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Animation Techniques > Tips for Managing 3D Animation Projects (Posted By: mac3d)
:: Post Date: 2007-04-04 14:11:20 [Post Comment] [Post Articles]

Tips for Managing 3D Animation Projects

Software Used:

Autodesk Maya

INTRODUCTION

When you are producing even the shortest of films, you'll end up with a lot of data, images, references, textures, scenes, etc. You can easily go crazy getting lost in your own project. If elements are scattered all over your computer, you will waste a lot of time and effort looking for them. It's much better to place each element correctly in a specific location along with its companion elements.

When you are in the middle of a production, you will appreciate knowing the whereabouts of your files. Plus there's a psychological aspect-it is better to work on a system that you know is clean. You have less weight on your shoulders and can focus more on doing your work, rather than looking for it.

So, the first thing to do after you've bought yourself a brand-new HDD that will ONLY be used for your short film is to set up a global file tree for your project.

1. SETTING UP A PROJECT FILE TREE

There are three stages to making a movie: pre-production, production and post-production. So I divided my project into three folders that are labeled exactly "1 PRE PRODUCTION", "2 PRODUCTION" and "3 POST PRODUCTION". The numbers keep the folders in the correct order, and the capital letters make it cleaner. With such a naming scheme, you can load each element into its respective folder quickly and easily.

(1). PRE-PRODUCTION

Use this folder for documents (such as images or videos) that will be used for referencing: storyboards, sketches, planning, scripts, blueprints, and so on.

I've set up my folders this way: I created seven main folders for Management, Scripts, Storyboard, Sketches, Layout2D3D, Blueprints, and Production. I've kept them in uppercase and added an underscore (_) at the beginning and end of their names so that the folder is placed at the top of the file tree.

Then I made folders for the characters and environments appearing in the film. In these folders, I placed images or video references taken from the Internet, films or my sketchbooks. I named them "00_BOY", "00_SOLDIER", 00_HELICOPTER", "01_WHITEHOUSE", "02_SKY", "03_FARM", "VIDEOS", and so on.

I added the number to keep a more methodical and chronological structure. "00_" corresponds to the characters or important elements that compose the film and "01_", "02_" are the elements the script is cut into (in my case, the chronological sets).

I also created additional folders for future reference, for pictures and videos I found interesting. For example, I called them "Lightning", "Sets", "Props", "FX", and so on. The folders that are not prefixed by a number are common ones, but be sure not to turn them into trash cans!

Create as many folders as you need, but keep them appropriate to your needs. Too many folders can result in too much irritating double-clicking to access folders within folders. Note that if you work on an operating system like Windows, you can take advantage of the "Favorites" feature to access those folders you use most often.

(2). PRODUCTION

Use this folder to store your Maya projects. Be aware I used the plural-"projects." Don't create a single project that contains your entire short film. Instead, try to divide the film into parts that correspond to its different sets. For example, my projects were called "BARN", "HALLWAY", "WHITEHOUSE", "SKY", and so on. I also created Maya projects for tests (I called it "TESTS"), the characters ("CHARACTERS") and the pre-visualization ("LAYOUT3D").

With the projects laid out, I opted to keep the sub-folders that Maya creates by default. I found their names and structure to be very practical. I give you the following three tips to keep you organized:

Under "scenes", I named the scenes after the nomenclature that I used for cutting the script at important key parts. For example, the file name "B204_c.mb" would be based on the sequence "B2", scene "04", and the letter "_c" representing the version of the Maya scene file.

Under "images", I placed all the rendered images in a sub-folder named after the sequence, with additional sub-folders that correspond to the "Render Layers" ("WHITEHOUSEimagesB204BACKGROUND", "HOUSE imagesD405SOLDIER" and so on)

The image sequences were properly named ("B204_BACKGROUND_0001.sgi", "D405_SOLDIER_0250.sgi" and so on)

Under "textures", I took the same approach. For example, the shader of the object "ground" in the scene B202 had a color map ("b202_ground_color.tif"), a bump map ("b202_ground_bump.tif") and a specular map (b202_ground_specularRollOff.tif"). It helps keep this folder easy to use if you can see which textures are used in which scene.

(3). POST-PRODUCTION

Use this folder to store post-production elements, giving them names such as "Compositing" (for compositing software workspaces), "Editing" (for editing software projects), "Music", "Sounds", "Voices", "Website", and so on.

Even though you are at the compositing stage that's supposed to be one of the very last parts of a short film (along with editing, sounds, and music), you must keep yourself organized. For the final version of a scene, create "COMPOSITING" and "EDITING" folders, each containing sub-folders for every main sequence, always retaining the correct naming scheme. You can also render an uncompressed version of the video and a proxy to be used for the Editing Part. It allows your computer to use less RAM so that it can work faster even though you have Maya or your Compositing software already open.

Try to label every track and layer of your compositing or editing software.

2. MANAGING THE ENTIRE PROJECT
An important part of managing a project is to be able to visualize where you are, where you are going and what you'll be faced with. I find it very useful to create a table where I list every scene and sequence, along with the kind of effects each will require, the duration of the sequence, and so on.

I also added a "Progress" column to the table to track my status. I divided the process of creating a single shot into five distinct stages: Layout, Modeling/Texturing, Animation, Rendering and Compositing. With a single glance at this column, I can see which scenes need to be retaken and what the problem is.

