QDD #5 - Altirhinus in Twenty Seconds
Another year, another Quick-Draw Dinosaur episode! As with QDD #4: Miragaia, the aim with this episode was to spend a lot more time on producing the visuals and relinquish some (though we hope not all!) of the silliness for a bit more of the hard stuff: i.e. factual content.
Since we're packing in more science and upping the ante on visuals, we also want to give QDD subscribers even more bang for their buck with this little sneak-peak into the process that goes into producing these mini-docs. I hope you enjoy reading it and stay tuned for even bigger, better visuals in the next instalment. Who knows what new insights QDD #6 will bring...?
1. Research
This is where every project starts; scouring favourite reference books for all the subject's vital stats and then taking to the internet to plug any remaining knowledge gaps.
In the case of Altirhinus kurzanovi, this was a challenge, as very little post-cranial material from the animal is known. Without a larger body of specimens to study, information on Altirhinus is pretty scant, so in this case I turned to its better-known close cousin Iguanodon for clues.
Research into a new video project doesn't just start and end with the subject though - scientific literature can tell the artist a lot about the biomechanics and probable habitat of an animal and even infer certain behaviours, but for an animation project there's always locomotion to consider. Getting this right means watching footage of extant animals with correlative traits (size, diet, social behaviours, etc) for any clues that might inform movement.
This doesn't just happen in the run-up to a specific project either - every animation is informed by a whole lifetime of these observations: cultivating a feel for how different integuments look in different light levels, how a big animal's skin sags compared to a small one and those subtle little ways in which prey species and predatory species behave, either in groups or individually.
2. Script and Audio recording
Once we have a decent amount of information on the subject, it's over to my colleague Mesozoic Mike to take care of the script and recording the narration. Mike takes the most salient information on the subject and then drafts a script based on the existing QDD format (where we briefly describe the subject's vital stats including the place of origin and then fill the rest of the time with either scientific or historical/cultural trivia related to the taxon).
Mike then tests the resulting script against the video's run-time (we used to work to a strict 10-second limit, but now we pack in twice as much with 20-seconds!). Once the script is finalised, Mike records several takes and sends a copy of the best one over to me so that I can start brainstorming some visuals to accompany the narration.
We record the narration before making a start on the animation because it is easier to fit visuals to audio than the other way around. This is a pretty standard workflow for animation studios as it potentially saves the animators a lot of work in the long run. Also it saves time and workflow to have episodes recorded in batches ahead of time.
3. Artwork
I always create the original puppet graphics at least 50% larger than the intended canvas size for the animation project. This gives greater flexibility when it comes to editing the video, as it allows me to zoom in on the subject for a nice, crisp close-up if the script calls for it. Since these projects are created in 1080p (a frame size of 1920x1080 px) I created the original Altirhinus artwork on a canvas of 2880x1620 px.
As Altirhinus is mostly known only from its exquisite skull (Fig. 1), I reconstructed the body using my recent skeletal reconstruction of Iguanodon bernissartensis. I then set about creating the Altirhinus artwork in Adobe Photoshop. Once happy with the finished piece (Fig. 2), I masked off different areas of the subject to be separated onto layers to make the animation puppet.
Since I knew I was going to be using Duik Bassel (which we will come back to in the next section) to animate the puppet, I decided to keep the near limbs (those closest to the viewer) joined to the body so that the skin around the joints could deform during animation. This was an idea that I had wanted to try out after completing the previous video for Miragaia (which was only my first foray into animating using the Duik plug-in), in which I had used a more standard approach of separating all four limbs from the body.
So, after flattening and cutting out my artwork (painting behind any areas of parallax around the joints) I ended up with a layer structure of (from farthest to nearest): Forelimb_far, Hindlimb_far, body_ventral, body, guides (these are bright green dots that I would use in the next stage to correctly place the registration points for animation).
4. Rigging
Once the artwork was complete I imported the Psd file into Adobe After Effects as a composition to retain layer sizes. Then comes the delicate process of rigging the model for animation. Duik Bassel is an open-source plug-in for After Effects which allows the user to rig 2d artwork for animation. The rigging process is time-consuming (especially if you're a beginner, like me!), but the effort saved in the animation process itself and the end results that can be achieved make the trade-off well worth it.
In a nutshell, the process of rigging entails generating a custom armature made from rigid sections and placing the connection points between each segment over the corresponding registration points (Fig 4) using the guide layer that I mentioned earlier. Once the armature had been adjusted to fit the puppet, this was effectively 'pinned' to the artwork and then to a series of controllers for the head, hands, hips, etc. The complicated armature and guide layers could then be hidden to make animation easier, as all the motion could now be controlled using just a handful of controllers (Fig. 5).
5. Animation
This is the fun part, where all the magic happens. Since QDD follows a set template, I can always begin by establishing an idle cycle for our animal. This might include a walk cycle or shuffling of feet whilst the subject bobs its head, swishes its tail, bellows and blinks. Then, once that's done I can overlay the narration to see where incidental animations need to be added and sync the timing accordingly.
