For my film project I decided to learn how to use Blender on my own to create some 3D animations.
I took some online classes on Domestika to learn the basics and then I just found specific tutorials on Youtube for what I needed. The process of setting up the PCs in the studio and get them working took a lot of work and going back and forth with IT support and through many trials and failures I managed to secure two computers just to render the animations.
Because I had never used programs like Blender and I wasn't familiar with computer parts and what they do, the learning curve I took upon was quite steep and my biggest enemy was time because most of the renders took more than 10 hours to make.
I took some online classes on Domestika to learn the basics and then I just found specific tutorials on Youtube for what I needed. The process of setting up the PCs in the studio and get them working took a lot of work and going back and forth with IT support and through many trials and failures I managed to secure two computers just to render the animations.
Because I had never used programs like Blender and I wasn't familiar with computer parts and what they do, the learning curve I took upon was quite steep and my biggest enemy was time because most of the renders took more than 10 hours to make.
A big part of organisation was making lots of lists of things I had to do and keeping track of the export settings to keep them consistent.
original moodboards for the film.
Before I started making the animations I researched task specific Youtube tutorials so that I know beforehand what I need to do. The hardest scene to plan was one where I would have two different animations overlayed on a moving image sequence which meant that I had to match the exact same lighting that I had in the moving image sequence in the animations.
Above: quick test to see if the lighting works.
I didn't model any of the 3D objects in the animations besides the 3D scan of one of my friend's face for the character Ariadne. I made that choice partly because I didn't have the knowledge and time to model them on my own and partly because found materials has always been a staple of my studio practice. I altered all of them though to achieve the look I wanted them to have by adding hair, changing materials/textures and lighting them in different ways.
I sourced all of the models through Sketchfab: labyrinth, bull head, statue body, axe.
I sourced all of the models through Sketchfab: labyrinth, bull head, statue body, axe.
Ariadne was the first scene I started building because I knew more or less how to make it because in the first edition of the film (link in artworks section) I did a face scan of myself as one of the main characters using a Blender add on.
So to construct the Ariadne character I used the body of a Venus sculpture that I found online and exchanged her face with my friend's and I replaced the texture of the ball that the statue was holding to a red yarn. At first I wasn't sure what kind of body I wanted her to have but when I found this statue I felt that it made it look even holier, as this character is the force of good and justice in my film.
Part of the production was choosing the right lettering for the character to match the colours and the ambient soundtrack.
Test images for the fight scene to see if the lighting is working.
Different settings tests for the labyrinth sequences.
In almost all the sequences that the bull head with hair was involved I had an issue with, from hair dynamics not working to rigging errors. I had to compromise and think about doing the animation in a different way than the one I had imagined because I had communication problems with the technician from Wimbledon that knows how to use Blender and I couldn't find the solution online.
I also had some issues with exporting the film because the colours looked completely desaturated. I found out that part of the issue was Quicktime not showing the correct colours so I had to do several oversaturated tests to accommodate that and compare it with the VLC playback which seemed to work better.
After figuring out how much I need to oversaturate the film I had to fiddle with the settings of different projectors to see which one is the best. I tested an older Epson projector that the course already owned, a newer Epson and a Casio.
After figuring out how much I need to oversaturate the film I had to fiddle with the settings of different projectors to see which one is the best. I tested an older Epson projector that the course already owned, a newer Epson and a Casio.