Populist Previz

Nov 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By S. D. Katz

Web-Expanded

The Tools

Digital film design falls into two basic categories: 2D electronic storyboards, or animatics, and 3D animated sequences. Frequently, both techniques are used together. Today, when most people speak about computer previsualization, they mean the 3D variety. While storyboards are still the starting point for sequence design, the 3D environment is the thing that gets directors excited. Frankly, a 3D animated sequence of a car chase or courtroom scene can predict with remarkable accuracy what will eventually appear on the screen. An added benefit of 3D DFD is that lens and camera information generated in virtual space is applicable to a real set or location.

Until recently there have been no dedicated 3D tools for digital film design. Artists have used Maya, Lightwave, Softimage, or 3ds Max because these are the most sophisticated products for 3D animation. They are also too complex for most filmmakers who only need basic 3D previsualization and don't want to spend a lot of time learning complex and expensive software.

The exception to this is Curious Labs' Poser, a crossover product that bridges professional and consumer markets. While it has animation capability, Poser is mainly a 3D environment for creating 2D images of characters. Over the past three years Poser has really come into its own by constantly improving figure models and features. While it's really aimed at hobbyists and digital illustrators creating single images, Poser has carved out a niche with previz professionals. Poser's ease of use has spawned a cult following that gathers at commercial/user sites like renderosity.com (for more links, see p.42). This is where Poser artists share and sell customized characters, props, costumes, sets, texture maps, and tutorials. The database of offerings includes upwards of several thousand downloads. This universal database works because Poser uses a well-defined modeling and hierarchical structure for models and accessories. As it turns, out one size really does fit all in Poser.

Poser's animation and lighting tools are limited, and you are better off bringing your characters into Lightwave, Cinema 4D, 3ds Max, or Maya to add backgrounds and sophisticated rendering. For one thing, you will immediately have OpenGL hardware support and far better lighting tools. Importing Poser files into Max or Maya used to be a compromised affair, but now Reiss Studio has provided an excellent translation tool, BodyStudio 2.0. There is a Maya and 3ds Max version for both version 4.0 and 5.0 of Poser.

BodyStudio uses most of Poser's most important data, including animation, dynamic cloth, and shader translation. BodyStudio establishes an efficient workflow by maintaining links to your Poser source files. This is useful in two ways: First, you can make changes in Max to a Poser scene, return to Poser to perform additional work, and the Max file will update to reflect the changes. The second advantage to the BodyStudio link is that only updates from Poser are imported into Max or Maya. In other words, you don't have to send across an entire scene every time you make a small change in the root Poser scene.

For the few filmmakers with heavy CG chops, a Poser/3ds Max, Lightwave, or Maya workflow is the optimal DFD environment when teamed with Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro for editing. Poser also works well with landscape generation programs such as Vue d'Esprit and World Builder. Landscape software is another powerful solution for digital film design. (See “Build Your Own,” April 2003). While the multi-product approach provides the most powerful previz workflow, it turns the design process into a second career for most directors. Fortunately, two software developers have recognized an untapped market for dedicated 3D previz tools.

In the past few months, two new products have appeared that create a new sub-genre of software for directors that some are calling “shotware.” Innoventive Software's FrameForge 3D Studio and Zebra Development's Storyboard Lite are 3D applications optimized for directors. While the first versions of both programs only generate still frames, the plan is to add animation in future versions.

Here's how they work:

Storyboard Lite

Storyboard Lite 1.0 is an all-in-one package that brings the entire previz process into a unified workflow. You can import a script from standard formatting software such as Final Draft and Movie Magic, and Storyboard Lite automatically sets up the blank 3D scenes properly named according to the slug lines in the script. You can even view your entire script in the Script Viewer as you work.

Storyboard Lite is an all-in-one previz package that is compatible with script software, such as Final Draft and Movie Magic.

