This project was realised in 3ds Max 2012 and rendered using Mental Ray rendering engine.
For texturing: I used raytrace material with transparency (white color), luminosity (black color) and Phong shading. I also applied cellular material on Bump.
I wanted certain objects to generate caustics: to do that, I activated the “caustics generator” in “Object properties”
For rendering: I enabled Caustics in the Indirect Illumination parameters. I adjusted some parameters, for example the “caustic multiplier”. I increased it to enhance the caustics’ illumination.
Final render output to be posted later (due to enormous render time to calculate caustics)
"In optics, a caustic or caustic network is the envelope of light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface or object, or the projection of that envelope of rays on another surface. The caustic is a curve or surface to which each of the light rays is tangent, defining a boundary of an envelope of rays as a curve of concentrated light."
This project was realised in 3ds Max 2012 and rendered using Mental Ray rendering engine.
For lighting: the scene was lit using a free light and Ray Traced Shadows were enabled in the light’s parameters.
For texturing: I used raytrace material with transparency (white color). I also applied noise material on Bump.
I wanted certain objects to generate caustics: to do that, I activated the “caustics generator” in “Object properties”
For rendering: I enabled Caustics and Global Illumination in the Indirect Illumination parameters. I adjusted some parameters, for example the “caustic multiplier”. I increased it to enhance the caustics’ illumination.
The head is shaped first, the line of action is coming from the top of the head, going down to the right leg's toes. the secondary line of action, the flow line, is marked from the top all the way down to the other arm behind her.
The secondary flow line starts from her back and comes down to the other leg, as she's leaning forward to catch her weight.
The way to find the center of balance is to draw a straight vertical line that starts in the middle of the neck all the way down to her legs.
Balance and movement go hand-in-hand: the body is constantly adjusting in order to maintain balance and if we are moving forward our weight will be shifted forward. This is the reason why while drawing we need to keep in mind the concepts of balance and action in order to make more realistic sketches.
After watching Luxo Jr several times, I decided to examine and find out how John Lasseter applied the principles of animation and made his short film so successful.
Squash and Stretch:
Luxo Jr squashes and stretches differently, it does not deform. To squash, Luxo folds over on itself, and to stretch, it extends out fully.
Timing: The two characters in Luxo Jr do not rely on speaking to convey their emotions, but on movement alone. If one action is missed, then the audience would miss an emotion. Therefore, the animator spent enough time on the anticipation of an action; the action itself; and the reaction to the action, to make sure he catches the audience’s attention at every second of the short.
Anticipation: In the beginning of Luxo Jr., Dad is on screen looking offstage. Then, he reacts to anticipate something that is going to happen next. When Junior appears, the audience is prepared for the action.
Staging: Most of the times when Junior was on screen, Dad was barely doing any actions. The reason for that is to keep the audience’s attention on Junior, because the story is mainly about him. The two characters do not do any important action at the same time. For example, after Junior kicked the ball, he looks at Dad, when Dad shakes his head; he gets all the audience’s attention.
Slow in and out: Junior’s base was heavy, when he jumped, it had to stay inactive then quickly arise in the air from the momentum of his jump, arc over, then land suddenly motionless again.
Exaggeration: The design of the lamps was based on the real Luxo lamp, but Jr.’s proportions were exaggerated to make him look like a child.
Even though all the movements seemed like natural physics, yet almost every action was exaggerated to emphasise it.
Secondary Action: When the base hops, Luxo Jr.’s cord moves.
Appeal: It was achieved in many ways, especially in designing characters. The appeal effect was attained using exaggeration in proportion of Jr.
Personality: Jr. was very happy and enthusiastic when he was chasing the ball. His jumps are very fast because he can’t wait to get to the ball. When he pops the ball, his jumps change radically to reveal his sadness.
I believe that it is not the genre of the movie that attracts audience, but rather the plot, the character and the story. We go to movies or rent a DVD because we want to be entertained, we want to laughor bethrilled and most importantly we want our whole mind to be taken by what we are watching. So it is not an animated character or a human actor that attract us, but it is what they say, how they say it and what their story is.
I, as a young adult, laughed when I watched Ice Age as much as I did when I watched any other comedy with live actors. I cried when Mufasa in the Lion King died as much as I did when Satine died in Moulin Rouge. Children laugh because of how characters move in an animated movie, because of the sounds they make and the expressions on their face. But adults understand the jokes better. I, and most people I believe, understand better the jokes in Tom and Jerry now than we did when we were children. Adults understand the jokes in animated movies whereas children are amused by the funny characters.
The following websiteexplains that animated movies such as Up, How to Train Your Dragon, WALL-E from Pixar and DreamWorks have proven that animation has a lot to offer viewers of all ages. And a woman, Julia Alekseyeva also wrote in this article that as an audience, we are also finally beginning to accept the fact that something like animation—often associated with kids—isn’t a genre, but a medium.
Successful animators are behind this change in audience’s view of animated movies. They seem to be driven by the belief that animated movies are not solely for the entertainment of children, but also adults. For instance, John Lasseter and Brad Bird, two old classmates, believe that animation could amount to more than the children's fare it had become. They have tailored their animated movies to the preferences of adults and children, to entertain both and win them as faithful spectators.
However, some stubborn viewers still believe that animation is just for children despite the strides it has made in recent years. This prejudice can only be overcome when those people decide to step into a movie theatre to watch an animated movie with an open mind willing to be amused.
