CGI Animation Step by Step Process

CGI Animation is a complex process that takes several steps in order to go from a simple idea to a complete animation. There are five major steps when it comes to CGI animation: Script, Storyboard, Layout, Animation, and Final Revision. Each step requires careful planning and lots of work.

 

The first step when making a CGI animation is to make a script of the scene. This is a written list of all of the backgrounds, characters, dialogue, and poses that are going to be used in a scene, going in chronological order. 

 

The next step in CGI Animation is the Storyboard phase. This step is pretty much the exact same as the storyboard step in 2D animation; a scene is drawn out in several 2D drawings, showing a rough idea of the environments, characters, and camera angles that you would see in the finished film.

 

The third step of CGI animation is the Layout step. Here, the characters and backgrounds for the scene get rendered in 3D. Animators use computers to build a basic model of each 3D character in the scene. Animators will usually use a reference source, such as a 2D drawing or clay sculpture, while creating the 3D model.

 

The next step is the Animation step. The basic character models are now posed and moved to their finalized movements. Everything from mouth flaps to footsteps are created at this stage. Similar to 2D animation, each frame is created and then tweaked very slightly from one frame to the next. When played in order, the individual frames make a complete animation.

 

Once that is finished, it is time to move onto the Final Revision step. Here, the more complicated parts of CGI, such as hair, lighting, and textures, are placed onto the animation. These complicated parts are saved for last since they are typically the most difficult parts of CGI. 

Other revisions in this step include lighting and textures.

 

Reference and more about the process: CGI Animation Process