Cgarena Sep06 Ezine

ISSUE 08 SEPTEMBER 2006
CGArena
Get Attention in Computer Graphics Community
GALLERY INTERVIEW
Showcase of latest 3d inspiring art Ed Harriss
PHOTOSHOP 3DSMAX
Photomerge IES Lights
AFTER EFFECTS MATCHMOVING
Heartbeat Being on Set
DRAGON SLAYER 3D CHALLENGE
Short Film behind the scenes Garden
contents
05 Interview 10 3d Challenge
Ed Harriss Garden
14 Photoshop 17 Matchmoving
Photomerge Being on Set
20 After Effects 26 3ds Max

Heartbeat IES Lights
32 Gallery
Showcase of latest 3d inspiring art
42 Dragon Slayer
Behind the scenes of the short film
Magazine Designed, Written & Edited: Ashish Rastogi, India

Magazine Cover Image: Ziv Qual, Israel
Challenge Sponsors: GPUTech, Hyperfocal Design, Realviz, ambientLight, Corel
Page Issue 08 Sep 2006

industry news
Indian writer wins Columbine Award for Electronic Arts cuts deals to put ads
animated screenplay in video games
Delhi based screen-play writer Deepak Arora recently US video game powerhouse
won the Columbine Award at the Moondance Interna- Electronic Arts (EA) an-
tional Film Festival for his work on the animated fea- nounced deals to craft updat-
ture ‘Queen of the Jungle’ in the category of Best Feature able advertising into software
Screenplay for Kids. for games made for personal
computers and Xbox 360 con-
A New Delhi based filmmaker and proprietor of Panvi- soles.
sion, which is largely involved into corporate and docu-
mentary films, is now planning to write 2-3 more ani- Microsoft subsidiary Massive
mation screenplays including a sequel to ‘Queen of the Incorporated will build “dynamic ads” into EA titles, be-
Jungle’. ginning with a car racing game titled “Need for Speed
Carbon,” the companies said in a release.
The Moondance International Film Festival, popularly
known as the ‘American Cannes’, is one of the venues for Independent in-game advertising network IGA World-
the exhibition and promotion of feature and short films wide will design similar ads into the yet-to-be-released
in the US, and one of the leading indie film festivals in futuristic war game Battlefield 2142 and other titles, ac-
the world. cording to EA.
Source: www.yahoo.com
Buzzword of the Month

Stop Motion Animation - Stop-motion animation is a process whereby
a model or puppet is animated by hand, without any computer intervention.
The object is filmed frame by frame, with the animator moving it by tiny in-
crement between frames and when the filmed scene is run at the conventional
speed of 24 frames per second, the illusion of fluid motion is created and
the objects appear to move by themselves. This is similar to the animation of
cartoons, but using real objects instead of drawings. All animation, including
all stop motion, requires a camera, either motion picture or digital, that can
expose single frames.
Computer animation has largely replaced the stop-motion model animation

in modern films, although the latter is still used. Wallace and Gromit is a good example of cartoons made with stop-
motion animation.

interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Ed Harriss
Q. Hello Ed, could you tell us a bit about yourself and family?
I’m a computer animator that lives in the United States specifically Raleigh,
North Carolina. I work for a company called SAS in their video division.
(Called SAS Studio Productions) I also run my own company, EdHarriss.
com, INC. Where I do freelance work, create training, books and videos.
Q. In terms of CG, How did it all begin for you?
One word: Tron. With out this movie, I might not be where I am today.
When I first saw Tron I was amazed. I had always liked animated movies,
but this was different. In my opinion, this looked a lot more interesting. I
knew from that day on that I had to find out what it took to create images
that looked like that.
But it was not just Tron that drove me to 3d. I had another other major
influence: The Last Starfighter. While didn’t think that this movie was as
enjoyable as Tron, its graphics were just as good, and in some places better.
After seeing these two movies, my desire to create 3d animation grew even
more. But as I soon found out, it took a team of computer geniuses, really
expensive computers and months of time to create just a few frames of this
type of work. I was disappointed, but that did not stop me. I began doing
CG in the early 80s by trying to learn how to program graphics on TRS-
80, Apple2e, Comodore64 and Coleco ADAM, computers. It was difficult,
and I didn’t get much done. But I learned a lot of basic skills that I still use
today.
Not too long after the “Comodore64” days I got an Amiga. On that Amiga I
ran a program called Silver. (Now called Imagine.) It was like a dream come
true. Finally, a program that didn’t require a lot of math, was comparatively
easy to use, and had a real point and click interface. I spent a few years work-
ing on Amiga machines and that’s how I produced my first demo reel.

interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Ed Harriss
Q. Were you trained in 3D or self taught?
I’d say it was half and half. While I did go to school

for computer animation, the field was so new that
much of the learning had to be done on your own
simply because there were little or no resources for
learning 3D.
Q. Tell us about your book “How to get a job in

Computer Animation” are you planning any other
books?
It’s a book containing all the information that you

need to get a job in computer animation. From demo
reel tips to resume creation to interview tactics to
salary negotiation to job hunting advice and much
more. It also contains web addresses, telephone
numbers, physical locations and names of thousands of production and game companies located all over the world.
I have written some of an XSI book on rendering,

texturing and lighting but due to freelance obliga-
tions and the birth of my son, I have not had time to
do any work on it for quite some time. In addition
I’ve also been working on a version 2.0 of my “How
to get a Job in Computer Animation” book. It also
has been put on the back burner for the time being.
Q. Is SOFTIMAGE|XSI the only software that

you use for 3D? If not, then how does it compare
with other packages in your experience?
I use SOFTIMAGE|XSI for 99% of the work I do.

