya. If there are any special effects, the special effects person can start to learn about how to generate them.
File Referencing: You should be using file referencing for the environment and character models for ease of editing and to insure consistency across shots. Make sure referenced scene files are cleaned up before you do the referencing (name objects, delete history, delete unused objects, name materials, freeze transforms, group objects, set pivots, etc)
Maya Scene Files: In general, keeping all of your Maya files organized will save you time and headaches. So, as discussed above in File Referencing, don't forget to cleanup all of your scene files before animating/referencing. It helps to constantly monitor the outliner for clutter.
Character Modeling and Motion Testing: Character modeling (or search for already rigged characters) can also begin once the "look" is decided and reference materials collected. If you create your own characters, movement controls should be added and motion tests should be done to make sure the model can do the movements needed in the animation.
Layout/Animatics: Once the characters and props are mostly completed, the group should begin to create the layout/animatics. This will be done in Maya and should focus only on the high level character motion and camera work. There will be many changes made to the animatic so do not waste your time on detailed and time consuming motion that will only have to be redone. As shots of the animatic are completed, they should replace the storyboard image in your Adobe Premier Elements project and a new quicktime file should be generated.
Timing: Once the animatic is complete, we will probably pitch the stories to the musicians. Once musicians have been assigned to the animation groups, make sure they are aware of any timing changes. Keep them in the loop about the latest quicktime versions. Also, let them know how much time will be added for the title and credits so they can plan the music accordingly.
Animation: This is the most time intensive part. Everyone in the group should animate the shots they have been assigned. Follow the pose-to-pose method. As portions are completed and rendered, they should replace the appropriate sections in your Adobe Premier project. Once the animation is complete, YOU CANNOT MAKE ANY CHANGES to the animation without first consulting with the musicians to make sure it won't louse up what they have done so far.
Lighting, Shading, and Textures: As the above tasks are being done, someone in the group can be doing some experimentation with the lighting, shading, and textures. Since the lighting is often so dependent on the animation and camera position, it should not be started in earnest until the animation is complete. Make sure that the lighting is consistent from shot to shot.
Title and Credits: Add your title and credits. The title should be no more than a couple of seconds and the credits should be no more than 5 seconds. Be sure to add the names of the musicians. If you have several musicians doing separate scores, then you will have multiple copies of your animation, each with different music and credits.
Rendering: The final render should be done using a higher value for the "Overall Quality" settings in Mental Ray.

The default value is .25. You might try somewhere between .5 and 1 instead. Do some tests to see what is the best setting.
The final image size should be HD720. Render to png format (warning, if you use Mental Ray Sun & Sky, you may have alpha channel issues where the background does not show up).
Do some testing ahead of time to estimate how long the rendering will take when you are at full resolution and quality. Make sure plenty of time (several days or a week) is allowed to do the final render. Use the renderfarm but remember that, as the deadline approaches, all the groups will be competing for renderfarm time.

Group Organization

In addition to assigning people to the various tasks (story, lighting, shading, etc. ), each group should have a:

Team Leader: the spokesperson of the group. He/she is responsible for making sure group members know what they should be doing and that the task/shot list is kept up-to-date. They are also the one responsible for making sure the musicians know what is going on. Note, if people in the group are not getting along or if people are not pulling their weight, any student should feel free to contact the instructor in private with their concerns.
Back-up Manager: responsible for frequent back-ups of all the group material on cs-render. Back-ups should be done at least once a week initially, and more frequently as the final deadline approaches. Note, individual group members are also responsible for backing up their individual work more frequently, especially after a long work session.
The Editor is responsible for making sure Adobe Premier has the latest frames and for creating the new quicktime files when new frames are added to the Adobe project. The Editor's job is a lot of work. As the animatics, blocking, and animation progresses, there should always be a "latest" quicktime version of the animation available for animators and musicians to view. It is the responsibility of the editor to maintain an Adobe Premiere Project with the latest frames and to render the quicktime. The starting quicktime version is the storyreel. As shots are completed in Maya, the rendered frames need to take the place of the older frames or storyboard image. The editor must keep on top of what the group members have completed. The editor should maintain an "Editing" folder which contains 1) the Adobe Premier project and 2) the most current frames (copied over from the Maya image folders). The frames should be organized into subfolders by scenes and/or shots. The latest quicktime file should be kept in the cs-render group folder in a separate subfolder called something like "LatestQuicktime". This is where the musicians will go to find the latest verion of the animation.