Storyboard Lite has three main windows: Main Editor, Character Editor and Board Editor. The Main Editor is where most of the design work is done. There are three panels, or boards, across the top of the window, showing previous, current, and next boards in a sequence. The current window is essentially the camera view of the scene. There are also two other orthographics views below this, and these change depending on the task. At the very top of the interface are three buttons to select the Prop, Set, or Picture Browser. If you were to select Props the browser replaces the left hand Orthographic view. The Props Browser is a tabbed window with library categories. Major categories appear across the top of the view — Building, Household, etc. The subcategories appear along the side. Household, for instance, would contain subcategories such as Bedroom, Chairs, and Kitchenware. The props, sets, and characters in Storyboard Lite are impressively detailed considering this is a previz-only product. The program comes with 350 props, sets, and characters, which is the minimum you need to get started.

When you select an object, it appears in the remaining orthographic view. Drag the icon of any library item into the current board, and it appears in the scene. Library item properties are shown on the right side of the screen. These are contextual. For example a desk lamp emits light. The Properties window allows you to change the brightness and color of the light as well as to control the position and rotation of an object numerically. All objects including cameras can be accessed from the Properties window.

The character button at the top of the screen brings up a Character Editor that completely replaces the Main Edit window. Here you can select one of several characters, set the basic facial type, and costume the character. You can name and save any of the custom characters to create the cast of your movie. The characters are quite realistic, although the character variation and costume options are limited. Fortunately, future libraries will be available, and Zebra development provides custom model services.

Positioning characters requires direct manipulation with the mouse rather than Poser-style parameter sliders. This makes posing a bit awkward and certainly not as precise.

Storyboard Lite has basic lighting instruments: Ambient, Directional, Point, and Spot. None of these, however, cast shadows. The camera controls are a combination of sliders and key controls. You can zoom, orbit an object (free or axis constrained), and translate (dolly) left and right. This may take some getting used to since it is not a standard navigational interface.

There are several smart features that are big timesavers, such as the Lister, where all objects used in your project are shown. The Lister lets you alter the instance of an object, for example, a street lamp, and have it make changes to every street lamp in a scene rather than individually. Similarly, there is a replace function for any object so that changing a fat character for a thin one replaces that character in every board; a huge help if the character appears in 30 or 40 boards.

In the Board Editor you can change the order of the boards, add, delete, and rename boards or add notes in a simple list. This is a bit like editing except that there is no graphic representation of the shots. You can set the duration of a shot here as well, because Storyboard Lite has a slide show function. Audio support, however, will only be available in the pro version of the product, Animatic Pro, due in early 2004.

Storyboard Lite shows the promise of any 1.0 product with a few rough edges. While the product comes with 350 props, characters, and sets, it is unlikely that you will be able to find a match for every scene in your movie. At the moment there is no way to import objects from other programs or modeling databases, but there are plans to change this in future versions. There is no wireframe preview and performance slows down on complex scenes. These points aside, Zebra development has laid down the groundwork for a powerful previz tool.

FrameForge 3D Studio

FrameForge 3D Studio debuted in 2003 at the same time as Storyboard Lite and is a very similar product intended for directors with basic computer skills. FrameForge is based on the 3D clip art approach, which lets you quickly build scenes using objects included in the 350-piece prop library, and then position a camera for each shot. Saved shots can be placed into a slide show or printed out with slug lines and comments. You begin by importing a formatted script (Final Draft, Movie Magic, or MS Word) directly into FrameForge, which automatically generates a blank set or shot for each slug line. You can also associate script description with your FrameForge shots to create an illustrated script. Now you are ready to begin creating shots.

FrameForge’s Shot Manager feature allows you to add, delete, or change the order of your shots.

The main workspace in FrameForge is called the Control Room. Here you will find two main windows: the blueprint, or aerial orthographic view, and the perspective, or camera view. Props, characters, and sets are stored in a scrolling menu on the right side of the workspace. Select a category such as Vehicles, and a palette with various cars and trucks appears. Drag a car to the Blueprint view, and it immediately appears in the Blueprint and Camera views. The two views toggle so that only one view appears in a fully centered view on the screen at a time.

You pull in the characters, cycloramas, and props to create your shot, and they automatically snap to the floor. You can reposition any prop with move, rotation, and scale controls located on the left side of the frame. Characters can be posed in the Camera view or in the Green Room. The designers for the dials and interface for this part of the program should have looked more closely at Poser, which is a far more refined posing environment. Posing is a bit awkward, but better than in Storyboard Lite. In addition, FrameForge is unable to take advantage of the massive Poser database with the current character library. The first DFD production that figures out how to pullin Poser assets will hit a home run.