Occasionally I do some freelance work that requires
me to use different software, however that is rare.

interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Ed Harriss
Q. Why should people who currently use other software pack-
ages think about making the switch to SOFTIMAGE|XSI?
XSI has many great features and workflows that make it an ob-
vious choice for many of the current animation productions out
there. But something that most people don’t think about when
choosing a 3d package is its future. This is one of the things that
XSI has going for it’s self that many other programs do not.
Since it’s newer than most other programs, its internal con-
struction is much more advanced. This makes it easier to add
new features and enhance existing ones. One thing that I’ve no-
ticed in other 3d packages is that major additions seem “bolted
on” rather than integrated into the software. This is fine, until
you want the new “bolted on” features to work with older parts
of the program. If they can’t interact with each other your ability
to perform complex tasks in that area becomes very limited.
Q. Which area of 3d do your really enjoy doing?
I really enjoy rendering, lighting and texturing.
Q. What’s the most useful thing you have learned in 3d?
It is difficult to put that into words. It’s not a single feature or an

application. It’s the ability to work more efficiently. When I first
started doing 3d the journey from starting a project to finishing
it was filled with “brute force” techniques rather than adaptable
ones. Projects I work on now are always constructed in a way so
that I can easily go back and make changes. This makes me (and
the clients) very happy. There is nothing worse than spending
hours changing something that should have only taken minutes,
simply because you built a sloppy scene.

interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Ed Harriss
Q. What are your plans for future?
As for day to day operations, I would like to continue

with my current schedule. I work a full time job most
of the year while taking off a few days/weeks here and
there to do freelance work.
From a personal standpoint, I would like to continue

working on training material both for XSI and for peo-
ple who are hunting for a computer animation job. I also
speak at conventions, users groups and schools on the
topics of both XSI and computer animation jobs and
will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Q. What are your hobbies and daily routine?
I spend a lot of time on the computer. However outside the office I like to spend time with my wife and son. I also try
to go to the gym at least 5 or 6 times a week. However, during crunch time or heavy freelance work I usually have to
skip it. I really like watching movies and TV when I get the time.
Q. Are you working on any projects currently? If so, what are they?
The most recent work I’ve been doing is on site XSI training for a North Carolina Hockey team called the Carolina
Hurricanes. (www.carolinahurricanes.com)They use XSI to create all of their in house 3D animations that play both
in-game and on television. One of my first computer animation jobs was for a baseball team called the Durham Bulls.
It’s been years since I’ve worked in sports media, but after being at the Hurricanes for a couple of days, it felt like I
never left. I really enjoyed it a lot.
XSI training is not my full time job though. I spend most of my time working for SAS Studio productions where I
tackle a very wide range of 3D animation jobs. In the past few months I’ve worked on 3D graphics for dozens of live
broadcast events, a few large conventions, magazine ads, television commercials, some videos, dvds, cd-roms and even
a flight safety video for one of the company jets.
In addition to my job at SAS, I also do freelance work for various companies around the globe. Most recently I worked
with a company called Spontaneous in New York. We collaborated on two television commercials and a music video.

interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Ed Harriss
Q. Last but not the least, please tell our readers what things should keep in mind when creating portfolio?
The printed portfolio gives you a chance to show off more than just your sculptures, paintings or drawings. There are
some other mediums that video does not treat with justice, and if not presented on paper, will not be fully appreciated.
An example is high-resolution print advertisements or film graphics. Your portfolio is a great place to show off print-
outs of complicated models or detailed texture maps. I’ve even seen some that included before and after shots. These
can prove to be very valuable when you are trying to explain just what you did on a shot. In addition to your portfolio,
consider putting some of your traditional artwork on your demo reel. It’s easiest if you scan the artwork (or photographs
of the art work) and size/crop the images to video resolution. Once you’ve done this, you can dissolve/cut between the
images on your reel. Try to leave them on the screen long enough that the viewer has time to understand what they
are seeing, but not so long that they get bored and fast-forward over them. In some instances, your traditional artwork
might be too complicated to show in its entirety on a TV screen and be visually readable at the same time. In this case
it might be better to show a couple of close-ups of the artwork rather than the entire thing. A good example would
be a very complex drawing that just looks like a blob from a distance, but when you get really close you see that it is
actually intricately detailed. Make sure you send copies of the artwork/photographs and not the originals! If they get
lost or damaged then you are out of luck, and many companies will not, or do not have the time to, return submitted
material.
Why would you want to show traditional artwork when applying for a computer graphics job? Because many compa-
nies want to see that you can do more than just push buttons. While it may be obvious from your demo reel that you
are qualified for the job, this does not always mean that you’ll get it. Most computer graphics jobs require an artistic
sense and as well as a technical one. As a result, traditional art skills are usually held
in high regard. A good demo reel with no portfolio will almost surely lose when put
up against a good demo reel with a good portfolio. Not only does traditional art skill
help the artist create better CG artwork, it also makes it easier for them to quickly
share ideas. In the typical production environment time is money. Ideas need to
be exchanged efficiently and rapidly. Describing artwork with words usually takes
much longer and is less effective than words combined with a small sketch. If you
can’t draw at all, it will hinder you at some point in your career. Some companies
want to see portfolios up front and some do not want to see them until you come
in for an interview. (If you get one) Make sure that you know what each company
wants before sending them a portfolio. If you are not sure, call the human resources
department and ask. All that is needed is a simple portfolio. If you are mailing it, do
not send large printouts. The 8.5” by 11” images are perfectly acceptable. Roughly 10
to 15 images will suffice.
Wow, Thanks a lot Ed for taking out sometime for us from your busy schedule.

challenge
CGArena once again is proud to present “Garden” Challenge (3D Challenge), 21 Sep - 15 Nov
2006, sponsored by Hyperfocal Design, GPUtech, ambientLight, Realviz and Corel. We want differ-
ent ideas and approaches in a more creative way.
Your Mission
Create an image which shows Garden in a house, office etc. This Challenge is a Work-In-Progress Challenge -- all con-
testants are required to post their work-in-progress images for community to critique/comment in order to qualify.
How the Challenge will be Run

This challenge will be a WIP (Work in Progress) Challenge. Each challenger is required to submit Work In Progress
(WIP) images, from the initial concept sketch to the final render. The purpose is that everyone can learn from each
other, offer feedback and critiques.
1. Enter the Challenge by registering yourself on CGArena forum.

2. Submit your work in progress images in forum on a regular basis.
3. Participate in the community by critiquing other challengers works in the respective forums.
4. Submit your final entry till 15th November 2006, midnight 00:00 GMT.
5. There will be 3 winners in this 3D Challenge and CGArena, Sponsers and Judges decision will be final.
Note: You are required to submit work in progress images, obtain feedback and give feedback to other challengers.
Final Image Size
- Your final image dimensions should be print resolution. Do not
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- A guideline is minimum 1200 pixels wide and/or 1024 high,

JPG, 300 DPI.
- Send your final image in zip format with your complete shipping
address and telephone number on email address ezine@cgarena.
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photoshop
Photomerge
Believe it or not, a lot of people don’t know that Photoshop can automatically stitch your photos together for you
to create a panorama. If you continue reading this, then I’m guessing you fall into the “believe it” category and that’s
fineyou’re why I’ve included this tutorial here.
Page 14 Issue 08 Sep 2006

photoshop
Step One
Select File > Automate > Photomerge and browse for the images you want to use in the Photomerge dialog box.
Press Ok. The photos are then opened and assembled automatically. Photoshop will think for a moment as it tries to
stitch the photos together. If you have shoot the images properly then all the images stich properly.
For best results when shooting pictures for a Photomerge, follow these tips:
a) Use a tripod, and ensure that it is level before shooting.

b) If you can’t use a tripod, lock your arms and legs and pivot your torso to capture all the shots.
c) Line up the markings in your optical viewfinder with the horizon to help you keep your shots aligned when you don’t
have a tripod.
d) Capture between 20 to 30 percent overlap between images.
e) Avoid scenes with moving objects in them.
f ) Correct for any significant color and exposure differences in the shots before merging.
g) If your camera offers a panorama shooting mode, then by all means, use it!

photoshop
Step Two
The first area to check out on the right side of the Photomerge dialog is the Settings section.
Most of the time, you’ll wind up leaving this set to Normal. Perspective is used when you’re
shooting a pano that is 180 or 360° around. Now, if you do shoot one of those panormas
and click on the Perspective radio button, you’ll see another option become available called
Cylindrical Mapping in the Composition Settings section. Turn on this checkbox to reduce
the bowed distortion that can appear when shooting these types of panormas.
Step Three
Lighting conditions can cause various issues in your stitched photos. Sometimes the auto
exposure settings on your camera can cause seams to become visible between photos. Turning
on the Advanced Blending checkbox, in the Composition Settings section, can sometimes
help alleviate these seams. Be sure to click the Preview button to see if it makes things better
or worse.
Step Four
When you’re done, just click OK and Photoshop will process the photos and build your pan-
orama. It may take a few minutes depending on the number and size of your photos. When
it’s done you’ll see the panorama open in Photoshop.
Final Step
The last thing you may need to do to finish this off is to straighten and crop the pano.

