Return to the Mind

I have been giving quite a bit of thought to what I once called Mind Animation. Those not familiar with what that is can check the archives of March 2004. In thinking about this, though, I concluded that it may be time for more experimentation in this area. Did you know that the entire sequence seen in the Daniel: Visions and Dreams trailer was done via mind animation?

That's not what this post is about though. It's about technique! Many have requested that I post more on techniques used in my backgrounds and I often get requests on cel shading tips as well. So now I will start doing just that.

I will eventually get into what went into creating this background, done via mind animation, and the methods used when I did it, but I think it is best to understand what led me here. I want to first begin by saying that I do not now, and I have never set out to make a 3D film. If I did, it certainly wouldn't be cel shaded. That is not my interest. My interest is and has always been making anime. SO please don't assume that there will be a multitude of 3D tutorials found here or techniques to create full CGI films or even 3D anime like Appleseed. No such thing will be found here. What you will find is the methods I used to create the films which are past, and those I will use from this point on. I will begin expounding on what was, eventually covering what is, and then I will post on things which have not yet come to pass. We must always keep up with the latest developments and be ready at all times to change with our software, embrace new tools and roll with the tide which takes us to better and faster production.

If I had the understanding that I have today when I did Understanding Chaos, it would be a very different work. It's still my favorite, but I think I was something of slave to 3D in that day. This scene, however, is one where it was rightly used. Interestingly, I just read an article on starwars.com about building miniatures for Episode III. The guy interviewed said that if an environment is in 20 shots or more, then it becomes cost effective to build a miniature. The same basic idea applies here. The last half of Chaos takes place in this set, so it was more than a good idea to totally build it in 3D. That sped up the process of creating sequences in this room immensely.

I basically built the entire set in Lightwave 3D and even placed the lens flares in the set in 3D, something I would never do today. Still this was great for speed. I basically brought the finished renders of this set into Aura and ran filters on them to create something of a painted look. For those using Aura, the filters used were under Median Blur, and I generally ran an edge double with a value of 4 and then a light mark or dark mark with a value of 2. I chose based on how light or dark the background needed to be. These processes will be explained in greater detail as these posts go on. Look for a breakdown of this in the next technique post!

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