Mapping a Year in Design

My experience with 3D and 2D imagery leads me to believe 3D rendering enhances not only animation, movies and slideshows, it also offers a new level of creative possibility for hyperrealism in a two-dimensional space.

The following image, Life’s A Bowl of Cherries, combines 3D rendering of a simulated environment for print design. The creation of this image is a combination of Illustrator, Photoshop and RayDream Studio, currently known as Carrara, by Daz Productions.

Three-dimensional and two-dimensional rendering are complimentary when combined. Aside from the necessary software, traditional principles of animation do apply to the computer generated art form.

Traditional Principles of Animation

1. Shape and Form
2. Weight
3. Line and Silhouette
4. Perspective
5. Direction
6. Tension
7. Planes
8. Solidity
9. Depth and Volume
10. Staging and Composition
11. Details
12. Texture
13. Positive and Negative Shapes

On the other hand, 3D animation requires basic drawing skills, especially life drawing, for the artist to correctly render the movement of human and animal forms. Life drawing skills help the animator define muscle groups and allow for correct rendering of facial expressions and gestures alike. These skills help create realistic impressions and generate believable scenarios.

Basic Drawing Skills for Animation Principles

1. Pose and Mood
2. Shape and Form
3. Anatomy
4. Model and Character
5. Line and Silhouette
6. Action and Reaction
7. Perspective
8. Staging and Composition
9. Anticipation
10. Caricature
11. Details
12. Texture
13. Simplification
14. Positive and Negative Shapes

Applications Frequently Used During Production of 3D Design and Animation

(*Note: This list is a small representation of available software applications.)

1. Photoshop (retouching).
2. Flash (animation).
3. 3D Studio Max (3D modeling and animation).
4. After Effects (motion graphics).
5. DirectX (3D/Draw/Music/Play/Sound) application programming interfaces for multimedia related tasks.

Tags: 2D design, 3D animation, 3D design, art techniques, digital imaging, hyperrealism, photo montage, traditional art

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 12th, 2010 at 10:40 am and is filed under Graphic Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.