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Do you think character animation is an easy task? Is it possible to become a professional 3D animator in just a few weeks? Well, the answer to all the questions is YES!
Creating a convincing 3D character animation video has always been challenging, but you can easily create your 3D character with animation big in the extremely competitive industry if done with proper steps.
Before we look for the steps that will help you create your character animation life more manageable, let's first clearly understand the term 3D character animation.
3D Character Animation
3D character animation is the process of creating three-dimensional images that are in a moving state. Creating character animation in 3d involves adding a thought, personality, and emotion in the characters. A 3d character animation can be used in explainer videos or product videos to explain a concept or a product.
3D character design adds life to the characters; therefore, it is one of the easiest ways to grab the visitor's attention and convert them into the lead. So, what are you waiting for? Create 3D characters.
Follow the below-mentioned steps to ensure that the 3D animation video you create stands out from the rest.
8 Steps to create memorable 3D character animation in less time
Let's get started…
Step-1 Brainstorm the idea and work on the storyboard
Whenever you get access to your character animation, observing and creating an idea is one of the essential steps in creating 3d character animation. If you successfully conceptualize your ideas and have a clear thought of what you want, how to do it, and why it is crucial, you can easily plan to add your video characters' nuance.
To make your video 3D character animation convincing, observe what people want, how they talk, how they display their emotions, etc. The more you get deeper into human interactions, the easier it becomes to make the right decision.
After brainstorming the ideas for an animation topic, don't forget to translate your ideas into visuals by creating a perfect storyboard.
A storyboard is a sequence of illustrations that helps in showcasing how the entire story will look. The storyboard will help you get a view of the story in two dimensions. This is the step where you can plan out the impact of your character animation on the audience.
Step-2 Start 3D character modeling
Once clients approve your storyboard, it's time to design characters, and the task of creating characters is known as modeling. It is how you proceed with shaping the things and are modeled to finally complete 3D mesh. You can take a simple object and redefine it to create a 3D object.
In this step, you can draw or model the assets in different dimensions. By using the right animation software, create models in 3D. All its features allow you to produce characters without any hassle.
Step-3 Don't rush during design texturing
Once you successfully model the characters, it's' time to provide clothes to your 3D models. During texturing, 2D images will be overlaid with designs, colors, and textures, and this overlapping is mapping. To do this, you can use Photoshop, Adobe Mixamo, etc., to make seamless patterns.
The people who perform this step are highly responsible for writing, painting, and shading texture. You can easily design the texture according to the concept of art, which can be assigned to the model.
Step-4 Process with Rigging and Skinning
Once you add texture to your characters, it's time to acquire a unique skeleton. Here all your characters will get the ability to move from animators. A rig is nothing but a virtual skeleton. During rigging, all the body parts are integrated as an entire body. While putting the structure in 3D characters, we basically aim to drive the movement of characters to bring reality to it.
After rigging, you have to continue with skinning, which involves combining all the 3D models with a rigged skeleton. The purpose behind this step is that it controls the rig can easily change the 3D model.
Step-5 Animation
It is one of the most critical and time-consuming tasks that will add life to your 3D characters. In this particular step, the animator will change the objects on a frame-by-frame basis. It is quite relevant to the old concept where cartoons are drawn with hands.
Besides this, there are various ways by using which you can perform this animation task very quickly. You can add the objects on splines and do a setting to make sure that it follows the path of curves. Moreover, you can also use 3D applications to make sure the objects are adjusted as per the needs.
Step-6 Consider lightning and camera movement
While creating 3D character animation videos, having good camera angles and techniques besides considering lightning. You can use this amazing tool to shoot a scene that takes the audience to start a new journey. There are various 3d cameras and real-life cameras available in the market that can be used to pick an exceptional view in the video.
Besides keeping a note of the camera and location movement, make sure you use proper lightning because improper lightning can destroy all the hard work.
Step-7 Rendering and composition
Rendering is one of the last steps of the 3d animation pipeline. In this step, all the information is translated into the file so that all the shots can be compiled into a single frame. Based on models, effects, lighting, and materials, it becomes easy to calculate each pixel from every perspective.
Whenever you produce a final render of a scene, it is vital to take care of all the aspects, including camera placement. Once the rendering is completed, it's time to do compositing.
This is where all the renders are brought into the compositing and can be edited. You can also consider composting as the creation of computer-generated footage from the live footage.
Once it's all done, you can also add music to your animated video to make it highly productive and exciting.
Step-8 Edit and final output
Once everything is completed, it's time to make the final changes. This step is basically to ensure that everything is created with perfection. This step needs the editor checks. So, before sharing the entire 3D character animation video with your client, make sure everything is looking perfectly fine.
The Last say
I hope all the included points will help you produce exciting and highly productive character animation videos. There is no doubt that the 3d character animation process needs a lot of effort and hard work. But if you follow the points, then you can achieve the targets easily.
Still, if you find any step confusing, you can always take video production companies' help. Now that you understand these steps, it's your time to give it a try.
So, pack up your bags and begin your journey in animation.
Good luck!
