The 3D Animation production pipeline of the typical animated video or movie is usually divided into three key stages: Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production. Whether it is a big blockbuster movie or a 30-second film, the process is always similar. It starts with the Pre-Production process.
Pre-Production
The first process in the animation pipeline, and also one of the most important, is pre-production. It begins with the main concepts which are initially turned into a full story, and then, once the story has been finalised, other things such as the script, shot sequence and camera angles are worked on.
This includes Research, Idea Creation, Scriptwriting, Story Boarding, Layouts, Model Sheets, etc. Much like the current IDM Project
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Key-framing of camera, lighting, objects, scenes, characters, basically everything is to be included. In some established 3D companies, they use motion capture of real life actors for the animating. At this stage, all other aspects should have already been finalised. Some VFX are included at this stage like explosions, smoke, dust, water, etc.
After all of this, Rendering begins. Rendering is what takes most time, hence most companies have specific computer Render Farms for their rendering.
Post-Production
The last phase of the 3D Animation workflow is Post-Production. This includes all tasks that can only begin after all the raw footages have been rendered and collected. Main tasks of the Post-Production phase include Compositing, Sound Editing and Video Editing.
This process may take about 3 – 20 weeks, once again, depending on the workload.
Compositing
A Compositing Artist is responsible for helping to create the final completed animation by detecting errors, and also creating compositing strategies like paint fixes and rotoscoping, so as to give an overall balanced look for the animation. Compositing software such as Adobe After Effects, Motion 5, Nuke, Flame 3D VFX, etc. may be