Incidental animations are directed entirely by the narrative content. Since these are 'turbo' projects I always look for the simplest, most succinct way to visualise every statement. In this case, where Altirhinus' sister-taxon Iguanodon is mentioned, I created fake Polaroid snaps using photos from a recent trip to Brussels and some previous artwork I created some years ago.
Camera movements on the subject are controlled by camera layers in After Effects, as this is a more reflexive way of focusing in on key areas of the subject; although I do use transform scaling (sorry!) to control the map movements, as incidental animations in projects of this length last a few brief seconds and don't really warrant a camera set-up (Fig: 6).
6. Audio
The QDD template includes a wide selection of stock sound effects and a folder of musical tracks composed by Mike, so there's very little audio sourcing that needs to be done. The music was originally designed to compliment a selection of dinosaur bauplans (big, small, herbivore, carnivore, cursorial, graviportal, etc), so selecting the appropriate track is always a straightforward job.
A lot of the humour in these videos comes from the sound effects; those little dings, whizzes and pops that accentuate the action on-screen, so adding these in at the end feels like putting the icing on the cake! Mmmm...cake...
If sound effects are the icing, then mixing is placing the cherry on top right at the end and this generally where Mike's expertise are called for once again (Fig. 7). Once we've established the correct balance between the narration, music and incidental sound tracks, the episode is ready to go.
7. Exporting and publishing:
Finally the finished project can be exported via Adobe Media Encoder. I use an H.264 codec set to render at Maximum quality and depth with a Continuous bit-rate (i.e. CBR instead of VBR) of 40bps. I find this gives a crisp enough quality (for animation at least - for video footage I might be inclined to punch the bit-rate higher) without generating a cumbersome file size.
Often I'll need to export, view, modify and re-export a few times to iron out any mistakes (awkward movements, poorly-synched audio, etc), but once we're both happy with the result, the video is published on the QDD YouTube channel and shared with the world through social media channels.
Well, that pretty much covers the creative process that went into making this episode. I didn't want to dig too deep into the technical details of rigging with Duik Bassel in this blog post, but if you'd like to learn more about working with Duik, I found this tutorial extremely useful.
If you've enjoyed this 'behind the scenes' peek at QDD, please subscribe to the channel and we'll see you again soon for the next instalment.
And don't forget that you can request your favourite dinosaur (or any species you'd like to know more about!) for future videos by leaving a comment on the latest video or sending us a message!
Since we're packing in more science and upping the ante on visuals, we also want to give QDD subscribers even more bang for their buck with this little sneak-peak into the process that goes into producing these mini-docs. I hope you enjoy reading it and stay tuned for even bigger, better visuals in the next instalment. Who knows what new insights QDD #6 will bring...?
Behind the Scenes of QDD:
1. Research
This is where every project starts; scouring favourite reference books for all the subject's vital stats and then taking to the internet to plug any remaining knowledge gaps.
In the case of Altirhinus kurzanovi, this was a challenge, as very little post-cranial material from the animal is known. Without a larger body of specimens to study, information on Altirhinus is pretty scant, so in this case I turned to its better-known close cousin Iguanodon for clues.
 | |
|
Research into a new video project doesn't just start and end with the subject though - scientific literature can tell the artist a lot about the biomechanics and probable habitat of an animal and even infer certain behaviours, but for an animation project there's always locomotion to consider. Getting this right means watching footage of extant animals with correlative traits (size, diet, social behaviours, etc) for any clues that might inform movement.
This doesn't just happen in the run-up to a specific project either - every animation is informed by a whole lifetime of these observations: cultivating a feel for how different integuments look in different light levels, how a big animal's skin sags compared to a small one and those subtle little ways in which prey species and predatory species behave, either in groups or individually.
2. Script and Audio recording
Once we have a decent amount of information on the subject, it's over to my colleague Mesozoic Mike to take care of the script and recording the narration. Mike takes the most salient information on the subject and then drafts a script based on the existing QDD format (where we briefly describe the subject's vital stats including the place of origin and then fill the rest of the time with either scientific or historical/cultural trivia related to the taxon).
Mike then tests the resulting script against the video's run-time (we used to work to a strict 10-second limit, but now we pack in twice as much with 20-seconds!). Once the script is finalised, Mike records several takes and sends a copy of the best one over to me so that I can start brainstorming some visuals to accompany the narration.
We record the narration before making a start on the animation because it is easier to fit visuals to audio than the other way around. This is a pretty standard workflow for animation studios as it potentially saves the animators a lot of work in the long run. Also it saves time and workflow to have episodes recorded in batches ahead of time.
3. Artwork
I always create the original puppet graphics at least 50% larger than the intended canvas size for the animation project. This gives greater flexibility when it comes to editing the video, as it allows me to zoom in on the subject for a nice, crisp close-up if the script calls for it. Since these projects are created in 1080p (a frame size of 1920x1080 px) I created the original Altirhinus artwork on a canvas of 2880x1620 px.
