2 Minutes on Zombillénium - Neilsoft Solutions€¦ · 2 Minutes on Zombillénium CHALLENGES •...
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2 Minutes on Zombillénium CHALLENGES • Translating the unique aesthetic from a comic to the moving frames of a film, while sticking to the original look as much as possible, was problematic, especially where the blending of skin colors became an issue. • With work taking place across four locations, effective project management was vital to completing production on time and ultimately under budget. SOLUTIONS Shading and lighting with Maya and Arnold Skin Shading Recreating the aesthetic of the comics meant working with a lot of flat colors within a limited palette, and a lot of shading and shadows. Skin colors blending became an issue when two characters of a similar color were standing next to each other, or when a character would put a hand in front of their face. To create a visual distinction, the team ended up developing an algorithm implemented within Arnold, using a kind of shadow ID that would trigger the outline any time two color elements overlapped. Animation studio 2 Minutes faced unique challenges in the creation of the animated adaptation of a popular graphic novel series Zombillénium. Equipped with Maya and Arnold, they took an inventive approach to achieving a very particular aesthetic, faithful to the original works. Manipulating lighting sources Zombillénium’s muted style also complicated the lighting process. They needed to be able to control the composition of the colors and remove or change a character’s shading. The best way they found of doing that was adding every layer of the shader to each other, and allowing some blending between these layers. Factoring in dynamic lighting sources, they came up with the solution of attaching a light source to each camera setup. This way they could manipulate the lighting source enough to get the kind of lighting they wanted or remove it entirely when they were compositing if they felt it wasn’t adding to the look of a given shot. We wanted power and stability… in the end, we rendered everything in Arnold, and we lit everything using Maya. Zombillénium © 2017 Maybe Movies, Belvision, 2 Minutes, Pipangaï “ “ Zombillénium © 2017 Maybe Movies, Belvision, 2 Minutes, Pipangaï Studio: 2 Minutes, Paris / Animation: Film, TV Project: Zombillénium Autodesk Solution: Maya, Arnold, Shotgun
Transcript of 2 Minutes on Zombillénium - Neilsoft Solutions€¦ · 2 Minutes on Zombillénium CHALLENGES •...
2 Minutes on Zombil lénium
CHALLENGES• Translating the unique aesthetic from a comic to
the moving frames of a film, while sticking to the original look as much as possible, was problematic, especially where the blending of skin colors became an issue.
• With work taking place across four locations, effective project management was vital to completing production on time and ultimately under budget.
SOLUTIONS
Shading and lighting with Maya and Arnold
Skin ShadingRecreating the aesthetic of the comics meant working with a lot of flat colors within a limited palette, and a lot of shading and shadows. Skin colors blending became an issue when two characters of a similar color were standing next to each other, or when a character would put a hand in front of their face. To create a visual distinction, the team ended up developing an algorithm implemented within Arnold, using a kind of shadow ID that would trigger the outline any time two color elements overlapped.
Animation studio 2 Minutes faced unique challenges in the creation of the animated adaptation of a popular graphic novel series Zombillénium. Equipped with Maya and Arnold, they took an inventive approach to achieving a very particular aesthetic, faithful to the original works.
Manipulating lighting sourcesZombillénium’s muted style also complicated the lighting process. They needed to be able to control the composition of the colors and remove or change a character’s shading. The best way they found of doing that was adding every layer of the shader to each other, and allowing some blending between these layers.
Factoring in dynamic lighting sources, they came up with the solution of attaching a light source to each camera setup. This way they could manipulate the lighting source enough to get the kind of lighting they wanted or remove it entirely when they were compositing if they felt it wasn’t adding to the look of a given shot.
We wanted power and stability…in the end, we rendered everythingin Arnold, and we lit everythingusing Maya.
Zombillénium © 2017 Maybe Movies, Belvision, 2 Minutes, Pipangaï
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Zombillénium © 2017 Maybe Movies, Belvision, 2 Minutes, Pipangaï
Studio: 2 Minutes, Paris / Animation: Film, TV Project: Zombillénium Autodesk Solution: Maya, Arnold, Shotgun
BENEFITSStability With Maya and Arnold, the team found a powerful solution that they could count on throughout the experimentation process.
Versatility The flexibility of Maya and Arnold made it easy to create and integrate custom tools wherever needed.
Find out more about 2 Minutes’ work on Zombillénium AREA. Get access to the creative tools used by top visual effects studios with products available in the Media & Entertainment Collection. Learn more about Maya, Arnold and Shotgun.
Zombillénium © 2017 Maybe Movies, Belvision, 2 Minutes, Pipangaï
Setting the stageWhen it came to designing the background, the team used the same shader, with a softer setting, and the 3D prompt algorithm to lend the whole thing a bit more volume. Unlike the characters, they were able to consistently use real light sources for the set. The script they had written for their shader was able to handle everything in the box, and the background toon shading was largely done with a Lambert setup.
Keeping things organized with Shotgun
The work was completed across four locations: two in France; one on the island of La Réunion, and one in Belgium. Shotgun was an essential tool to help facilitate communication and share data efficiently between the different sites.
Shotgun was also vital for project management since we were coordinating work between four different locations…
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