WIRING

Here is a screen capture of the set which was discussed in the previous post. The model is really not all that complex, but is enough to get the point across with some help from lighting and texturing. Yes, this set is fully textured.

One thing I do not do is cel shade my backgrounds. Anime simply doesn't look like that. Some of my favorite anime had backgrounds that approach photo realism. This is not always the case and it depends very much on the mood of the show. The backgrounds that work for Blood: The Last Vampire just wouldn't fit in an anime like FLCL.

As you can see here, once the background is rendered and run through a few filters it creates a look that fits for what this show was. In some cases I may want a more painted look, or a more realistic look. Another thing you do not see in my backgrounds is ink outlines. A few shows do this, but most anime has backgrounds as complete paintings. In the best shows, the backgrounds could stand alone.

As I mentioned before, because this environment shows up so much in the film, it was worth it to build the set completely. This has an upfront cost in labor, but afterwards it can be shot from any angle and used as much as needed, just like a film set. This is one of the many advantages that makes a single artist doing a project like Chaos possible.

This idea is not lost on the anime world in general. In the popular show Witch Hunter Robin they completely built many of the main sets in 3D so that they gained the same benefit. This is but one way of working though. Many shows are planned such that this is not necessary. In the Production I.G. television series Otogizoushi, backgrounds are so simple as to eliminate the need. Still because of great lighting and shot planning, the show looks amazing. I may try something like tat in future mind animation experiments.

Some things I will discuss next are the 2D/3D combo background (my favorite), totally painted work, compositing and even working in digital photography to achieve the final image.

Comments?