Outline
My infographic video will inform viewers of interesting facts and statistics on Walt Disney World in Florida, including consumption of goods, history of pricing and staffing, scientific or 'behind the scenes' information and imaginatively presented statistics. I will gather these from various online sources and present in a short animated infographic piece.
Mood Board
Storyboard Progress
Production Blog
Week 1 - In the first week of planning I wanted to research all the facts and statistics I needed to include in the infographic. As the final piece is limited to around 30 seconds total I had to whittle down the initial 30 or so facts to a few of the most interesting and fun to animate. On the Resources and Bibliography page there is a list of the top facts I decided to use (although some may not make it to the final cut depending on time. I tried to keep them in order of how I imagined the final sequence to play.
After compiling all my information I started to draw out rough storyboards to compliment the information being presented, some ideas were easier to represent than others so this posed a bit of a challenge, especially as I was also learning to use 3DSMax, Blender and Adobe After Effects (and Illustrator) at the same time. This meant I needed to make sure my storyboards were do-able based on my basic knowledge of each software and what could be achieved in it. I also looked up several different styles of animated infographic to inspire me, these are listed on the Context area of the site.
Week 2 - This week I researched the 12 Principles of Animation (Originated at Disney) to gain insight on how to make a successful animation, each of the 12 steps relate to the physics, composition and style of a piece. I have described each step in more depth on the Context page. I was able to practice more storyboarding and continue to learn more skills on software also this was slow and I was still unsure of a lot of the elements and how they would come together. I created a mood board (above) of the kind of themes and style I was hoping to re-create, this may be added to as production progresses. I was able to make more progress on 3dsMax by watching tutorials from my tutor as well as from YouTube but I still need a lot of practice on this software to make a realistic 3D object sequence.
Week 2 Continued- I went back to my initial Illustrator file and added colour/made adjustments to make the castle seem more Disney-like, the next step will be to add this into After Effects and use as a background for my infographic shots. I now need to make more illustrator vector shapes to use in the sequence, the storyboards I have drawn and continue to work on will give me clues as to what I should try and make next.
I have tried to create a character which I will be able to animate in After Effects, I have made sure I try to separate out the layers to allow for movement.
Week 3 -
After spending a lot of time creating the backgrounds needed for shots I wanted to try and work on some digitally hand drawn animations that would also feature. I worked on these frames using a tablet and stylus on the Flipaclip software app. I had not used this before so spent a little bit of time getting used to the controls. I tried to implement the 12 animation principles where I could without spending too long on each 'cel'. I am hoping to add this piece of animation to the start of the infographic as it was easier to animate this part with drawings instead of vector art or 3D models.
Week 4 -
This week I finished the first 10 seconds of hand drawn animation for my infographic. I was then able to export this as an MP4 sequence into After Effects. I now need to start adding in the other 2D elements, leaving gaps for my 3D rendered objects to be integrated later. I am currently creating more 2d assets and learning how to animate with keyframes. I have also been spending time learning UV wrapping in 3DSMax and Blender but this is a lot more technical and is taking longer to learn. I need to update my storyboards and create a workflow chart to ensure the last 3/4 weeks of work are more structured, otherwise I may not have as much time to tweak and change elements.
I have been looking into uv unwrap tutorials for 3DSMax and Blender but it's a little harder in practice so I will get more help with this. I've also been trying to make my second 3D asset (A cartoon style moon) which will fit in straight after the hand drawn sequence.
Week 5 -
I spent a lot of time updating my context page with information on 3D and 2D animation history which helped me to understand references like the teapot for render/lighting setting testing as well as grid/axis use in 3D design. As the main section of my infographic will be digitally hand drawn I have been working on that in between blog posts. I managed to import my Adobe Illustrator files into the drawing software, ready to be moved into a composition and integrated among my hand drawn elements.
Every day or two I add to my hand drawn png files and update my storyboard and order of facts. I need to keep making small amendments to the storyboard to make sure animations are on screen long enough to make an impact. Some frames have been re-thought to fit with the flow of the story.
Week 6 -
This week I was aware of the deadline approaching and needed to problem-solve a few issues with my 3D models so I could move on with lighting experimentation and feedback. I was able to speak to classmates who had used Blender before and pick up some tips on how to finish texturing my models before lighting and rendering. The left image shows the middle uv wrap applied and he bottom image shows me lining up the lid image over my 3D model indentations. I also hand drew more frames and added extra details to bring it to life. I still have about 5-7 seconds of this to make so I will continue to add daily until finished.
I was able to get some feedback on some of my hand drawn png sequence from another student and use this to make improvements, this included slight adjustments to the colour and type of title font. After making these changes i continued adding the pngs as well as updating my website page. I have a week from today to finish the infographic and review it so I will make sure I log onto the pc every day and work.
Final Week -
This week I have the task of composing all my different elements into Adobe After Effects, so far I have drawn my frames and converted into MP4 format as well as create my 3D models (which still need some final tweaks). I need to add text into the composition and keyframe it to act in certain ways as the video plays. One issue I am currently working around is my frames don't play for as long as I need them to so I will need to fix this in order for the facts to be readable to viewers.
Today I made the decision to draw in more frames in order to make up a few needed seconds (in order for the text to be clear). I was also able to render a couple of test animations of my coke can into a png sequence which is easily imported into the After Effects file. The background of the animation in Blender is transparent to allow me to place it in the scene neatly, I had to keyframe the animation sequence in the animation tab on Blender, this produced a better result than trying to animate a static png of my model.
Final Week Continued -
As this is my final full day to compose my infographic I've been adding in all my text, arranging audio clips and doing final renders/alterations to my animated 3D models. I have also decided to add more texture to my moon model using an image from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio page. I was able to find a tutorial using bump maps to simulate more roughness on my model that couldn't be achieved with the standard colour brushes. I also change up the lighting slightly to show off the shadows of the craters before rendering using Cycles. (I originally used Eevee but Cycles gives a better detailed result and is generally used for film/tv with Eevee being used more in games.
Final Week Continued -
Below is a screenshot of my composition in After Effects with added kinetic text layers and timings, as i hadn't used After Effects much before it took a little while to work out how to trim clips, layer effectively and add effects. I didn't want to over animate the text as the background was already moving and it could make it harder to read, as the main purpose of the infographic is to inform viewers I need to keep this in mind. With all this in mind I had to add more repeated drawn frames in to make some sequences longer.
On reflection I would make sure next time to have a more thorough storyboard with specific timings so less last minute panic and work. I would also re-draw some parts larger so editing in a 3D model wouldn't be so fiddly and awkward, however i am happy wih my finished infographic considering at the beginning i didn't know how to make a 3D model and render it, or add it to a composition. This is also the longest hand drawn animation I've attempted and I now know how long it takes to draw frames and make them flow.
