Lan's blog

In my previous experience as a 2D creator, I learned many composition principles, but after becoming a 3D animator, I initially thought I had to learn everything from the beginning. However, during this CGI class exercise, I experimented with applying 2D composition principles to 3D creation and saw positive results. This process was highly inspiring and had an impact on my future direction. Therefore, I want to use this blog to document some of my thoughts during the creative process.

Creating a Sense of Space

At the beginning, it’s important to establish the general placement and spatial relationships of the objects.

In 2D composition, we often use overlapping objects to create a sense of space. I applied the same method here, using the stairs as a foreground element to enhance the sense of depth. At the same time, the stairs help link the first and second floors, preventing them from feeling disconnected. I applied the same method to the design of the floor and cabinets on the second floor, modelling them in an ‘L’ shape to strengthen the connection between the left and right walls.

Enriching the Composition of Shapes

In 2D, we often use the three elements—points, lines, and planes—to enrich the composition of shapes. I added the stair railing as a line to guide the viewer’s gaze and enhance the rhythm of the scene.

Small objects like books and bottles serve as points, adding detail to the scene, while the walls and floor function as planes, distinguishing different areas and expressing the stability of the space.

In addition to points, lines, and planes, it’s also important to consider enriching the shapes of objects by using different forms such as triangles, circles, and squares. For example, the desk is composed entirely of square shapes, so I designed streamlined legs for the chair to add variety to the composition.

Adjustments

In terms of color, I applied the 6:3:1 rule from 2D composition: 60% brown as the base color, 30% green as the secondary color, and 10% highly saturated red, orange, and purple as accent colors. For materials, I added various metallic decorations to enhance the distinction of textures.

When adding scene details, I also paid attention to the contrast between simplicity and complexity to highlight the cauldron as the focal point of the composition. When there are too many details around the cauldron (such as books and bottles), adding more details to it would overwhelm it. So, I made the cauldron the ‘simpler’ element, allowing the surrounding ‘complex’ details to contrast it.

Finally, I used lighting to emphasize the cauldron as the focal point.

Summary

This was an attempt to apply the 2D knowledge I had previously learned, and it has been very inspiring for me personally. At the same time, this logical approach to constructing a scene is replicable, meaning I can use the same way of thinking, rather than simply relying on inspiration, for my future creations. I can also build on this foundation to refine my process and develop my own style. Therefore, this has been a very important experiment for me.

2^nd Year student: Jiwon Ahn

This 3D animation project is themed around dance. In this experience, I was mainly responsible for two parts:

1. Testing the simulation of fabric movement.
2. Rigging the character’s skeleton and creating facial expressions.

Fabric Motion Simulation Test

This is the character design provided by the senior.

The animation involves many dance movements, and the character’s clothing is relatively loose. To better express the dynamic movement of the clothing during the dance, I decided to try using Marvelous Designer (MD) for fabric simulation to create more realistic physical effects.

I created a test animation in Blender and then imported the animated model into MD.

Then let MD simulate the fabric motion based on the animation, and imported the completed fabric simulation results back into Blender. The effect is as follows:

In this section, the main challenge is to address issues that can occur during MD’s simulation process, such as fabric slipping, flying wildly, and tearing. These problems can be solved using the following three methods:

1. Select a stiffer material in MD and increase the fabric’s friction.
2. Add a ‘solidify’ modifier in Blender to increase the fabric’s thickness.
3. Use a ‘mask’ modifier in Blender to hide the parts of the body covered by the clothing.

Character Rigging and Facial Expression Creation

The hair is rigged with physics effects, allowing it to sway automatically with the head’s movement, making it more natural and dynamic.

As for the facial expressions, here is the facial expressions design provided by the senior:

I added controllers to the facial rig to adjust the width and length of the facial features, making it easy to adjust both their position and shape at the same time.

By using the ‘Shrinkwrap’ modifier and ‘Track To’ constraint, the facial features can move freely without deforming.

Summary

I successfully met the senior’s requirements. Throughout this process, I learned Marvelous Designer (MD) and challenged myself with fabric simulation, something I had never tried before, achieving good results. This experience will also be valuable for my future projects.

At the same time, the facial rigging in this project was stylized and unconventional, but I was able to build the rig according to my senior’s requirements using the skills I had learned. The team was also satisfied with my results, and I am happy that, in my first team collaboration, I was able to make a contribution and play my part.

Soma Cube

Let’s start with a small colored cube.

The Soma Cube rendered by Gordon Romney in 1967 is considered the first rendering of a complex, manipulable, colored 3D virtual object.¹

Gordon Romney was David Evans’ first Ph.D. student in computer graphics, and David Evans was a pioneer in this field. David’s idea was to use raster scan technology (similar to that used in TVs) to generate realistic 3D images, and Gordon’s Soma Cube was created using this method.

However, this technology is very different from our modern 3D rendering methods. It essentially involved drawing each pixel one by one, rather than constructing 3D images by building points, lines, and surfaces like we do today. This brings us to the third person—Edwin Catmull.

The Birth of Points, Lines, and Surfaces

Edwin Catmull, also a student of David Evans, proposed an alternative way to generate 3D images.

This hand is taken from a computer-animated short film created by Edwin Catmull and Fred Parke. It shows the movement of the hand and is the first animated 3D object generated by a computer.²

As you can see, this hand is quite similar to modern 3D models. It is made up of a polygonal mesh, consisting of triangular faces and vertices. However, unlike today’s 3D software, this process involved creating a real model, drawing the triangular faces on it, scanning the coordinates of its each vertex, and inputting them into the computer to build the model.³

This project laid the foundation for 3D computer graphics and had a profound impact on the future of computer animation.

From Trials to Industry

By the 1980s, 3D rendering entered a period of rapid development and commercial application.

During this time, Pixar’s RenderMan rendering software and the use of ray tracing algorithms pushed the progress of rendering technology. RenderMan supported complex lighting calculations and became a core tool for animated films like Toy Story.⁴

RenderMan uses physical rules similar to those in the real world to simulate the behavior of light, such as reflection, refraction, scattering, and more. By simulating these physical phenomena, RenderMan is able to generate highly realistic images.

After that, with the launch of commercial software such as Maya and 3ds Max, 3D animation became more widely used across various industries.

Summary

From the history of 3D rendering development, we can see that the core of 3D rendering has always been based on ‘simulation’. Simulating the physical laws of reality within a computer has been a key focus in 3D rendering technology development.

Based on understanding the physical rules of the real world, technicians use more efficient methods to build similar physical environments in the computer, creating realistic 3D models. This concept is not just part of the past—it will continue to play an important role in future innovation and development.

Reference

1.First Rendering: A history of 3D rendering

2.The rise of 3D animation—a journey through its evolution

3.A Computer Animated Hand – Wikipedia

4.Milestones:The Development of RenderMan® for Photorealistic Graphics, 1981-1988 – ETHW

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