matchmoving
Being on Set
If a match mover is available on the set then little information is necessary to gather. Since your postproduction job is
to reproduce the camera, and to a lesser extent the environment, your live-action production job is to gather as much
information about the camera and environment as possible.
Finding the right time to take your measurements can be surprisingly difficult. Mostly waiting until as close as pos-
sible to the actual shooting. This is because the sets will be in a constant state of flux right up until the director
says,”Action”
Points to remember:-
Camera Information: This is necessary to take the information about the camera company and camera model, so you
can look out the film back information from the online technical specifications.
Camera Mount and Height: This is what the camera is attached to, such as a tripod, dolly, or crane gimbal. Also mea-
sure the distance from the ground to the center of the lens for the best accuracy.

matchmoving
Lens Information: It’s worthwhile to note lens attributes, such as whether the lens is fixed or variable. If the lens is
variable, did they zoom it during the shot?
Distance to Subject - This measurement can be very helpful because it represents a known distance between the cam-
era shooting the scene and an object that is going to appear on film. This measurement often is the distance to the actor
and is again measured from the film back or lens center. If CG objects are to be placed a certain distance behind the
actor, it might also be worthwhile to measure from the camera to a wall behind the actor.
Adding Markers - Adding additional markers to

the set is a delicate affair. You need to add enough
markers to help you during 2D tracking, but not
so many that they are difficult for compositors or
roto/paint people to remove later. In general, a blue
screen or green screen should always have some
sort of marks on it to allow for tracking either by
matchmovers or compositors.
Matchmove Kit - Wherever you go, matchmove

kit need to with you. And it must contains Digi-
tal Camera, Camera Reports, Measuring Tape,
Matchmove markers, Distortion chart (used to measure lens distortion), and of course pen, pencils.
Before any shooting starts, Tour the set to get an idea of what has been built so far and how close it is to completion.
Try to find and introduce yourself to the VFX supervisor, the script supervisor, the camera operators (including the
assistant operators), and the key grip. When I talk to the VFX supervisor or producer, I try to get an idea of what is on
the schedule for the day and perhaps find out what information I’ll need and when I’ll be able to get it.
I can wrap up my thoughts on this subject by saying, get in there and get what you need, but stay out of the way and
have fun.
- Andrew Holland
andrewmagic78@yahoo.fr

www.cgarena.com
CGArena brings you latest news and happenings 24 hours a day.
Plus, join in our interactive forums to showcase your work, and get
attention in the computer graphics community Email: contact@cgarena.com
after effects
Heartbeat
The lessons you’ll learn as you animate the heartbeat’s path can be applied to other projects in which you want to ani-
mate lines and outlines.
Step 1: Create a new comp, Solid layer named Grid, colored black . Apply Effect > Render > Grid to the Grid layer,
and set the effect’s Border (grid line size) property to 2.5. Change the color to green.
Step 2: To smooth out the grid lines, apply Effect > Blur & Sharpen > Fast Blur effect to the Grid layer, and set the
effect’s Blurriness property to 2.

after effects
Step 3: Now create one more solid layer named Beat and Use the Pen tool to draw a shape on the Beat layer. If you
have the audio of heartbeat then try to resembles the shape with waveform in the audio layer.
Step 4: Apply Effect > Generate > Stroke in AE 7 and Effect > Render > Stroke in the previous versions to the Beat
layer to outline the path. And choose the bright green as the color.
Step 5: Go to time 0;00, add a keyframe to the effect’s End

property, and change the property’s value to 0%. Go to the
point in time that’s just before the first spike in the audio lay-
er’s Waveform path, and scrub the Stroke effect’s End value
upward until the green stroke lies before the spikes in your
mask’s path.
Go to the point in time that’s at the end of the first group of

spikes in the audio layer’s Waveform path, and then increase
the End property’s value until the stroke is at the end of the
group of spikes in the mask.
Repeat this for other spikes too.

after effects
Step 6: Apply Effect > Stylize > Glow to the Beat layer and choose the following setting.
Step 7: Create new solid layer above the Beat layer named
Ramp and Apply Effect > Generate > Ramp to the Ramp
layer to fade out the tail end of the Beat stroked path as it
moves from left to right, so it’s more realistic.
Step 8: Animate the Start of Ramp and End of Ramp prop-

erties according to the spikes in the scene. And Set the Beat
layer Track Matte to Luma Matte “Ramp”.