As Altirhinus is mostly known only from its exquisite skull (Fig. 1), I reconstructed the body using my recent skeletal reconstruction of Iguanodon bernissartensis. I then set about creating the Altirhinus artwork in Adobe Photoshop. Once happy with the finished piece (Fig. 2), I masked off different areas of the subject to be separated onto layers to make the animation puppet.
Since I knew I was going to be using Duik Bassel (which we will come back to in the next section) to animate the puppet, I decided to keep the near limbs (those closest to the viewer) joined to the body so that the skin around the joints could deform during animation. This was an idea that I had wanted to try out after completing the previous video for Miragaia (which was only my first foray into animating using the Duik plug-in), in which I had used a more standard approach of separating all four limbs from the body.
 |
| Fig, 2: Altirhinus kurzanovi in left lateral view, Copyright A V S Turner |
 |
| Fig. 3: Altirhinus kurzanovi head detail in left lateral view, Copyright A V S Turner |
So, after flattening and cutting out my artwork (painting behind any areas of parallax around the joints) I ended up with a layer structure of (from farthest to nearest): Forelimb_far, Hindlimb_far, body_ventral, body, guides (these are bright green dots that I would use in the next stage to correctly place the registration points for animation).
4. Rigging
Once the artwork was complete I imported the Psd file into Adobe After Effects as a composition to retain layer sizes. Then comes the delicate process of rigging the model for animation. Duik Bassel is an open-source plug-in for After Effects which allows the user to rig 2d artwork for animation. The rigging process is time-consuming (especially if you're a beginner, like me!), but the effort saved in the animation process itself and the end results that can be achieved make the trade-off well worth it.
 |
| Fig 4. Rigging structures and bones in Duik Bassel |
In a nutshell, the process of rigging entails generating a custom armature made from rigid sections and placing the connection points between each segment over the corresponding registration points (Fig 4) using the guide layer that I mentioned earlier. Once the armature had been adjusted to fit the puppet, this was effectively 'pinned' to the artwork and then to a series of controllers for the head, hands, hips, etc. The complicated armature and guide layers could then be hidden to make animation easier, as all the motion could now be controlled using just a handful of controllers (Fig. 5).
 |
| Fig. 5: Creating Controllers to manipulate the puppet. |
5. Animation
This is the fun part, where all the magic happens. Since QDD follows a set template, I can always begin by establishing an idle cycle for our animal. This might include a walk cycle or shuffling of feet whilst the subject bobs its head, swishes its tail, bellows and blinks. Then, once that's done I can overlay the narration to see where incidental animations need to be added and sync the timing accordingly.
Incidental animations are directed entirely by the narrative content. Since these are 'turbo' projects I always look for the simplest, most succinct way to visualise every statement. In this case, where Altirhinus' sister-taxon Iguanodon is mentioned, I created fake Polaroid snaps using photos from a recent trip to Brussels and some previous artwork I created some years ago.
Camera movements on the subject are controlled by camera layers in After Effects, as this is a more reflexive way of focusing in on key areas of the subject; although I do use transform scaling (sorry!) to control the map movements, as incidental animations in projects of this length last a few brief seconds and don't really warrant a camera set-up (Fig: 6).
 |
| Fig. 6: The puppet is set up as a 3D layer so as to be visible to the camera. |
6. Audio
The QDD template includes a wide selection of stock sound effects and a folder of musical tracks composed by Mike, so there's very little audio sourcing that needs to be done. The music was originally designed to compliment a selection of dinosaur bauplans (big, small, herbivore, carnivore, cursorial, graviportal, etc), so selecting the appropriate track is always a straightforward job.
A lot of the humour in these videos comes from the sound effects; those little dings, whizzes and pops that accentuate the action on-screen, so adding these in at the end feels like putting the icing on the cake! Mmmm...cake...
 |
| Fig. 7: Synching & mixing the audio tracks |
If sound effects are the icing, then mixing is placing the cherry on top right at the end and this generally where Mike's expertise are called for once again (Fig. 7). Once we've established the correct balance between the narration, music and incidental sound tracks, the episode is ready to go.
7. Exporting and publishing:
Finally the finished project can be exported via Adobe Media Encoder. I use an H.264 codec set to render at Maximum quality and depth with a Continuous bit-rate (i.e. CBR instead of VBR) of 40bps. I find this gives a crisp enough quality (for animation at least - for video footage I might be inclined to punch the bit-rate higher) without generating a cumbersome file size.
Often I'll need to export, view, modify and re-export a few times to iron out any mistakes (awkward movements, poorly-synched audio, etc), but once we're both happy with the result, the video is published on the QDD YouTube channel and shared with the world through social media channels.
Well, that pretty much covers the creative process that went into making this episode. I didn't want to dig too deep into the technical details of rigging with Duik Bassel in this blog post, but if you'd like to learn more about working with Duik, I found this tutorial extremely useful.
If you've enjoyed this 'behind the scenes' peek at QDD, please subscribe to the channel and we'll see you again soon for the next instalment.
And don't forget that you can request your favourite dinosaur (or any species you'd like to know more about!) for future videos by leaving a comment on the latest video or sending us a message!
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