Characters are also given special behaviors so that when a character is dragged to a chair it knows to sit down. Even with this feature, you will certainly have lots of posing to do in the Green Room to create natural “performances” from your digital cast. The characters, by the way, are quite simple, and not as detailed as those in Poser or Storyboard Lite. Still, they get the idea across. Changes made to characters can be saved and added to the library.

Sets can be made from scalable walls that snap together. Doorways and windows in the walls can be moved and resized quickly and easily, however, building an entire room with furniture is more than a few minutes work. Fortunately, there are several pre-built sets such as bedrooms, street intersections, and hills and cliffs, etc. In the current version there is no way to import models from other programs or model databases. FrameForge will be adding more models as free updates, but they will also offer collections of specific locations for sale.

The Shot Manager feature allows you to add, delete, or change the order of your shots. You can add arrows or framing boxes and turn the whole thing into a slide show. Each frame can be given a duration in frames and seconds, but the only transitions between shots are cuts. Like Storyboard Lite there is no audio support. A slide show, however, can be exported as a movie and imported into any NLE where you can add music, sound effects, or dialog.

FrameForge is easy to use and somewhat more intuitive than Storyboard Lite. This is particularly true of the posing controls. The program's interactivity is fairly fast even with complex scenes, however, the renderer does not support shadows, the major rendering effect required to create depth. The camera information, such as focal length, is misleading because the program does not actually calculate changes in film format. Yes, you can change the aspect ratio, but the focal length will not match up with real world cameras. However, FrameForge does properly calculate field of view. Directors will find its an indispensable tool when the library of props and characters is efficient for their needs. However, when searching for models is an issue, directors will ask themselves if 3D previz is the best use of their time. But the die is cast, FrameForge and other DFD digital applications get better every year.

The Future

Having taught and promoted the idea of previsualization — whoops, digital film design — for more than a decade, it might surprise some people that I end on a guardedly optimistic note. While the current crop of storyboarding software provides a wide selection of tools to choose from, there is a great deal of similarity between products. One major truth emerges: All the 2D and 3D solutions featured in this article rely a great deal on available clip art, which means that directors will find that they are spending more time looking for the right background and character than actually composing shots.

Characters can be posed in the Green Room in FrameForge 3D Studio.

The claims that the computer will easily solve a director's shot flow problems are a major overstatement. What the computer does provide is a powerful environment to replicate the experience of setting up the camera on a location. But creating a storyboard in 3D or 2D software is still a massive undertaking.

Because I believe that 3D design tools are the future of previsualization, I strongly recommend that direcors spend time looking into the various software solutions. The new shotware applications, FrameForge and Storyboard Lite, have some kinks to work out but are part of an inevitable trend to return the design process to directors with a strong visual sense. Digital film design is destined to become as intergral a part of a filmmaker's process as screenwriting. This may eventually lead to a new type of script that looks more like a graphic novel, using images created in a 3D environment. But don't hold your breath; the economic requirements of the motion picture industry will be slow to embrace change. As in the past, the desktoppers will be the first to innovate. Here come the DFDAs (Digital Film Design Auteurs).

Sidebar

POSER SITES

Curious Labs is the developer of Poser with links to other Poser related sites. curiouslabs.com
Renderosity is the largest Poser community site and marketplace. Featured are thousands of free downloads as well as products for sale by hobbyists. If you plan to do previz, bookmark this site. renderosity.com
Daz is the Poser-only offspring of Zygote Modeling. Daz creates the best third-party character models available for Poser. daz3d.com
Runtime DNA is a competitor to Renderosity, and while much smaller, has several excellent artists selling wares exclusive to DNA. host1.bondware.com/~syydr/
Reiss Studio is the home of BodyStudio. Visit this site if you want to use Poser with Maya or 3ds Max. There are also tutorial tapes for Poser and BodyStudio. reiss-studio.com

Sidebar

Model and Texture Databases

Meshes available online used to be a mess. Lacking texture maps, often poorly made or too low resolution, finding a pre-made model frequently ended in frustration. In the old days, Viewpoint was the place to go, but its models were not the answer since they were usually unarticulated meshes from disparate sources and not optimized for production.

