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Otherworld (http://www.s4c.co.uk/otherworld/) is based on the medieval epic Mabinogi. It tells the story of Lleu, Rhiannon and Dan, who plunge into the sea and pass through an underwater golden doorway that transports them to the mystical world of Mabinogi. The characters? experiences in Mabinogi allow them to return home with newfound perspective, slightly wiser than when they left.
Otherworld was commissioned by Channel Four Wales (S4C), with additional funding provided by British Screen Finance and the Arts Council of Wales National Lottery Fund. Completed in Fall 2002, the film was shown in cities all over Wales between November 2002 and January 2003.
Integrating Reality and Fantasy
Cartwn Cymru decided on a live-action opening and ending for Otherworld, with the bulk of the story that takes place in Mabinogi distinguished through full animation. To create a more fluid transition from one world to the next, Cartwn Cymru integrated photography, live action, and 3D computer graphics into the 2D animated world.
?The film combines drawn 2D animation with 3D computer graphics elements and live action sequences, giving the years-old tale a unique contemporary context,? says Tracey Paddison, production coordinator at Cartwn Cymru. The synthesis was accomplished through the use of Adobe Photoshop, Moving Picture Company?s (MPC) 3D visual effects, and Cambridge Animation Systems? Animo software.
Creating an Animated Fantasyland
The graphical elements required for each scene were created and manipulated independently, then integrated either in a Maya-based architecture or in Animo Director.
Generally, 3D was used for such things as water, flames, rain and mist, as well as elements too detailed to be done in traditional 2D, such as ships with flapping sails and circulating oars, or the ?wicker man,? whose body has a basket-weave texture. In those cases, Cartwn Cymru provided drawn designs to MPC, which created the 3D models and effects.
Cartwn Cymru created all the 2D animation in Animo?s ink-and-paint module. ?The ink-and-paint application gave us the power to create complex models with many palettes to utilize in Animo Director,? Paddison says.
The studio integrated 3D and 2D according to the action that was taking place in a particular scene.
?We had to determine what would come first -- the 3D or the 2D,? says Nic Howell, senior production coordinator on Otherworld. ?It became chicken and eggs, with a few shots that had 2D, 3D, photography and live action all mixed together. Some scenes were simple, while others were complicated and more difficult to achieve.?
In some cases, the 3D element was created, then locked off and used as a rotoscope for the 2D animation to match. While creating a scene in which the wicker man is stabbed in the arm, for example, animators had an easier time ensuring that the 2D sword struck in the right place by locking down the 3D character. To do that, the integration had to be done in Maya, with the 2D elements supplied from Animo.
In other scenes, such as when 3D fire or rain was incorporated, Cartwn Cymru did the opposite -- supplying 3D elements as a movie clip to Animo Director, and matching those 3D elements to a locked rough-key 2D animation.
?Animo enabled us to combine 2D, 3D and live action, using complex matting techniques, vectors and lighting special effects,? Paddison says. ?When you?ve literally got hundreds of elements that each carries filters, maintaining some kind of control is needed.?
In Director, all elements ultimately connect to the camera node via links that can be easily made, broken or changed.
?This makes for a very visual, intuitive, efficient way of working,? says Lee Jones, one of the Animo compositors for Otherworld. ?It removes the need for endless menus that lead to confusion.? The multiplane camera within Director helped along that process as well, allowing Cartwn Cymru to simulate the effect of movement in perspective.
Just as it did with computer animation, Cartwn Cymru integrated photographs and live action shots into the 2D or 3D environments based on how they fit into the scene.
?Photographic elements, which were often part of the background, were typically added in the 2D environment,? Howell says. ?We also used a lot of live-action frames, slowed down or manipulated in some way to give them an animated style.?
The combination of 2D and 3D, live action and still photography, made the journey of the characters from a real world into Otherworld?s Mabinogi more believable and visually exciting to viewers.
?Long gone are the days of cel paint and traditional camera work,? Paddison says. ?Our experienced team of compositors needed to grab all the tricks and fixes to pull off various complex visuals.?
Jill A. Aitoro is a freelance writer specializing in computer graphics and other technology areas. She can be reached at jilla@cramco.com.
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