Expert: Joseph Silver - 5/16/2011

Question
Hello.
I want to create a 5 - 10 minute animation film like Toy Story, Cars etc. (of course simple one :)) I have about one year to complete that but i don't know where to start. Can you help me ?
Thanks.

Answer
Hi Metin,

It sounds like you want to create a 5-10 minute 3d animated spot. Sounds fun!

I would first recommend sitting down with a pen and paper and writing your script. You may also want to write some character treatments for the main characters. Once the script is complete, I would sketch a storyboard based off of your script. The storyboard phase is a great opportunity to flesh out the shot list, angles, blocking, etc. - the key here is that you are conceptualizing your entire spot before committing to the lengthy process of character modeling and animation in 3D. This is the time when you can really focus on the soul of your spot. You'll save a lot of time later during production by giving these early stages some love and care.

Once you've completed all this, it's time to start modeling your characters in 3d, and animating them. I imagine you're taking a class in a 3d program such as Maya, so your instructor is probably very helpful in showing you to to model, rig,and animate all your characters. When you're finally done, slick editing and good sound design with bring your animation to life.

Good luck!

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