Today there are several excellent sources for consistently designed models and texture maps in all the popular formats. Here is a short list of the best providers of high quality pre-made assets for 3D previz artists and directors:

Dosch Design

Based in Germany, Dosch Design has one of the largest selections of models available. They provide the usual categories of architectural details, buildings, engineered structures (oil rigs, bridges, dams), furniture, and landscapes, but also humans, fantasy characters, trees, and garden elements. The models are all highly detailed but do not come with textures. In fact, many of these models have more detail than necessary for movie visualization, but the user always has the option of using simpler models if scenes becme too cumbersome to manipulate.

Dosch homes and buildings tend toward European designs and are generally contemporary, so if you are looking for 1950s period storefronts, you will not find them here.

Overall, this is an excellent place to begin looking for props and architecture for your scenes.

Marlin Studios

www.marlinstudios.com

I highly recommend the texture collections from Marlin Studios. These are the best all-around texture maps I've seen. What makes Marlin Studios products stand out is that they have been created by artists who actually create 3D scenes.

Marlin offers a huge selection of textures and a good selection of models. Textures include the usual metal, wood, stone, fabric, and architectural subjects, as well as storefronts and architectural details for Asian and European locations. Most of the CD collections contain 350 to 400 images generally in the 1200- to 1600-pixel range. Marlin has also put together collections of alpha trees and people to be used on clear polygons and inserted into a scene: A good way to add detail without creating massive files.

Marlin does not specialize in models, but what they offer is first-rate, including city buildings, suburban houses, and home and office furniture.

Geo-Metricks

geo-metricks.com

This is an excellent series of 3D clip art collections with realtime models. Realtime means low poly, but the lack of detail won't be missed for previz work, and you'll appreciate the ability to manipulate scenes with lots of elements. There is a wide selection of categories including skyscrapers, bedroom interiors, living room interiors, 3D plants and trees, modern houses, modern urban cars, and several other collections. Many of the models are texture mapped and available in .3ds and .w3d.

TurboSquid

Turbosquid.com

The one-stop shop for models, texture maps, and other 3D assets. This site sells both commercial products, such as collections of cars and architecture, as well as the work of individual artists. Prices vary considerably, but there is a great deal of very good work here that can save a director or previz artist days or even weeks of work.

Xfrog

www.xfrog.com

This is the leading tree creation program. Greenworks Organic Software's Xfrog also has model collections of over 900 plants and trees. If you own Xfrog software (and not just the plant libraries) you can dial the polygonal count for plants up or down.

Tree Pro

www.onyxtree.com

The other great plant creation program. Relatively easy to use and more intuitive then Xfrog, this is a great program for creating hundreds of botanical models.

Sidebar

2D Storyboarding Software

While the focus of this article is primarily 3D software, 2D previsualization software has been around much longer and may be the only tool a director is willing to spend time learning. Here is a quick description of the major 2D previz tools:

There are two types of 2D storyboard software: simplified editing and compositing tools for artists that import their own boards for sequencing and storyboard tools that offer libraries of art for directors who do not draw.

Storyboard Quick and Storyboard Artist

Storyboard Quick and Storyboard Artist from PowerProduction software for non-drawing directors is probably the best known storyboard tool on the market. Quick is the light version of Storyboard Artist, and both products provide libraries of 2D art, including figures and location backgrounds that are easily manipulated. Characters are available in multiple positions — walking, running, sitting, lying down — (Storyboard Artist provides a greater range of poses) and appear in a palette showing the available positions. Select a character from the palette and drop it into the composition window. By clicking the arrow buttons at the top of the workspace, you can cycle through the different positions. You can move and scale the character within the frame and add layers of other objects and backgrounds. Layer positions can also be cycled, so it's easy to move a car or person behind a tree as long as they are separate objects. Naturally, you can import your own figure drawings or photographs including location pictures taken with your digital camera. Storyboard Quick and Artist both have simple drawing tools so you can draw directly on a frame.