after effects
If you want you can create a Lens Flare effect to create and animate a ball of white light that leads the stroked path
across the screen.
Step 9: Select all three layers and Pre-compose the layers into new composition. Layer > Pre-compose
Final Step: Apply Effect > Distort > Bulge to the Bulge layer on the pre-compose layer or create a adjustment layer
and apply on that without doing pre-compose.
Applying Bulge to create a virtual glass of the monitor. Choose the following settings...
That’s it for this time. Send you comments and suggestions on contact@cgarena.com

your mission
In July, your mission was to create a image on “Haunted” theme and sponsored by Di-o-matic, Vertus,
ambientLight and Duber Studio. These are the winning images...
...........................................................................................................................
Ist winner
Francisco Morales Aviles, Mexico

paco_morales01@yahoo.com
2nd winner
Floroiu Claudiu, Romania

floclau@yahoo.com
Silvia Palara, USA

silviapalara@comcast.net
Shane Higgins, South Africa

shane@videolab.co.za
3rd winner
Shane Higgins, South Africa Raul Fabian, Romania
shane@therefinery.co.za raulfabi@yahoo.com
SPONSERS
3ds max
IES Lights
IES stands for Illuminating Engineering Society. IES standard file format was created for the electronic transfer of
photometric data over the web. It has been widely used by many lighting manufacturers and is one of the industry
standards in photometric data distribution. An IES file is basically the measurement of distribution of light (intensity)
stored in ASCII format. You can think of it as a digital profile of a real world light. In 3d software like 3ds max it can
be used for creating lights with shapes and physically accurate form.
IES light files are created by many major lighting manufacturers and can be downloaded freely from their sites. One
of such lighting manufacturer is Lithonia Lighting (www.lithonia.com) which has an extensive library of IES files in
different categories.
You can use an IES Viewer to view these files in a diagrammatic representation for easy understanding. Following is
Diagrammatic representation of different IES Lights with their Renders

3ds max
There are lots of such viewers out there but I recommend the one by Andrey Legotin. It is the most well programmed
IES Viewer with a Render option that shows you how a particular light would look.
IES in 3ds Max
3ds max is one of the 3d software around which supports the use of IES lights. There are two built in IES Lights in
3ds max under the Photometric Lights panel. They are IES Sun & IES Sky. IES Sun is a physically-based light object
that simulates sunlight whereas IES Sky simulates atmospheric effects on skylight. For more about these two lights,
you can refer to the 3ds max documentation. 3ds max also allows you to use external IES files through its Photometric
Web feature. A Photometric Web is a 3D representation of the light intensity distribution of a light source. This lets
you create lights with accurate intensities as per the recorded light profiles.

3ds max
Same scene rendered with different IES Lights
This tutorial will teach you how to use IES files in your scenes. You need to have a basic understanding of 3ds max
workflow and at least one IES file with you to complete this tutorial.
Step 1: Create a new file or open the scene you want to put an IES light into. If you are working in a new file then
create a box with inverted normals to create a sort of room for our scene. Here I have divided the box by partitions to
try out different lights at once.

3ds max
Step 2: To create the lights go to Create Panel,

click on Lights and select Photometric from the
drop-down list. You can use IES files with any
of the Photometric Lights in this list except IES
Sun and IES Sky. So, click on any one of the
lights and put it in the scene. Place the lights
properly at desired locations. I have used Target
Point lights in this scene.
Step 3: Once the lights are properly placed at the desired locations, go to Modify Panel to see their Parameters. Go to
the Intensity/Color/Distribution rollout and in the distribution list select ‘Web’. This is how we tell max that we want
to use an external light profile file. Once you select ‘Web’ distribution, a new rollout is created called ‘Web Parameters’.
In that click on the button called Web file. Browse for the IES file you want to use and select it and click Open.

3ds max
Step 4: Once an IES file is loaded into the light, 3ds max will display its shape in the viewports. The final step is to set
the intensity of the light according to your needs. You can set the intensity in lumen (lm), candela (cd) or lux (lx) or use
the multiplier if you are not familiar with these units. And you will get the final result like the following image.
I hope you found this piece of information useful enough to understand IES Lights. If you have any comments, sugges-
tions, criticisms or any information that I may have missed here then please let me know about it. Happy Lighting ;-)
- Atul Dravid
aadravid@gmail.com
IES Viewer: Download
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Robert Kuczera
Director – Character Animator
Born 1973 Natonality German
Working as a 3D Artist since 1995

In Germany and England.
Study of Film and Animation at the german filmschool

Filmakadenie Baden-Württemberg
( 5 years)
Thesis work
Dragon Slayer Robert Kuczera
Am Hollerbroch 64
51503 Rösrath
Germany
contact@3dcharacters.de
www.3dcharacters.de
www.dragonslayer-themovie.com
Dragon Slayer
A short film by Robert Kuczera
In a time when dragons threatened mankind,

there was only one man who fought against them all.
His name is Tarragon and riding on his brave battle horse Black Bull he is
on his way to work.
But things don’t always turn out as they should…and one day..mhh...
Dragonslayer is a 3D animated fantasy short film of 8 min. length.
The Project was completed during a period of 24 months.

