Making storyboards in 3D ("Ebon" project)

[luckbat]

Well, this thread brings together a lot of other stuff I've posted on these boards, so bear with me.

 

I'm still working on the full version of my "bathroom" scene, which is complicated enough that it requires storyboarding. Since the characters and set are already built, why not do the storyboards in 3D?

 

Well, it turns out there are a lot of good reasons why not, but suffice it to say, 3D storyboarding is only worth doing for judging your characters' relative positioning, along with the corresponding camerawork. As soon as you start moving arms and heads, you're gonna wish you'd just picked up a pencil.

 

On the plus side, 3d storyboards sure look a lot prettier. I ran a Photoshop: Poster Edges filter on this one to make it look "sketchier."

 

For anyone who's been following my work on this scene, here's where it all comes together:

 

1. The lipsync test I finished back in January corresponds to the 13th image of this storyboard (though the costume was different back then).

 

2. The fight scene for which I've been soliciting advice starts at the end of this storyboard.

 

Hmm. Now that I think about it, pretty much every thread I've ever started is related to this storyboard in some way...

 

Anyhow, I figured I should upload it and let people see how the project's coming along. These 20 shots represent roughly the first third of the scene. Comments are welcome, just keep in mind that these are storyboards, not stills of the actual animation, so no polishing was done. My main concern was camerawork.

 

Enjoy!

[Mr. Jaqe]

Cool images! I've peeked into your work before and I always get a "I wanna see more!" feeling when I'm done watching one of your clips or images. Good work! Can't wait to see more!!

[sculptorpro]

Great idea to use your models and scenes as storyboards, will you use the same setups in the actual film, seems a good way to get the flow of camera setups sorted to. The filtered images look really good too. You've inspired me to set up my mini movie the same way. Thanks for showing.

 

Ian

[starwarsguy]

I love your style! Great! I should've thought of that for storyborads! But you did first...

[Dhar]

Now that's an excellent idea! I think you're on to something here.

 

I love the 'just over the sinks' shot (1st one). Cool dramatic shots for the rest of the story board.

 

I think I'll use your idea in the future. Real time storyboarding!

[ypoissant]

I wouldn't advise doing your storyboard with your models and scenes and with the same application you will do your animation.

 

At least if you can draw, let your imagination drive your drawing. Explore facial expression, body language and camera expressiivity. Things you can more easily do with a pencil than with the 3D applicaiton.

 

To get the same finesse in expressivity that you can get with a pencil will require much more work with a 3D appplication no matter how easy it is to use. And it is better to put on paper the images you have in your mind rather that whatever you can accomplish in a given time with he application.

[Dhar]

Ahh! Thank you Yves. Duly noted.

[Rodney]

Mike (and all),

 

I like your storyboards.

 

I think what is being expressed here helps us understand the difference between 'storyboarding' and 'animatics' and hints at a lot more to consider in producing a short film/animation.

 

Storyboarding can save immense amounts of time and money in a production.

Pencils, markers, etc can be used to very quickly break down scenes.

Hard to beat that realtime response!

 

Likewise, animatics can further break down shots to save time by testing things out before fully committing to them. Initial animatics are generally very basic... and models need not move with detailed precision... characters don't even have to be characters... they can be a ball... or blocks... anything that moves the production forward and clarifies the story.

 

The more and more you see animatics these days the more you see combinations where the storyboards are compiled into animatics and the individual scenes are then replaced with improved animatics and finally finished scenes.

 

While it might not always be the best way... I'd guess that an important scene might be worth a little extra work and testing... like you have done.

 

If this were a studio production you might have wasted some serious time but as you are the one putting the whole thing together I'd guess putting the storyboards together probably helped you determine what directions you could approach in your final renders. Ultimately, I'd guess you'll make up that lost time later in your project by the exploration you accomplished.

 

Some paradigms of production are changing and others remain the same.

Ultimately, the artist is the one that determines the best approach, learns from the experience and adapts for the next project.

 

What I'm writing is nothing new... I just find these discussions interesting.

 

Edit: Minor corrections for clarity (I hope)

Edited April 10, 2005 by Rodney

[luckbat]

Based on my experience with this thing, I'd say the "storyboards vs. animatics" debate breaks down as follows:

 

If you're trying to figure out what your characters should do, use paper and pencil.

 

If you know exactly what your characters are going to do, and you just want to figure out how to film it, a stripped-down 3d animatic might be of value. Or it might not--it depends on how you work.

 

The storyboard above was excessively time-consuming, but it still helped clarify a lot about this scene. For one thing, I had drawn (that's right, I did do paper storyboards first) a bunch of "cowboy movie"-style face-off shots--you know the type, where the two characters are in profile on opposite ends of the screen.

 

Well, as you can see, I don't use a single shot like that in the storyboards above. It just doesn't work for this scene. One of the characters is wearing a hood, and the backdrop is a gray tile wall. It's not a visually appealing frame. Once I started playing with the camera I decided that a better approach would be to take advantage of the strong diagonal sunlight shafts, and use a series of intercut over-the-shoulder shots, with longer and longer lenses to create an increasing sense of claustrophobia.

 

As Rodney points out, a studio could never afford to waste time playing around with possibilities like this, but as someone with no animation experience, I think it's fruitful for me. Based on what I've got so far, here's a stab at a possible workflow for beginners working on their first short:

 

1. Storyboard on paper. I recommend using small index cards, because it's easy to move them around manually and try different sequences, and also because it's easy to throw a particular card away and draw a better one. Don't try to mimic those four-panel storyboards you see in books--they discourage you from discarding bad choices.

 

2. Do a rough animation of your scene, but don't do any planning of shots. Just use the bird's-eye camera. Why? Because the camera's job is to follow and capture the action. It's not the action's job to play to the camera.

 

3. Once your rough animation is done, watch it from a bunch of camera positions and compare that to your storyboards. There will probably be differences between the animation and what you drew. Figure out which you like better, adjust your storyboards and move on.

 

4. Start dropping in your cameras. Now that you know your POVs, you can refine your animation, with gestures and eye movements and all that.

 

There are certainly plenty of other approaches that would work equally well, but I think the key is compartmentalization. Don't start animating while you're still planning. Don't try to refine your animation while you're still figuring out camera placement. It's hard, obviously, because you're excited and you want to jump in and get your hands dirty, but without some sort of assembly-line approach like this, you'll get bogged down and never finish.