the art of leviathan

The Art Of

Leviathan

By Deanna Crisbacher

About Fantastic Voyage

For the final project of year one at Computer Animation Arts we were to choose one of four different Bioscientific Scenarios to create a one to three minute CG animation. The process begins in preproduction where I researched my chosen scenario: Antibiotic Resistance. I then began to look at visual influences and generated several influence maps that led to my thumbnails and final concept art paintings. After writing a script and creating a storyboard I then put together an animatic with a temporary voice over and sound effects that I gathered and edited. Then, I created orthographic drawings in order to model my assets in Autodesk Maya that I later created custom textures for. I also hired a professional voice actor to voice my narration in the final animation. By following this pipeline from preproduction to production and finally to postproduction I was able to create my first Computer Generated Animation.

Visual Concept

My initial art direction was inspired by games such as Spore, The Binding of Isaac, Slime Rancher, Limbo, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and Don’t Starve. I was also inspired by images of cells and other microorganisms when looking under a microscope. However, as my ideas developed towards a ‘sea monster’ theme my visual concept and influences changed to be more realistic and less ‘cute’. My influence maps and thumbnails changed to reflect my project’s development. My final visual concept was inspired by films and games such as Jaws, Alien, and Subnautica. Various artists including Tim Burton, H.R. Giger, and artwork found on Artstation influenced my art direction. However, I drew most of my inspiration from animals and environments in real life such as kelp forest landscapes, Angler Fish, Moray Eels, and the Giant Tigerfish.

Initial Influence Map

Final Influence Map

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Thumbnails and Sketchbook Pages

Initial Thumbnails

Initial Thumbnails

After this group of thumbnails I came to the conclusion that the bacteria needed to look less friendly and cute. Since my animation is about antibiotic resistance, the bacteria needed to be the bad guys. However, I felt as though some of the colours and textures were working well. I also began to experiment with the idea of the antibiotic possibly being a character.

Antibiotic Thumbnails

Developing Bacteria Thumbnails

Initial Environment Thumbnails

Size Comparison Thumbnails

Environment Development Thumbnails

As I was exploring different types of environments for my bacteria, I decided to experiment with the idea of veins/nerves. I thought this looked similar to kelp forests which then inspired me to research kelp forests and other ocean environments instead of my original microscope idea. I believe this is what led me to a more interesting and engaging environment for my animation.

Kelp Forest Thumbnails

Kelp Forest Thumbnails

After experimenting with the kelp forest idea, I decided to redesign my bacteria once again to resemble deep sea creatures and other marine animals. These eventually sparked my ‘Leviathan’ themed story and script. !The kelp forest is a metaphor for the ‘ocean’ within the body, for example the stomach or blood. The sea monsters are the bacteria, which were inspired by the Moray Eel and Angler Fish. The ‘Leviathan’ is the superbug that has become resistant to antibiotics and was mostly inspired by the Giant Tigerfish.

Bacteria Sketchbook thumbnails

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Final Concept Paintings with buildup

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Initial Script

As my project progressed into Autodesk Maya, I had to change and amend my script to reflect what was occurring in my final animation. Some of these changes happened to make the animation flow better. For example, certain sequences were cut from the final animation while other scenes were given more screen time. Some of the transitions and narration also changed location to accommodate the other amendments I was making. These changes are not reflected in my storyboard or animatic because I did not choose to change it until my pre-visualisation animation in Maya.

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Final Script

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Storyboard & Animatic Panel Selection

Panel Selection

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Orthographs

Kelp Orthographs

DNA and Pill Orthographs

Bacteria #1 Orthographs

Leviathan Orthographs

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Experiments and Tests

After Effects - Underwater Light Rays and Particles

I experimented with various ways to create an underwater effect for my animation. I decided to look into what sort of special effects I could add in post production in an attempt to reduce render time within Maya. I found a tutorial by Video Copilot to create light rays and water particles to give an underwater effect. I also played around with some filters as a way of coloring my animation.

After Effects - Underwater Light Rays and Particles still

Maya - Parti_Volume Node, Caustics, and Photons

I tested out a method of creating an animated underwater light through the use of the ‘parti_volume’ node in Mental Ray. Since Caustics/Global Illumination/Photons were turned on for this method it took a very long time to render a few seconds worth of animation or even a still. While this method of lighting looks great, the rendering time is a significant drawback.

Maya - Parti_Volume Node, Caustics, and Photons Stills

Maya and After Effects - Lighting Combined

Even though my Leviathan model was not textured at this point, I thought it would be a good idea to test out the different types of lighting and effects I was experimenting with. This way I could see what look it would give to my models and possibly think of other ways to create similar effects that might reduce render time.

Maya and After Effects Lighting Combined Still

Maya - Fog Cube

After discovering how long it’d take to render out light rays, I tried out other methods of creating fog and light rays in Mental Ray. I used volume primitives to create a fog cube. Unfortunately, even if I was careful with how many objects were in the scene and what the lights and shadows were doing it still took too about an hour to render a single frame with no animation, which is not ideal.

