That's a difficult one to answer. Each studio has its own set of deadlines and expectations, which will also vary wildly by medium (games vs. television shows vs. advertising vs. films, etc). Generally, as you move into larger studios, the deadlines tend to become more realistic (read: a little more spaced out). The larger studios can charge clients more money, which the clients are willing to pay because they know the trade-off is a higher standard of quality. The studio knows that more quality will need more time, so deadlines become a little less intense once you get to a top-tier animation studio, generally speaking.However, even the larger studios are increasing their productivity all the time (via new technologies, faster machines, better artists, etc), and the "average time to do a shot" is getting less all the time, it seems.
Of course, the biggest X factor in all of this has to do with the content of the shot. I've done a shot in a couple hours (of a hand, in the movie A.I.) but I also got bogged down for about 6 weeks on a shot in Hulk. On Transformers, we had a really streamlined situation with a really fast feedback loop, a lot of amazing animation tools at our disposal, and terrific animation rigs, all of which helped us get our animation time down dramatically. One shot I did of Bonecrusher on the highway only took a few days, while another took closer to 4 weeks - so, yet again, it all depends on the number of characters and what they are doing in the shot. It's always going to take longer to animate a giant robot tackling another robot in slow motion than it will to animate one robot skating down a highway. (There's an example I never would have thought that I'd have at my disposal! ha ha ha)
Shawn :)
6 comments:
Thanks Shawn
This blog totally rocks, i check it every day before i start animating at the games company i work for, please keep it up!
wont be long before its a creative goldmine!
That example is awesome, you are a very lucky an indeed for working on Transformers. Are you going to work on the sequel?
Productivity and time management, definitely two of the things I struggle with and can improve in my work.
Your post made me look at it in a much more realistic way you though to cheers for that.
Great reading Shawn, keep it up, looking forward for some more animation goodness.
I too wanted to just say i am loving the blog. Great move!
Hello Shawn!
First, great article once again and great question!
I was reading this last article and you talk about a scene that you animated in slow motion that took more time than a regular shot in normal speed.
My question is, how do you approach a slow motion animation? Do you you set your keys in a rough real time (24fps) and then tweak keys to make it look slower or you set the keys straight into a slower timing to give the slow motion look?
Thanks again for the great info!
Have a good one!
-Javier
hey Shawn, great blog, loving it as well.
been reading the tips and tricks book too, thanks for doing all of this.
bye
Yes, yes - love it too... It's interesting to hear about the "real" industry... I would LOVE to get an animation job some day but unfortunately I live in the south east. Want to write about how to find work for someone like me?
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