Project Organization

As you know, keeping the group's Lab 8 folder organized is important. For example, it is strongly recommended that you have separate top level folders for the 1) story (text, boards, and reel), 2) concept & reference, 3) the Maya Project, 3) the Editor (e.g. for finished images and Adobe Premiere), and 4) a LatestQuicktime (e.g. for musicians). :

It is best if there is only one Maya Project on cs-render for the entire group. If students need to work on their own machines, it may be necessary to copy over a temporary version of the Maya project to their own machines. In such cases, please be sure that the edited files are copied back to the project folder on cs-render. Version control can be a challenge.

Status Reports

The instructor relies, in part, on the status reports to evaluate what each student in the group did. Status reports should be completed every Friday, starting on Mar 16 and continuing through April 27 (see gantt chart).

Once a week (Fridays), the group should meet together to write up the status report which is emailed to the instructor (gorr) and all team members. The status report should contain the following:
1. For each person in the group, what did that person accomplish in the past week. Be as specific as possible.
2. For each person in the group, what do they plan on accomplishing the following week.
3. The subject line should include: "Status report for GroupName".

Example Email:

From:   <the team leader or, if absent, another member of the group>
To: gorr@willamette.edu, <and all team members>
Subject: Status report for <GroupName>

Accomplishments from last week:
person 1: Collected reference material for .... Modeled assets (chair.mb, table.mb)
person 2: Researched, tested, and selected characters. Decided to use the characters ... 
person 3: Began creating environment scene file (environment.mb) referencing chair.mb, ...
person 4: Completed creating storyreel. Backed up project. Modeled asset (lamp.mb)

Tasks for next week:
person 1: ....
person 2: ....
person 3: ....
person 4: ....

If a person is absent on the day the status report is completed, that person needs either to mail this information to the group beforehand with the above information so that it can be put in the group report, or they need to send this information themselves directly to the instructor.
The status report will be used throughout the semester to assess where things are with the group. At the end of the semester, these status reports (along with the task and shot lists) will also be used to help with evaluation of each person's individual contribution. WARNING, if you don't send a status report, you may not be credited with doing the work you did.

Final Deliverables

Due Date: All of the items below should be completed by the presentations on Saturday, May 5, 2-5pm:

Group Reflections: In preparation for the final presentation, each group should write a document addressing the items below. The group presentation will be a summary of this document. An electronic copy should be placed on cs-render in the group folder in a file named GroupReflections_GroupName.docx.

What did each individual do (be as specific as you can).
Discuss the collaborative process both within the animation group, and between animators and musicians.
Discuss the thinking behind the esthetic choices that were made. Why did you choose what you did? Were changes made along the way, and why?
Discuss both the main challenges and successes (technical, esthetic, collaborative, etc).
What were the lessons learned? Come up with at least 3 things that you would do differently next time, and 3 things you would do the same (i.e. what worked really well).

Group Presentation: The final presentations are May 5, 2-5pm. The PowerPoint slides prepared for the presentation should be placed on cs-render in the group folder in a file named Presentation_GroupName.pptx.

Prepare as though you were presenting this work at SSRD.

The presentation is included as part of your project grade.

Each group will have ~10 minutes plus time for questions.

Present the completed animations with music.
(only 1-2 minutes!) Introduce musicians and animators. Have each person talk briefly about what they did.
Discuss collaborative process - How did you all coordinate and get along?
Discuss esthetic choices.
Discuss the biggest challenges and successes.
Identify the lessons learned (3 things to change, 3 things that worked).

Individual Evaluation: Each individual has the option of turning in a personal evaluation of what they felt each person in their group contributed, including themselves, (this will be kept completely confidential). Please email this to gorr. Place "Individual Evaluation for Your_Group_Name" in the subject line.

Group Data: The group folder on cs-render should contain the following:

All of the files related to the creation of the animation (story, storyreel, references, animatics, Maya, image maps, audio, final image files etc, etc).
The final rendered animations (with the credits and soundtrack). Note, each group should have a version for each of their musicians with the correct music credits!! These should be at least HD720 (or larger) in size.
The group collaboration form (story, task list, shot list, downloaded model list)
The group reflections.
The powerpoint presentation slides.

Clean-up: Make a back-up copy (somewhere other than on cs-render) of your entire group folder, and then please delete from your group folder on cs-render all but the final files that were used. That is, remove back-up folders, back-up or old maya files, and all but the final image (e.g. png or tiff) and quicktime files.

It is recommended that each person in the group make copies of the animations (and possibly project) for their own records.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Lab 8: Animation Production IDS252: 3D Animation, Spring 2018