Description

For this project, you produce an experimental animation centered around the theme, “Calling _______ Into Question”. Complete the project theme by filling in the blank. You will design, model, texture, animate, and render a 10 - 30 second animation in response to sound that you find in the Experimental category on freemusicarchive.org. Pay special attention to the audio track’s licensing. You cannot use anything that claims to derivatives in the license. If the license requires you to give credit (CC-BY), you can give credit in the Vimeo.com description. You are encouraged to edit, modify, and combine different audio tracks to suit the needs of your animation.

You will also critically reflect on your work and the poject theme in a 150 word work statement.

A successful project will demonstrate understanding and mastery of 3D tools and processes, application of formal design principles, attention to detail and composition, and lead to discussion about your work during a critique.

Completion Process

You will go through a variety of different project steps including:

1. Sound identification;
2. reference gathering, visual research, and concept development;
3. modeling, surfaces, and texture map production;
4. animation;
5. animatic editing;
6. lighting;
7. rendering,
8. feedback and iterative improvement,
9. color grading and finishing,
10. and writing reflection.

Inspiration:

Spherical Harmonics
CGI 3D Animated Experimental Short: “Pheromone” - by Helmut Breineder & Michelle Martins
Elements: 3D Experimental Animation by Maxim Zhestkov
Mythos
30s.ec
FITC presents FORM // Chicago 2015 Titles
11secondclub
Simple shapes in motion
Forms in Nature
30 Seconds / Edition One / Tomas Garcia
geist.xyz
30 motion tests in 30 seconds
Bloom
David O’Reilly: Childhood - [Adult Swim], Bomb
Animation Sequence Project
Spherikal

Constraints

• Use 3D tools to produce animation
• 10 - 30 seconds of animation
• All assets used in the production of the work must be created by you, be appropriately licensed for use, or be appropriated in a transformative way that significantly alters the nature of the original asset.

Deliverables

When uploading files to the dropboxes, ensure that you use the naming conventions and folder structure, listed below.

1. Concepts
   • Requirements:
     • 3 to 5 different written ideas. What makes for a good concept: Concept Definition, Concept Formation, Design Concept Thoughts
     • Sound clip from freemusicarchive.org.
     • Visual reference sheet(s): Example of visual reference sheet.
     • Concept drawings: Add scans or photographs. These must be ‘well-photographed’ and cropped/straightened photos of your concept drawings and text.
2. Storyboard
   • Template download: storyboard-template.pdf
   • Tutorial: LinkedIn Learning
   • Requirements:
     • Create thumbnail sketches with descriptions to show how your animation will work. If you had to pitch the storyboards
     • 1080 HD preset
3. Animatic
   • Typically, and animatic is a moving version of the storyboards with sound. For our purposes, we will combine this idea with 3D animation blocking to produce viewport renders edited with sound.
   • Requirements:
     • Create a 15-30 second compressed .mp4 of your playblasts edited with sound. Please consider relevant aspects of camera, composition, staging, pacing, and animation.
     • 1080 HD preset
4. Test Renders
   • Note: 20 second render times per frame takes 4 hours for a computer to render 30 seconds worth of frames
   • Requirements:
     • 3 to 5 test renders, each from a different part of the animation
     • 1080 HD preset
     • Render time must be under a minute (unless you plan to pay for an online renderfarm)
5. Statement
   • Requirements:
     • Write and add upload a statement format named (min 150 words) called statement.doc
6. Final Submission
   • Requirements:
     • Upload .mp4 video file in compressed H.264 format
     • .txt file with link to vimeo
7. Revision
   • Requirements:
     • Upload revised .mp4 video file in compressed H.264 format
     • .txt file with link to vimeo

Naming Conventions

Project 2
|
├── concepts/
|   |
|   └── [YOURUSERID]-concepts.zip/
|       |
|       ├── [YOURUSERID]-[SOUNDCLIP].wav OR [YOURUSERID]-[SOUNDCLIP].mp3 OR [YOURUSERID]-[SOUNDCLIP].aiff
|       ├── [YOURUSERID]-referencesheet-[#].jpg
|       ├── [YOURUSERID]-sketch-[#].jpg
|       └── ...
|
|       
├── playblast/
|   |
|   └── [YOURUSERID]-animatic.mp4
|
|
├── test-renders/
|   |
|   └── [YOURUSERID]-test-renders.zip/
|       |
|       ├── [YOURUSERID]-testrender-[#].jpg OR [YOURUSERID]-testrender-[#].png
|       └── ...
|
|
└── Final Submission/
    |
    └── [YOURUSERID]-revision.zip/
        |
        ├── [YOURUSERID]-vimeo-link.txt
        ├── [YOURUSERID]-statement.doc
        └── [YOURUSERID]-final-submission.mp4