The process of creating art is very important as each step along the way reveals new problems which need to be overcome to create the best possible final product. Below I take you through the process I went through in creating my How It Works: Da Vinci Clock 3D animation.
To create this animation, I had to do a lot of research on how clocks work. I had to find a clock which I could take apart to take measurements on for when I needed to model the clock. I found an easy to build plastic “Da Vinci Academy” clock kit which I could build, take apart, and put back together to help me not only understand how a clock works, but also take accurate measurements of for modeling purposes. I watched several videos and read a handful of articles on the inner workings of mechanical clocks.
Once I had a solid grasp on how mechanical clocks work, I was able to write a script to convey this information in a succinct way. Here you can see an early script for this animation.
Once the script is approved I move on to creating my storyboards. For most projects my story boards are hand drawn sketches of the scene but for this project I had an actual physical model on which I was basing the animation, so I used photos of the model to create the storyboards. The storyboards help to plan out what shots are needed and how the action will occur in time with the script.
The animatic is essentially the storyboards set to time. Setting the still storyboard images to time and adding in some rough animation helps to set the pacing of the piece. For a more complex scene involving several characters, dialogue, and lots of action this also helps to block out exactly how the scene will flow; if you can’t visualize how a scene is going to work in this phase you’re going to have a difficult time creating the actual animation. I also recorded the voice-over narration at this time as the pace at which the narration is read can greatly change the feel of the animation.
Through several versions of the animatic I found where certain aspects of the clock's workings needed to be better highlighted and parts which were unimportant to the scope of this animation. I re-recorded narration as necessary to fix pacing issues or add in extra detail that was missing from the original recordings. As animatic was finalized I finished off the audio with some post-processing to make it sound as good as possible.