[Click Here for Larger Image]

Also, in the editing software (in my case, Adobe Premiere) the whole project is laid out in front of my eyes:

[Click Here for Larger Image]

I decomposed the editing project into eight parts:

1. The Global Script: Text images that tell the story in its main lines (rough ambiances, actions, etc.)

2. The Script: Text images meticulously contain all the information in a shot

3. Storyboards: Hand-drawn sketches that show roughly the composition of a shot

4. Pre-Layout3D: A very rough version of the film to see if the flow of the movie is working

5. Animation and Rendering Complexity: A brief estimate of the amount of work a shot will require

6. Layout3D: The pre-visualization of a shot. I focused my efforts on the final composition, camera movement, and character placement

7. Viewport Rendering: A rendering of the 3D viewport to check if the final animation (characters, objects, etc.) is working right

8. Output: The final shot, rendered with all its layers and effects.

With this editing layout, I was able to switch from the storyboard to the final shot at any time.

3. WORKING WITH ALIAS MAYA

In Maya, there are a lot of features that help you work with heavy scenes.

The most important one is the "Display Layers" feature that allows you to switch, for example, from the LowRes version of a set to the HighRes version in a single click. You can also change the color of the wireframe of a group of objects. It's very useful to have this one-glance overview of the scene. If you reference layers that contain objects that you don't need to use, you won't select those objects when you don't want to.

I use the Outliner a lot. I kept it organized with groups of objects, groups of lights, and separators. When everything is placed under the right group, I can display or hide the elements that I need with one short keystroke. I can also very easily select any node I want to tweak by going to the right folder.

Another good Maya feature is the Reference Editor. It lets you import data from an external file by reference. The data remains in the external file and is loaded on the fly only when Maya needs it. Thus, when you save multiple versions of a scene as you work on it, you don't need to save the characters that are in your scene multiple times, and you don't modify them as you animate them. The Reference Editor speeds up the processing by optimizing the space on your hard drive.

[Click Here for Larger Image]

Last but not least, Maya allows you to hide interface elements. So when you don't use the Shelf Tabs or other menus, you can hide them. The Hotbox option is extremely useful. You can access anything from anywhere and very fast. Plus you can assign a short cut to a command.

I've added new hotkey layouts for myself: Alt+F1 (Outliner), Alt+F2 (UV Editor), F2 (Hypershade), Alt+F3 (Component Editor), F3 (Attribute Spread Sheet), F4 (Visor), F5 (Graph Editor), F6 (Dope Sheet), F7 (Trax Editor), Alt+& (RenderIntoNewWindow), Alt+" (RenderGlobalWindow), Alt+' (RenderViewWindow) (the last three hotkeys are convenient for me because they are aligned on my French azerty keyboard).

Before:

[Click Here for Larger Image]

After:

[Click Here for Larger Image]

To further widen your possibilities, don't forget that MEL scripts will help you even more!

CONCLUSION

Although it may seem overkill and not that useful at the beginning, you must create a simple yet expandable file pipeline before you even start a project. It will later save your life. Throughout the entire project, you need to respect the rules you set up at the beginning of the pre-production. Of course, if you stumble across a better solution to manage your project (a new naming convention, folder layout, or other technique), it may be beneficial to take the time to change everything you have already done to be conform to a new and better way.

With a consistent and usable file structure, you'll be able to focus on what's most important: creating the film!

Enjoy!

Comments: (Currently there are 11 comments.)

[Anonymous]madxxx ( 2008-06-13 22:31:15 ) [Post Comments]
it's very nice
I like it

madxxx animation 3d flash multimedia graphic design
http://madxxx.freevar.com
[Anonymous]Skymedias Admin ( 2008-04-28 15:48:23 ) [Post Comments]
I think it depends on what sort of project you are working on. If it is a animation project, then you probably can find some project management books as references.
[Anonymous]MANDEEP ( 2008-04-28 02:07:45 ) [Post Comments]

Thankss a lot. Can you please point me to any tutorial online from where i can know what are basic procedures to work on a 3d project. I know maya back to back , its fine but not having worked in a company has limited me.
Now i am getting a big project and i am not sure how to begin .

[Anonymous]zandi ( 2008-04-26 17:56:24 ) [Post Comments]
thanx thanx very much
[Anonymous]avdhesh ( 2008-03-05 03:45:42 ) [Post Comments]
hey its very good thanks 4 share..
[Anonymous]Kiran B ( 2008-01-03 18:22:49 ) [Post Comments]
that's cool
[Anonymous] ( 2008-01-03 18:22:17 ) [Post Comments]
hmmmmmmmm
[Anonymous]Ali Asad ( 2007-09-03 22:51:38 ) [Post Comments]
extremely helpful. Thankyou!
[Anonymous]vinnnu` ( 2007-06-17 13:08:00 ) [Post Comments]
fantastic
[Anonymous]KQAPL ( 2007-05-01 04:53:32 ) [Post Comments]
Huh?
[Anonymous] ( 2007-04-23 17:39:29 ) [Post Comments]

Wow I don't know what his problem is...

Anyways, I think this is rather good. Most of it is common sense but for some people like SJCC, who might not have any... ... It's a good read. Haha, he might just be mad that there's too many words and not enough pictures too... But who knows...

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