It took about 9 months of preproduction,
12 months of production and 3 months of postproduction.
1.1 About
1.1 About
The movie is about responsibility, your dream job and the sense of life.
Job
Many people have jobs they don't like, but they do not even try to change their situation.
Maybe its just because they do not know what else to do. Often it takes an unexpected,
outstanding event which gives someone the chance to change.
Life-task
But not someones job is the only thing that counts. It's about your goals in life, your very
own and individual life-task which is important. It's different to everyone. Some people take
care of external people, others raise children.
Our character
The main character, the dragon slayer, faces a situation in which he has to decide either to
fulfill his job or follow his heart. He leaves his old life and routine job behind him and moves
on to his dream job. He becomes a forger. He also takes responsibility for what he did, killing
a mother dragon, and raises a couple of baby dragons.
What will he tell the baby dragons when they get older?
Where do they come from, where is their real mother?
1.1 About
1.1 About
Inspiration
The film is based on a basic idea from Michael Sieber, a workmate at filmschool.
Although i think that similar stories exist.
I can see some parallels to the movie Leon for example.
Inspiration of the characters

The characters are designed by Michael Sieber and Klaus Morschhäuser.
In my eyes the hero looks a bit like the gladiators from Asterix and Obelix. The dragon looks
a bit like the dragon from Shrek.
What I hope people will take along from the movie,

Think about your life, about your job. Do you make the right decisions? Or is it just the
easiest way to go?
1.2 Story
1.2 Finding the story
Development of the story

There were a lot of different versions of the story.
I learned, that it takes a long time to get a good result.
At the end it took us about 9 months to find the final story.
Even during production we change and added things to the story.
So I think finding a good story is one of the most difficult parts in making a good movie.
There are 5 different versions of the story fixed in treatments and screenplays.
Storyboard
We only made one Storyboard for the last version of the movie.
We should have done storyboards for every version.
They are fast to make and changes can be applied very easily.
Next time I know better.
1.3 Animatic
1.3 Animatic
There are 5 different versions of the animatic.

Four 3D Animatics and one life action animatic.
Every time we finished one Screenplay, we thought ”this is the story”.

We passed the storyboard and got straight to the animatic.
But after watching the animatic we realized that this was not the final version of the movie.
The good thing about the animatic was that you get a very good feeling for the story.
Whereas it is much more difficult to judge the story by just watching the storyboard.
It was a lot of work making the animatics over and over again,
but your well-advised putting a lot of energy in the storyboard and the animatic at the
beginning of a production, otherwise you will waste a lot of time when you find out
somethings wrong with the story.
What I learned from this, for next time I will definitely start with a storyboard and get
assistance from an experienced person fot the shot break-up
1.3 Animatic
1.3 Animatic
Storyboard Animatic
1.4 Team
1.4 Team
In the beginning I worked together with a screen writer, a production designer and a
dramaturgic advisor.
Screen writer
The first version of the story was developed without the help of a screen writer.
This was no good idea, because of my inexperience in developing a story this process was
very time consuming.
This changed immediately after I started to work with the screen writer Philip Koblmiller. He
exactly knew how to structure the story. Which saved us a lot of time.
Apart from that it helped focusing on the actual story.
Dramaturgic advisor - Storyboarder

I worked on the storyboard together with Gerd Schneider. He is an experienced story boarder
with dramaturgic skills. Which was very helpful for the project.
Production Designer
In order to get the best results I was working with two character designers. Michael Sieber
who did the designs for the hero and the horse as well as for the enviroment. Klaus
Morschhäuser took care of the designs of the baby dragons.
1.5 About the Characters
Taragon
Taragon is an experienced Dragen slayer, about 40 years old and kills dragons for money.
No one knows how it started. Was it greed or hatred? Nobody knows why.
But one thing is for sure, he is just doing his job.
He never considered the idea of changing something in his life.
He never thought about what consiquences it might have, him killing a dragon, maybe a
dragon mother.Lonely and without fullfilment in his beeing he is riding from one commission
to the next.For some Taragon is a hero, a shining hero who is saving them from all evil.
But for him its all nothing but tedious work.
Bullie
Bullie is an old fighting horse, who knows a lot about life and how to behave.
Most of the time he knows much more than our hero. But Taragon has to find out by himself.
Otis
Otis the baby dragon, hasnt seen much bad things in life yet.
That is the reason why he hasn`t afraid of Taragon. Even as Otis sits besides his dead
mother, he doesnt realize what is going on.
1.4 About the Characters
Mother Dragon
The mother dragon may look terrifying, but in her heart she's just a care taking mother who
looks after her children. However, people are afraid of dragons, they don’t realise that the
mother dragon only wants to protect her children like anyone of us would do.
The Blacksmith
The Blacksmith is pleased with his life. He has a fulfilling job and a son he loves. He knows
about the importance of the dragon slayer and the job he is doing for the community.
The Blacksmith’s son

The Blacksmith’s son admires Taragon. For him he is a hero, who lives an adventures and
brave life. But the one he looks up to the most is his father.
2.1 Character Designs
2.1 Taragon - first designs by Michael Sieber