You can make a slide show without sound in Storyboard Quick or a fully edited version with sound in Storyboard Artist that can be exported as a Quicktime movie. There are several presentation templates and text options for printing your boards, and script material can be imported from popular script formatting software such as Final Draft.

The bottom line is that the Storyboard system works well for non-artists much of the time, but you will frequently feel you are missing just the right character pose you need. Similarly, the expressive nature of a good storyboard artists' facial characterization is missing. Extreme camera angles are not automatically available in the database. Still, the ability to create basic shot flow with motion and sound is made about as accessible as is realistically possible in Storyboard Quick and Storyboard Artist. I recommend getting the Storyboard Artist Studio version at the outset because it will save you time in the long run.

▪ Storyboad Quick
Storyboard Artist Studio
Macintosh 9.0, OS X, and Windows
www.powerproduction.com/home.html

BoardMaster

This is a Windows-only product that has its roots in animation timing and storyboarding. You can, however, easily use the software for live-action sequence building. Like Storyboard Artist, BoardMaster works as both a sequencing environment for existing artwork or for clip art. Boardmaster provides libraries of characters and backgrounds, but unlike Storyboard Artist the database is primarily photographs created expressly for storyboarding. Characters and backgrounds are available in numerous angles and poses. There'a whopping 500MB of clip art that comes with the software, but even then you will probably find that you will have to resort to creating your own photos or art.

Boardmaster has basic editing and compositing tools so you can zoom, pan, tilt, and generally manipulate images over time. Paint tools allow you to add notes, arrows, or design modifications to images, and there are dozens of Photoshop-style filters that can be applied to an image. Similarly, there are hundreds of transitions available in editing mode giving you a complete workflow for sequencing scenes. Motion sequences are exported as AVI files.

▪ BoardMaster Software
www.boardmastersoftware.com

ShotMaster

ShotMaster is software developed by the Badham Company. Yes, John Badham, the director of Saturday Night Fever. His company sells ShotMaster online, and the program is a Mac and Windows storyboarding tool with pre-made illustration. ShotMaster is quite similar to Storyboard Artist, except that it does not offer the ability to create edited motion sequences or slide shows. It's strictly a still-image tool.

There are rudimentary drawing and text tools for modifiying drawings or adding notes. ShotMaster has a logical organizational workflow and shows the input of a working director. However I missed an editable storyboard view showing multiple panels simultaneously where the order of shots can be altered. ShotMaster provides the next best thing, which is the Juggler; essentially, an editable drag-and-drop shot list.

ShotMaster lets you create storyboards from the existing database of characters, props, and backgrounds or from scanned photos or downloads from you digital camera. Like Storyboard Artist, there are never enough images in the databank to fit everyone's movie, so be prepared to compromise or spend time searching for art.

▪ ShotMaster
Badham Company
www.badhamcompany.com/default.asp

Free Storyboarding Software

Yes, free. Shareware software is one of the remaining delights of the Internet on the flip side opposite spam and banner ads. Usually you are made to feel guilty if you don't send the developer anywhere from $10 to $50 if you like the software, but fair is fair. Technically, it's free.

The following applications seem to be generalized storyboarding tools for any kind of sequencing design, rather than specific director tools, but you may find it's all you need for your short subject.

▪ Atomic Learning Storyboard Pro
OS X
www.atomiclearning.com/freestoryboard.shtml

▪ Storyboard Tools
Windows
www.writingsource.com

▪ 3D Storyboarding Software
Storyboard Lite (Storyboard Pro, Animatic Pro)
www.zebradevelopment.com

FrameForge
877 322 7733 (Toll free)
858 866 3399 (International)
sales@FrameForge3D.com
FrameForge3D.com

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Related links

The Tools

Storyboard Lite

FrameForge 3D Studio

The Future

Sidebar

POSER SITES

Sidebar

Model and Texture Databases

Dosch Design

Marlin Studios

Geo-Metricks

TurboSquid

Xfrog

Tree Pro

Sidebar

2D Storyboarding Software

Storyboard Quick and Storyboard Artist

BoardMaster

ShotMaster

Free Storyboarding Software