Going through the 3D animation pipeline as someone with 2 dimensional ambitions has been an interesting experience. At the beginning of this semester I was mostly missing the work of the first, but as time went on I found myself enjoying particular aspects of 3D work that persisted throughout most areas of the pipeline;
I enjoyed making my character for example, and working out how to translate my design into 3D by using and altering polygon primitives. I think it’s marvellous that a cylinder can become a hat if you just extrude the bottom edges and move the verts around using soft select mode, or that by just positioning spheres correctly on a body they can become eyes and a moustache. It reminds me of breaking down and simplifying forms in drawing, but instead of making them more simplistic I’m taking forms that are simplistic to begin with and making them more complex, turning them into unrecognisable incarnations of their former selves. Later on I took much pleasure in bringing my character and his personality to life through animating and in using 3D cameras and composing my shots before rendering. I find all of these aspects of the pipeline to contain good chances for problem solving (as is present in most creative work), which I think I’m beginning to understand is something I really enjoy.
Animating in 3D was certainly a challenge for me, but being able to see a character that I originated, modelled and textured animated and later rendered was such a gratifying feeling. This is a stark contrast to my attitudes at the start of the semester; I suppose that having enjoyed the first parts of the course so much I became downtrodden, lamenting that all 3D work was very technical and exponentially less creatively involved- and while I find that true to some extent- having gone as far as questioning my place in this course, I now realise that I was wrong to make such assumptions and that working in 3 dimensions can be very worthwhile in the long run. Seeing the final results seems to make all of the time and effort worth it.
Of course I reveled in any chance to create some 2D character or environment concepts, but I made sure this didn’t overshadow the other work I was doing for this module. The 2D work I was doing, however, did help cement my enjoyment of design work and made the feeling that I would enjoy working as a 2D visual development artist for any medium at some point in the future more present. It also allowed me the opportunity to explore and work with concepts and subjects I’d never worked with before like insects, western American landscapes and skyscapes for some examples. Through my group choosing to work in the western genre I have found real amusement and comfort in the classic Western-themed media I’ve been consuming as research. In films like Fritz Lang’s ‘Rancho Notorious’ (1952), Anthony Mann’s ‘Bend of the River’ (1952) and ‘Man of the West’ (1958), Western art by artists like Ed Mell and Edgar Payne, and even in Country-Western music from musicians like Marty Robbins and Sons of the Pioneers, I have found sincere interest in the aesthetics and in the music of this genre outside of research purposes- which has absolutely contributed to my enjoyment of this project. Otherwise I might not have even considered this genre and dismissed it as being dull and over-done, but now, having worked in a genre I once disregarded, I know not to knock something like this until I’ve explored its potential.
Additionally, I’m glad I had another chance at working in a group this semester. At the start of the last academic year I had very little experience with group work and I was worried about how I would cope with so much of it, but having gone through two modules-full I can now see that working as a part of a group can be imperative to the creative process and to an animation pipeline. Having the ability to share ideas with others and create something together is a great way of working.
In short, I have learnt a lot over the past two semesters; both about myself and my likes, and about the subjects we’ve been studying. In spite of my uncertainties at the start of this semester I’m now glad to have begun my stay in this course, and I happily look forward to my future in it.