2.1 Taragon – final designs by Michael Sieber
2.1 Horse Bullie - Design by Michael Sieber

First version Final version
2.1 Otis - designs by Michael Sieber and Klaus Morschhäuser

2.1 Otis - final designs by Klaus Morschhäuser

2.1 The Blacksmith - designs by Michael Sieber
The forge
2.1 The Blacksmith and his son - final designs by Michael Sieber
2.2 Environment Designs
2.2 Environment
Designs by Michael Sieber
2.2 Environment
2.2 Environment
3.1 Character Modeling

Every character has a low resolution poly version, which is used for animating and a high
resolution poly model which is used for rendering the final images.
The high resolution poly version is the result of smoothing the low poly version.
Taragon first two versions Taragon final version


The basic model is a low poly model. The higher resolution model is the result of a smoothing
operation.
Blend Shape modeling,

about 40 blend shapes
for the hero.
In addition to the blend shapes,

stretch and a squash deformers
are used to achieve non symmetrical
and cartoon animation.
To correct binding problems correction

Blend shapes were applied to parts like
bizeps, shoulder, neck etc.
All blendshapes can be mixed with

one another.
Bullie first version Bullie final version


Otis first versions
Otis final version

Problems resulting from bad modelling. Otis is a good example for that.
Not enough polygons were created around the joints where a lot of deformation takes place.
Otis bend legs
Otis straight legs


Mother Dragon

Mother Dragon

The Blacksmith and his son

The Blacksmith and his son
3.2 Environment Modeling
The environment is made of polygons.

The sky is a nurbs surface.

4.1 Riging
4.1 – Riging
In general I used the Setup from Jason Schleifer with some modifications.
It was very important for me that the rig was very easy to handle and clearly arranged, so
animating would be fun.
I am not a genius in rigging, so it took me some time to complete the rig.
Rig of Taragon Each rig includes over 400 nodes.

4.1 Riging
4.1 Riging
In order to achieve a good overview over the different parts like IKs, clusters etc. used in the
rig, I worked with layers to make it easier to hide not needed groups.
To obtain a good pick mask I colored the left,right and middle handles.
4.1 Riging
4.1 Riging
4.1 Riging
4.1 Riging
All animation controls were put onto selection handles.
This made the interface fast and intuitive to use.
5.1 Texturing
5.1 Texturing
On my first approach texturing the characters I used projection maps.. In order to avoid
floating textures while moving the character I used texture referenced objects.
But this technique slowed down the rendering process.
So I decided to work with uv based texturing.
UV based texturing UV Unwraped Texture Map mit UVs

The textures load very rapidly and the renderer is much faster..
You can do very precise painting work on the textures,
depending on the uv layout
Projected textures
You can get a very high detailed look
in the rendered images but the render times get very high,
because of the amount of textures you need to make
a character work. It's more difficult to handle projected
textures then UV based textures. If you use different
images from various angels to texture one object,
you need very good masks to seamlessly fit the
different images. Also you need a Reference Objekt,
which can cause some problems.
5.1 Texturing
5.1 Texturing
UVs from Otis and from the dragon mother UVs from Bullie and from Taragon
5.1 Texturing
5.1 Texturing
5.1 Texturing
5.1 Texturing
The Texturing
of the blacksmith‘s son
5.1 Texturing
5.1 Texturing
The face of the forgers son. - Color – Bump - Specular
5.1 Texturing
5.1 Texturing
Taragons Texture. - Color – Bump - Specular
5.1 Texturing
5.1 The Forge

6.1 Animation
6.1 Animation
The animation process is pose to pose. So you can assure that the shoot is working in a very
fast way.. You also can check on the timing this way. If the poses are final I begin to animate
forward.
I start with the body (Hip) move on to the feet, arms and the head, then hands…
The first main poses are done for the animatic. If the animatic works with those poses I move
on. I really like to keep some time, maybe a day before finishing one shot. And so I polish
the animation until it is final.
In general the rig worked fine, but for the next rig I will do some modifications..
Additionally FK for the arms and FK for the upper body.
7.1 Visual Effects
7.1 Visual Effects
For additional effects like rain, dust and fire we used the particel systems from Maya and 3ds
Max. The dust was done in the compositing by using real footage layering over the images.
For the rain we used a particle tool in Maya written by Mathias Zeller.
A simple interface, ,so you didn't had to take care of the technique behind it..
The fire effects were done in 3dsMax. We tried to achieve a special look, something between
realistic fire and cartoon-like fire. The fire was composed in Combustion.
We also used Maya cloth for the loincloth of Taragon.

