Bahrain
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Print
Email
Discuss this article (0 Comments)Collaboration in animation
by ArabianBusiness.com staff writer on Thursday, 19 March 2009
zoom
Lucasfilm Animation recently brought one of the world's most successful movie franchises, Star Wars, onto a new platform as a 3D animated television series. With some of the most devoted and obsessive fans in the universe, the technical crew of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series had to ensure that the meticulous attention to detail of die-hard Star Wars fans was replicated in the production aspect of the animation, lest the most minute glitch return to haunt them.
On many occasions during the production of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, it is likely that supervising director Dave Filoni frequently fantasised about having a clone army of his own to command.
Conquering the plethora of tasks that confronted technical staff during the show's creation is definitely a feat worthy of such a force. But in the real world, without the assistance of clones, droids, or super-intelligent beings, it was the hard work of regular humans that got the job done, with a little help from some of the most advanced CGI and animation technology in the market.
Production of the 3D animated series began in 2005, following the release of Star Wars episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and was finally brought to the Middle East via Cartoon Network in February this year. The unique appearance and stylised design of the television series is indicative of the tremendous amount of man-hours and technological expertise that were applied to produce more than 30 episodes of the series.
Broad-scale collaboration between character designers, storyboard artists, animators, lighting designers and the hundreds of players involved in the production process was the key to achieving the visually-slick appearance of this animated adaptation of Star Wars.
While internal collaboration at Lucasfilm Animation (a division of Lucasfilm) was essential, the spirit of cooperation was also extended outside the production house, to reach other contributors to the series, such as animation specialists CGCG and episodic directors who helped to bring different visual styles to the show.
One example of this is Atsushi Takeuchi at Production I.G in Japan, who was recruited as an episodic director to bring an anime influence to the series.
"The way we split up the production was that the story, design and the layout were done in California, and then all of the shot production happened overseas in Singapore and Taipei, and then came back to California for post production," says Andrew Harris, CG and lighting supervisor at Lucasfilm Animation.
Episodes were visually adjusted throughout the production process and frames were altered post-rendering in order to ensure the creation of the "illustrative stylisation" the crew was attempting to reproduce, based on Ralph McQuarrie's original 1970s Star Wars concept art.
Under the guidance of George Lucas, executive producer, and Dave Filoni, supervising director, each frame of footage was carefully scrutinised - or "noodled" - before moving on to the next stage of production, Harris tells fans via the show's website.
"When the episode is completely finished, we go through a process called colour crafting," explains Harris.
"When George Lucas had been very specific about how he wanted something to look, we could use this process to change the time of day and the overall look of the episode.
Smooth move
Bringing a static character to life by creating a skeletal base for the development of a reliable system of movement within a 3D model for the use of animators, is the role of the character rigger.
For the production of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lucasfilm Animation employed multiple riggers to fulfill this task, highlighting its importance. Riggers play an integral role in any modern animation, particularly in this instance, with different movement systems being required for a multitude of creatures, machines and humanoids.
Unnecessary in the cardboard cutout and stop motion animations of old, the importance of rigging within animated production will continue to grow unless a sudden reversion to traditional animation occurs - a scenario that in this case seems very unlikely, given the history of Star Wars' pioneering role in visual effects creation over the past four decades.
Bringing a static character to life by creating a skeletal base for the development of a reliable system of movement within a 3D model for the use of animators, is the role of the character rigger.
For the production of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lucasfilm Animation employed multiple riggers to fulfill this task, highlighting its importance. Riggers play an integral role in any modern animation, particularly in this instance, with different movement systems being required for a multitude of creatures, machines and humanoids.
Unnecessary in the cardboard cutout and stop motion animations of old, the importance of rigging within animated production will continue to grow unless a sudden reversion to traditional animation occurs - a scenario that in this case seems very unlikely, given the history of Star Wars' pioneering role in visual effects creation over the past four decades.
READERS' COMMENTS
Disclaimer: The views expressed here by our readers are not necessarily shared by ArabianBusiness.com or its employees.
MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM
TOP IN MIDDLE EAST MEDIA & MARKETING
TOP MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS STORIES
ALSO IN MIDDLE EAST MEDIA & MARKETING
From 
Mobile
