A Major Animation
 

Hi,

I have a couple of questions I'd like to bounce of some of you Maya experts, : p

I've just commenced modeling characters etc for a 4-5 minute animation that I'm doing. I've been pondering a few issues, and was wondering what would be the best solutions. I have modeled with Maya for a couple of years now and done some short animation stings, but notihng on the scale I am planning to do.

First, question is regarding the models. I have been creating the models using the NURBS->Poly->SubD method. Would it be better to use the poly version of the models or the Sub-D? Things to consider are texturing, high resolution requirements, animation (skeletal and facial, etc.) and system resources, which leads on to my next question.

Second question is regarding the scene set up. All that will be in the scene are 2 human figures, a dragon and the surroundings (cave-type-doobery-thing). Of course I will be requiring several shot set-ups. Is it better to create a large scene and have lots of cameras (which would be my desired method (for simplicity)). No doubt a large scene with high-res models is going to seriously zap my system resources. My sys res's are: Athlon 64 3500, Radeon X300, only 512MB RAM (which worries me slightly). Would it be easier on resources if I were to split the scene into smaller files i.e. just have in the scene the things that the camera will 'see'. The problem I foresee with this approach is continuity - it might be prone to some fundamental errors like directing etc.

Perhaps you folks could offer some suggestion to my potential dilemmas and add new ideas etc. Or if you guys have done something like this you could let me in on your secrets : )

Any ideas would help, other than saying I should get somebody else to do it : )

As for the camera question, I think (though I might be wrong) the best way to do it would be to use multiple cameras in a single scene, otherwise you'd have to import your enviroment and characters into a new scene for every shot, and then do the animations one part at a time.

If you're having trouble rendering everything at once, you could render a few frames (100-150 or something like that) at a time and let your computer cool down inbetween...

But I've never done anything that big, so I'm just guessing... :)

In real video editing he main thing is on continuity, thats one thing people pick up on (look for movie gaffs) so I would say one big scene with multiple cameras, thats the way i'd go about it, but i'm no master in maya.

I am not an expert, but since i am in the industry and all i would say is planning is a key thats most missed. Many start to model and do so much without planning..

If you want to work with Mental Ray then either polys or nurbs will be the way.

You can convert your sub-d to nurbs and then just adjust your way out,, which i think is a pain..

Or just live the object and draw the curves and patch it.

Ok as far as the scene goes.. scale should be set. I work real scale.. or some weird scale that i see fit.. But real scale should be good as it works better with effects and so on.

Lastly the scene. Actutally the background is rendered on a seperate file.. and the ground near to the character and some items that the character is interacting is put together with the character on another file..

If you are not animating the background.. then think.. do 1 render or 10000.. Hehe ok the problem comes with you are compositing.. or puting everthing together.. Thats always a struggle that you have to deal with. Taking notes on perspective.. camera settings. and other things will help.. take not help and not clear your problem.

Plan ahead and enjoy the ride through.

Kumar.
VFX - Trinity Television