In our last behind-the-scenes look at UnLiving Portraits, we covered everything from the brainstorming phase to building and modeling the creepy family featured in the decoration. This week, we’ll take a look at the final steps that went into finishing up the final product.
Read on to get the full scoop!
Animation: Bringing the Family to Life
Once our animators got completed models from Pete, they started the process of bringing the characters to life. Each animator’s style is unique, so everyone approaches animating in different ways. For example, one may start blocking out big movements first while others may dive into details right away.
Speaking of details, there are a lot that go into animating each character. Check out how complex our debutante is!
All animations are based off of Pete’s final storyboards, but having actual reference is important, too. To get a feel for how characters would move in real-life, the team will often shoot reference videos to study as they work. When she was animating Family Feud, Chanelle based our debutante off of this footage of her going Lizzie Borden-style with a cardboard tube.
Just for fun, here’s another reference video from Family Feud. We didn’t have any knives handy, so T, one of our 3D modelers, used the next best thing – a remote control.
Post Processing: Adding the Final Touches
Once the character animations were complete, the effects went into post processing, or “post”. This is the step where another one of our animators, Paul, added all of the final touches, including cobwebs and making sure all of the colors are just right.
When all of the visuals were complete, the final step of the post process was adding sound to each of the decorations. We’ve been recording sound effects since before 2007, so we’ve got a pretty large selection to choose from. If we can’t find a perfect match, we go out to either find or make it. For example, the voices you hear in Zombie Invasion! are actually members of our team.
That's a Wrap!
While the art team was hard at work finishing up the effects, our graphic designer, Ryan (who’s actually the artist that created our Zombie Survival Tips), was busy creating all of the packaging – the final step of the creation process!
Whew. And there you have it – UnLiving Portraits from start to finish! We hope that you enjoyed this inside look at what goes into each of our digital decorations. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask away! You can find us on both Facebook and Twitter.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
