Abigail Jordan

How to
Guide Producing
Nursery
Rhyme
animations
in 3DS Max
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Abigail Jordan

Table of Contents
Scenario:............................................................................................................................... 3
Modelling Techniques............................................................................................................. 3
Short List:............................................................................................................................. 3
Box Modelling:..................................................................................................................... 3
Edge Modelling:................................................................................................................... 4
Motion Generation:............................................................................................................. 5
Plan........................................................................................................................................... 6
Genre:.................................................................................................................................... 6
Character Profile:................................................................................................................ 6
Character Visuals:............................................................................................................... 6
Target Audience:.................................................................................................................. 6
Animation:............................................................................................................................ 6
History/Origins:................................................................................................................. 7
Characters:........................................................................................................................ 7
Props:................................................................................................................................. 8
Storyboard:....................................................................................................................... 8
How to Guide........................................................................................................................... 8
Step 1: Modelling................................................................................................................. 8
Step 2: Texturing............................................................................................................... 13
Step 3: Rigging.................................................................................................................. 17
Step 5: IK Solvers.............................................................................................................. 19
Step 4: Skinning................................................................................................................ 19
Step 6: Animating.............................................................................................................. 20
Step 7: Rendering/Editing................................................................................................ 22

Abigail Jordan

Scenario:
Eastleigh College have been approached by a local primary School to
create a series of 3D animated nursery Rhymes for presentation to their
reception year children (ages 4-5). You will research, plan and produce
one of these in a video format.

Modelling Techniques (P1)

Short List:
The three nursery rhymes that I have chosen are;
- Solomon Grundy
- Lavender Blue
- Jack be nimble
I have decided to use one of these three nursery rhymes because they
are quite unusual and slightly unknown and I think they would be fun to
try and model and animate.

Box Modelling:
Box modelling is when you create a primitive shape such as a box,
cylinder or sphere and extrude, mould and shape this object to the shape
you want making it more complex and smooth. This is a good way of
starting out modelling heads and faces for beginner modellers.

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This technique is used mostly when creating body models but can also be
used for modelling low poly heads when looking at them far away. This
type of modelling is used in games such as Silent hill. Pyramid head has
been modelled this way as seen in the example below.

Edge Modelling:
Edge modelling is when you start out with a plane and extruding out the
edges and mould it to the shape of the object you are modelling. This
technique is better when you have two reference images, one from the
front and one from the side, this allows you two model the face from the
front of the face as well as round the side of the face. You would also only
model one side of the head and use the symmetry tool to make the whole
head. Sometimes to make it easier you would only model a blocky model
(Like the one on the right) and use Mesh smooth to make it more smooth
and human like (However you need to be careful when using mesh
smooth because it increases the poly count which will prolong the render
time).
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Abigail Jordan

This modelling technique was used mostly for faces and was more than
likely used in games such as Batman when modelling the character. In the
example below, the head of Harley Quinn has been modelled presumably
by edge modelling.

Motion Generation:
One type of motion generation used in film and games is rigging. This is
when you use bones and place them in the correct positions in the body
mesh that you have created. Make sure the two bones connecting the
elbows and the knees are bent so that they bend the right way when
trying to animate it. The layout of the bones need to laid out like the
picture below. You would need to connect all the bones to make sure its
all one object. You then need to use the skin modifier to connect the mesh
to the bones.

Abigail Jordan

This type of motion generation is used any type of animation that uses
character movements, this would be used in games such as Call of Duty
to make the character wave, walk and make other movements.

Plan (P2)/(M1)
Genre:
The genre for the animation I am going to produce is a 3d animated
childrens fantasy video. This links to the feel of the rhyme because the
version I will be using is from the 2015 live action Cinderella movie which
has put a light, girly, fantasy feel to the rhyme.

Character Profile:
Name: William the Corn-queror
Age: 22
Height: 6ft 4inc
Description: Bright green stem with three big leafs coming out from it,
two on the right and one on the left, with two more coming out of the top
of the stem to hold the corn cob. The corn itself is bright yellow with big
black and white eyes and a gold crown showing he is King.
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Abigail Jordan

Character Visuals:

Target Audience:
The target audience for my nursery rhyme animation is children aged 4-6.
The video would also appeal more to girls than to boys because of the
king and queen and the romantic element to it but because children tend
to be acceptable of anything its aimed at both genders.

Animation:
The nursery rhyme that I have chosen to animate is Lavender blue, this is
because it is quite a long rhyme, unlike jack be nimble, this means that I
can shorten it down to the right length that I want the animation to be
without it becoming to repetitive which is what I would need to do in
order to use jack be nimble. I also decided against Solomon Grundy
because it would have needed a lot of modelling and animating just for a
30-50 second animation.

History/Origins:
The first recorded version of Lavenders blue was in 1672 when the rhyme
was different from the one we know today. The original rhyme was;

Abigail Jordan

Lavenders green, diddle, diddle, Lavenders blue,

you must love me, diddle, diddle, cause I love you,
I heard one say, diddle, diddle, since I came hither,
That you and I, diddle, diddle, must lie together.
This version was about a man talking to his wife, saying that if he loves
her, she must love him.
This nursery rhyme resurfaced in 1948 in the Disney film dear to my
Heart and sung by Burl Ives. This made the nursery rhyme very popular
amongst young children of the time which would possibly make them sing
it to their children when they grow up. The longer it was sung the more it
adapted into the version sung in Disneys live action Cinderella in 2015.
This version of the rhyme went;
Lavenders blue, dilly, dilly, lavenders green,
When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen,
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.
Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work,
Some too the plough, dilly, dilly, some to the fork,
Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to cut corn,
While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm.

Characters:
I will be using four characters in my animation, two corn plants to be the
king and the queen, and two humanoids for the works. I have decided to
use corn plants for the king and queen because it will give it a more
childish feel and make it appeal to the younger audience. The workers will
still be human because they use the main characters, king and queen,
within the nursery rhyme and in the animation.

Props:
The props that I will be adding to the scene are; scythe and pitch fork.
This is because my scene is set on a farm and these are the tools needed
to cut down corn and dig up dirt. My first character will be using the
scythe to cut down the corn in a sideways chopping motion; this
animation will be looped so that is the same motion over and over again.
The second character will be using the pitch fork to dig u the dirt, this
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animation is also going to be on a loop and will be repeated over and over
again.

Storyboard:

Shot one is of the whole corn field which is swaying back and forth. This
goes on for about 40 seconds while the audio is playing. The second shot
is of a bot digging with the view of him is from the back. This goes on for
about 15 seconds. The third shot is of a girl swinging a scythe back and
forth while the audio is playing. This goes on for about 8 seconds. The last
shot is of the corn again. Swinging back and forth. This is for about 3
seconds until the screen goes black.