LogInKevin Temmer has joined 80 Level to tell us more about The Amazing Digital Circus' animation workflows, explain what "cheating" in 3D animation is, and discuss how they twist TADC's characters behind the scenes.
Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little bit about your experience with Maya.
Kevin Temmer: My name is Kevin Temmer, and I'm the Lead Animator at Glitch Productions. I've been in the industry for about nine years, working on all sorts of projects from feature films to video games. I got a BA in Computer Animation at Ringling College of Art and Design, but I've been messing around with animation software ever since I was a kid.
I think the key to mastering Maya is understanding its limitations and using that knowledge to find a way around them. Sometimes, a rig will not have the inherent functionality to accomplish something, but a little out-of-the-box thinking can lead you to a new solution. I still don't know everything about Maya and am learning something new every day, and I think a little open-mindedness and hunger to continue learning can go a long way.
How and when did you join Glitch and what projects have you worked on before The Amazing Digital Circus?
Kevin Temmer: I enjoy creating animated music videos on the side and posting them on social media. This caught the attention of Glitch CEO Kevin Lerdwichagul who reached out to me with an opportunity to animate a teaser for a new show they were working on.
As I was working on the trailer, Kevin asked me if we could have a video call. I was a bit concerned because I thought perhaps I wasn't doing a good job and they wanted to let me go, but instead, he offered me a full-time position as the Lead Animator and the rest is history! I was also one of the lead animators on their show Murder Drones which was a blast and a huge learning experience for me.
Could you please tell us about Glitch's approach to animation for Digital Circus? From my previous interview with the team, I know that you use a combination of Maya and Unreal Engine to produce the show, but could you please elaborate on the particular workflows you employ?
Kevin Temmer: Animating in Maya and then exporting our work to Unreal Engine 5 enables us to have the flexibility of Maya's animation tools while allowing us to get an immediate idea of what our animation will look like in lighting.
Animators are responsible for exporting/importing the shots into Unreal themselves. This gives us a sense of agency over our work because we can quickly see something that doesn't look good in lighting and adjust the animation back in Maya. This is very different from when I worked at a bigger studio where we had to wait for a render before we could get any sense of what the final picture would look like.
Does Gooseworx encourage creativity or do you have to follow strict guidelines and storyboards?
Kevin Temmer: Gooseworx does often encourage us to stick to the boards because we have very talented Storyboard Artists and she wants us to capture the 2D appeal they achieved in their drawings, but she always encourages us to have fun with our shots and has been very open-minded to a lot of our ideas. There have been times when I pitched ideas to Goose and was afraid they might be too weird, but she was fully on board.
What does "cheating" in 3D animation mean? Are aspiring animators explicitly taught that only what the viewer sees matters, or is that something they come to realize on their own?
Kevin Temmer: Cheating to the camera is a method in which we prioritize the camera view over the actual 3D space. It involves thinking of the camera view as a 2D drawing and doing whatever it takes to make the character look good from that perspective. A character might look completely distorted and unappealing from another angle, but it often doesn't matter as long as the audience can't see it.
However, there are instances where cheating to the camera probably shouldn't be done, such as in video games where character cycles need to look good from every angle.
Also, even when you can cheat to the camera, it's important to consider elements that could be impacted later on down the pipeline, such as lighting, simulation, etc. The key is to cheat wisely with an understanding of how it will look in the final render. I believe that learning about cheating to the camera is a combination of taught elements and self-discovery, I learned a lot just by experimenting with the possibilities.
Do character rigs made for TADC allow you and your teammates to break, twist, and distort the models in order to achieve a perfect shot? What about more complex rigs like the one made for Gangle, is it more challenging to cheat when the rig is unconventional?
Kevin Temmer: At least in my experience, breaking, twisting, and distorting rigs is pretty common, especially on a show like TADC. We're very lucky to have incredibly talented Rigging Artists, so our rigs let us really push things.
We do have some limitations due to working with a game engine, so sometimes we have to be creative and work around those rig limitations. Sometimes the unconventional nature of a rig can make it easier to cheat, but it really depends on many factors. For Gangle, we knew from the boards that she would need to be able to unravel, so she was rigged in a way that would allow her to do that.
What are some of the most common techniques animators employ to cut corners?
Kevin Temmer: When animating The Amazing Digital Circus, we do a lot of forced perspective and foreshortening. On Caine, we'll often scale his hand to make it look like it's even closer to the camera than it really is.
Another trick I really like to use is stealing pieces from other characters. There was one shot on our season trailer where I wanted to give Caine eyelashes, but he doesn't have any eyelashes in his rig, so I needed to get a little creative. Pomni was in that scene as well, and she has rigged expression lines that are separate pieces from her face. So I decided to take those face lines and attach them to Caine's eyes, posing them out as false eyelashes.
Another common practice is stretching and scaling parts of characters to create smear frames similar to the ones done in hand-drawn animation.
What would be your advice to aspiring creators making their first steps in the world of 3D Animation? What should they focus on?
Kevin Temmer: My advice would be to study shots from films that you love. Find a way to frame through them and really look at what the animator did to make the shot work. Also, make sure to get away from the computer and go out into the real world! You can learn a lot from enjoying/studying life.
Make sure you show off your range in your animation reel. Show people that you can do both cartoony and realistic, subtle acting and body mechanics, funny and dramatic. It's okay to have strengths and preferences, but it's still a good idea to show that you can do a bit of everything. Have fun creating things and don't be afraid to post your work out there for the world to see. You never know who might see it!