It was simulated after his animation was final.
8.1 Rendering
8.1 Rendering
At the beginning we tried to render in 3ds max (Vray) and Lightwave,

because these renderers are famous for their high quality, without having to adjust a lot of
parameters.
Maya’s software renderer often has problems with antialiasing, depth of field, and has no
build in GI-renderer.
We tried both Max and Lightwave. The main problem was the translation of the Maya files to
Max and Lightwave format without losing any data.
Lightwave
We tried the Beaver Project, and it worked fine.
The motion-file containing the deformed objects on a per frame basis, were imported into
Lightwave. But unfortunately our Lightwave artist didn’t have enough time for the whole
preparation process, which included assigning the textures an lighting the scenes.
8.1 Rendering
8.1 Rendering
3ds Max
We tested a freeware tool that exported the deformed objects on a per frame basis as OBJ
Files.
We imported them into 3ds max as morph targets.
During the import process 3ds max assigned vertices numeration in an unpredictable way, so
already prepared morph targets in 3ds max didn’t work anymore.
Mental Ray in Maya

We also tried mental ray with its GI-feature in order to produce a realistic behaviour of light.
We used Mental Ray 1.5 Beta Plugin for Maya.
One of the problems was Mental ray needed very high quality settings in order avoid
flickering shadows.
Render time was much to long and the plugin was very unstable.
So we stopped using Mental Ray.
8.1 Rendering
8.1 Rendering
Finally we rendered with “GI Joe Dome Light” using the standard Maya software renderer.
The light dome was built of 80 directionals lights with soft shadows.
We used them as ambient lights with a blue color.
To simulate sunlight, we installed a directional yellow light with a sharp shadow.
To ensure that the sunlight shadow was sharp we used a raytrace shadow on this.
The light setup was divided in an upper and lower section.

The upper section was used as primary light source
casting depth map shadows. The lower section did
not cast any shadows but brightened the scene.
We did a Network render, using 80 CPUs,

with 2000 Ghz each.
To distribute the render tasks over network,
we used the render tool “Render Royal”.
8.1 Rendering
8.1 Rendering with Light Dome

8.1 Rendering
8.1 Rendering with Light Dome

8.1 Rendering
8.1 HDRI Tests – Look was too realistic

8.1 Rendering
8.1 HDRI Tests – Look was too realistic

9.1 Postproduction
9.1 Compositing
The compositing was done with combustion.

For most shots we used 3 layers. Background layer, character layer and foreground layer.
For some effects shots we used up to 20 layers.
The reasons for working in different layers are:

a) modifying the images is more easy, more control, color correction.
b) saves render time
For shots where the camera does not move you only need to render one background image.
Background Character Layer

9.1 Postproduction
9.1 Compositing
The final Images were rendered with a resolution of 720 x 405 pixels.
Foreground Depth Mask
Alpha Mask
9.1 Postproduction
Color Correction Avid Symphonie

We used the Avid Symphonie to make some final color corrections.
The original images were very yellow and green, so we added some red and blue.
Music
The music was done by Julian Pesek and played by the Ludwigsburger Music Orchestra.
After we recorded the music we made some shortening on the movie.
So we had some trouble to comply the picture with the music. But at the end it worked
Sounddesign
The Sounddesign was done by Frank Casaretto. He worked on movies like Resident Evil.
Webpage
The Dragon Slayer webpage was done by Michael Ponciano
DVD
The Dragon Slayer DVD was done by Michael Furtman
Credits
Director, Animator,
Art Work Robert Kuczera
Production Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg

Producer Frank Siegmund
Screenplay Philipp Koblmiller
Music Julian Pesek
Sounddesign Frank Casaretto
Voice David Kehoe
Production Design Michael Sieber
Character Design Michael Sieber
Klaus Morschhäuser
Dramatic Advisor Gerd Schneider
Editing Gerd Schneider
Robert Kuczera
CGI Artists Waldemar Fast, Oliver Nikelowski, Markus Schmidt
Arne Langenbach, Markus Plinke, Michael Sieber
Fire and Smoke Steffan Hacker
Cloth Oliver Finkelde
Compositing Ando Avila
Steffen Hacker
Cheers
Contact:
Robert Kuczera
Am Hollerbroch 64
51503 Germany
contact@3dcharacters.de
www.3dcharacters.de
www.dragonslayer-themovie.com
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ISSUE 08 SEPTEMBER 2006

20 After Effects 26 3ds Max

Magazine Designed, Written & Edited: Ashish Rastogi, India

Page  Issue 08 Sep 2006

Buzzword of the Month

Computer animation has largely replaced the stop-motion model animation

Page  Issue 08 Sep 2006

Q. In terms of CG, How did it all begin for you?

Page  Issue 08 Sep 2006

I’d say it was half and half. While I did go to school

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Page  Issue 08 Sep 2006

Q. Which area of 3d do your really enjoy doing?

I really enjoy rendering, lighting and texturing.

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It is difficult to put that into words. It’s not a single feature or an

Page  Issue 08 Sep 2006

As for day to day operations, I would like to continue

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Q. What are your hobbies and daily routine?

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Adding Markers - Adding additional markers to

Matchmove Kit - Wherever you go, matchmove

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Step 5: Go to time 0;00, add a keyframe to the effect’s End

Go to the point in time that’s at the end of the first group of

Repeat this for other spikes too.

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