Tue Feb 07 19:58:59 CET 2012
at:
skype:
icq:
pgp public key:
A422D9E1
about a ducks tale
"A Duck's Tale" originated from a practical course in computer animation at the University of Bern. This course took
place during the winter semester 2003/2004. It's objective was to apply what we learned during the 3D-graphics lecture by using a
professional 3D-animation tool and to produce a short movie with it. About 20 people meet in pairs of two to accomplish this task.
I worked together with Norbert Kottmann, a friend with whom I already succeeded in other CS projects.
During the first few weeks we acquired basical knowledge in 3D-animation in Maya by working us through tutorials. That wasn't a big
effort, nevertheless Maya is one of the most complex pieces of software I've ever used. The problems didn't occure until we began
to create our own stuff.
After learning the principles of 3D-animation, we started with drawing a storyboard to get an idea what kind of
models we will be using, and how they will be located in the scenes. It's very important to determine in advance
what exactly, in what kind of quality and complexity, should be produced. Working for the trash bin is not only frustrating but also
remains very time consuming.
We found a rubber duck in a store, which was a good starting point to begin modeling with. After doing each
modeling step for at least three times (thats the so called learning process), we finally got a feasible model of a duck
(duck modeling steps). Everything is modeled out of nurbs, except the boat which is made out of a bunch of
good old simple and easy to use polygons. The female duck is a copy of the male duck, with some make-up and eyelashes attached.
We struggled a bit with the settings of the ocean, the wake emitters, the field of depth, and the parenting of the ducks object. A good
strategy for a next time would be to work in a more waterfall alike way. It's rather tedious to realise, that a model didn't behave as
expected during animation, because we made errors during modeling. A simple animation test of the finished model would have prevented us
from looking surprised afterwards.
It's a pitty we didn't succeed in adding a working wake emitter to every model on the water, because we scaled the models down to much.
This would have resulted in tiny waves expanding from the swimming objects and would have given the whole movie a more natural looking
appearance.
The whole movie was rendered by our computer graphics institut's rendering farm in about 10 hours time.
Tools we used:
Maya5.0 Complete for modeling, Maya5.0 Unlimited for animation and rendering
Final Cut Pro for the assembly and cutting/composing of the movie.
movie stills
Some renderings from which the movie has been assembled.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Quack, Quack!
storyboard
Main plot with all keyframes.
)
Keyframe 1
Buoy swimming in water.
)
Keyframe 2
Sleeping rubber duck is drifting towards the buoy.
)
Keyframe 3
Ouch!
)
Keyframe 4
Duck gets really excited.
)
Keyframe 5
Cut on reed. Something is appearing?!
)
Keyframe 6
Focus on buoy first, then switches on a beautifull she-duck that is coming closer.
)
Keyframe 7
Isn't she cute?
)
Keyframe 8
Such a stunner *drooling*.
)
Keyframe 9
Motion blured approach towards her.
)
Keyframe 10
Stay cool.
)
Keyframe 11
Kiss Kiss Baby!
)
Keyframe 12
Zoom on her face. She closes her eyes. Image fades out.
)
Keyframe 13
After a very loud HONK image fades in and the duck finds himself together with a boat in the bathtub.
)
Keyframe 14
A rude awakening :-(
photographies
The original cute ruberduck. First we tried to catch a real duck, but it was to exhausting. Around 20SFr. worth, it was the only real expense we had for the movie.
)
)
modelling
Some captures of the modelling process with a tiny bit of information.
)
Step 1: Body modelling
4 CV-Nurbs curves give the duck a very basic look.
The 3 images-planes that can be seen in the background will help a lot in the modelling process later on.
)
Step 2a: Further body modelling
Added 4 more nurbs (does anyone know what's the plural of nurbs? Nurbses?). As you can see, the duck's shape comes very close to
the duck image-planes now.
The pecker and the wings will be added in one of the next steps.
)
Step 2b:
This is a first rendering of the duck to get an impression how it might be looking afterwards.
We included one additonal nurbs at the back to form the tail. There are still some inconsistencies with the breast and the head of the duck.
)
Step 3a: Face Modelling
The duck body is now quiet finished. The exit tube of the nurbs on the head and on the bottom of the duck still exist. I'll remove them later. After a few tries this is a first study of the pecker's shape. It has been very easy to achieve with CVs, but the pecker isn't that good looking yet.
)
Step 3b:
A second test rendering with the finished pecker and very basic eyes.
)
Step 3c:
The eyes have undergone a big improvement, to spherical forms with eyelids and pupils, but still look crappy. The eyelids can be opened/closed & the pupil can be moved and resized now. The duck's color has become a darker yellow.
)
Step 3d:
Eyes finished. The lower lid can't be seen anymore, but will show up, when the duck closes it's eyes.
)
Done
Finished duck. Ready to animate.
Time to model this object: about 60hrs (time for learning how to model with nurbs in Maya included).
models
Presenting the two protagonists of the short and two simple static meshes.
)
)
)