Maya- Fog Cube Still

Maya - Fluid Test

To create the fluid that comes out of my pill, I used particle emitters and reversed gravity. I made the particles a ‘blobby material’ and changed the different settings in order to achieve a thick sludge/fluid appearance.

Maya - Fluid Test Still

Maya - Dissolve Test

In one of my scenes, the resistant bacteria makes the antibiotics dissolve. In order to achieve this effect, I continued to experiment with particle emitters. This time, I followed a tutorial about using animated ramps and particle emission from objects to make a 2d plane appear as though it is dissolving away.

Maya - Dissolve tests Still

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Autodesk Maya ModelLing

Kelp Model Progress

Kelp Models Untextured, Wireframe, Ambient Occlusion, Shader

DNA Model Progress

DNA Model Untextured, Ambient Occlusion, Shader

Pill Model Progress

Pill Model Untextured, Wireframe, UV, Ambient Occlusion

Bacteria Model Progress

In order to be efficient in Maya, I decided to model one of my bacteria, layout the UV’s for texturing, then reuse assets to finish off the model and to reuse for the other models. One of my first challenges was creating the mouth but once that was completed I began modelling the rest of the bacteria. I assigned the objects different shaders so the wireframe could be seen and added Ambient Occlusion to each of my models as well. The finished models are smoothed, however I tried to keep the models as simple as possible.

Bacteria Model Progress

Bacteria #1 Untextured, Wireframe, UV, Ambient Occlusion

Leviathan Model Progress

Unlike the bacteria models, my Leviathan is only going to be seen from the front. Because of this, his model looks odd since he is essentially a puppet. Since the Leviathan is the ‘superbug’ I decided to make his mesh a lot more complex and detailed than the other bacteria. Instead of just relying on bump mapping, I chose to model some gnarled parts on his face and jaws to make him look more skeletal and monster-like. He also has a second row of teeth and extra eyes. I ran into some problems making this model, forcing me to rebuild some parts such as the inside of the mouth to try and keep the model as clean as possible.

Leviathan Model Progress

Leviathan Untextured, Wireframe, UV, Ambient Occlusion

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Autodesk Maya Texturing

Sand Texture

Texture Map Selection Teeth, Spines, and Flesh Detail

Bacteria Glow Maps

Bacteria #1 Diffuse, NOrmal, and Specular Maps

Leviathan Diffuse, NOrmal, and Specular Maps

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Autodesk Maya Deformers, Rigging, and Skinning

Kelp Sine Deformer

Rigs

While I used a deformer to animate my kelp, I constructed rigs using joints and IK Spline Handles. Since the bacteria are meant to be fish/eel like creatures, I decided to rig their bodies like they were a tail. By thing this I was able to automate their movements. I also added on head and jaw joints so I can control their mouths opening and closing. While I didn’t have many extra attributes to add excluding ‘rotate jaw’, I used the expression editor to make my bacteria’s spine act and move like a tail.

Bacteria #2 Rig

Bacteria #1 Rig

Bacteria #3 Rig

Leviathan Rig

Skinning - Painting Weights

Skinning - Attaching the Spines Using Rivets

Skinning -Final Result

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Autodesk Maya Digital Sets and Animation

digital Set

Swim Cycles

I made swim cycles for each of my bacteria to give the illusion of them wiggling around in fluid. I aimed to make them look similar to eels but more bulky and stout. I also added subtle movement to the upper and lower jaws to make them look as though they were breathing. The Leviathan has a slightly slower swim cycle compared to the other bacteria since he is meant to be much larger in size. I used the graph editor for this process to make moving the keyframes easier until I was satisfied with the movement. After that, I was able to make a swim cycle using the pre and post infinity curves. Once I had this swim cycle, I was also able to animate using motion paths.

Motion Paths

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Sound, Music, and Narration

Adobe Audition - Sound Editing

To create the sounds within my animation, I searched various websites such as freesound.org to find audio clips. I then brought them into Adobe Audition and edited them to change their sound to create soundscapes, sounds for my bacteria, or other sound effects.

By playing around with duration, pitch, reverb, and adding various other effects I was able to create unique sound effects. I also used some music clips such as Echoes of Time v2 (Kevin MacLeod) which I found on incompetech.com.

Adobe Audition - Sound Editing

Voiceover Artist - Jon Strickland

After using a temporary voiceover from a fellow student in my animatic, I searched for a professional voice artist for my final animation. It was more difficult to find and contact the right person than I originally expected. Luckily I was able to hire Jon Strickland to voice my narration. His previous clients included Volvo, Tesco, Sony, Microsoft, Panasonic, BBC2, Sky One, London City News Radio, and many more.

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Post Production

Color Finesse Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast

Color Finesse Colour and Saturation

After Effects Underwater Particles

After Effects Film Grain

After Effects Vignette

Premiere Pro Editing the Final Animation

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Animation Stills

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Concept art and Final Animation Comparison

the art of leviathan

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