Have you ever wondered how Pixar creates their amazing movies? Animation is magical once is finished, but it takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work to get there. There are about 14 different steps that filmmakers have to go through to create 3D animated films and it can take years to finish them. It's not the same as 2D animated films where you draw everything (although 2D animation can take years to finish too)—you have to build everything from scratch in a 3D space in a computer animation program and that's just the beginning of it. There's tons of steps filmmakers have to go through before and after creating the 3D world.
Most animation studios use the same process for creating their films, but Pixar is a little bit different. They concentrate on their stories the most and that's what makes their movies so unique. Here is the whole process that Pixar filmmakers go through to create their movies.
14 Story And Character Development
This is the first step in developing the movie. The director comes up with an idea for the movie and works with the other filmmakers at Pixar to develop the rest of the story, including the characters. They work together to figure out every detail in the characters, so that the story fits their personality and challenges them. If you think about it, every story in a Pixar movie puts the character in uncomfortable situations that are specific to them (ex. a rat cooking in a kitchen), so they can grow and become who they were always supposed to be.
13 Writing The Script
Once the filmmakers have developed the characters and have an idea of what the story is about, the screenwriters and possibly the director, write the script. This is the core of every movie—a movie wouldn’t exist without a story to tell. Whether or not the director writes the script, they usually work with the screenwriters while they’re writing it and have some part in creating the story.
12 Storyboarding
Besides developing the characters and writing the script, this is the most important part of creating animated films, especially Pixar films. Pixar filmmakers will not move onto the next step in the animation process until the story is completely finished and that includes storyboarding the script. Storyboards are the visual version of the script, so a director can plan out the shots and see how the story would look in the movie. The story can change a few times at this stage, but that’s why Pixar movies are so inspiring and emotional. They perfect the story before they finish the rest of the movie.
11 Recording The Lines
While the storyboards are being completed, the actors record their lines and sound effects to make their characters seem more real. They usually look at the storyboards while they’re in the recording studio, so they can imagine themselves doing what their character does. But since the story changes so much at the beginning, the actors often have to record their lines multiple times and experiment with the story.
10 3D Modeling
Instead of drawing everything in 2D, filmmakers have to create models of everything for 3D animated movies, including the characters. “Modelling is the process of taking a shape and moulding it into a completed 3D mesh. The most typical means of creating a 3D model is to take a simple object, called a primitive, and extend or ‘grow’ it into a shape that can be refined and detailed,” according to Media Freaks. Modellers take simple shapes and mold them into the characters and objects you see in animated movies. The worlds and characters in Pixar movies wouldn’t exist without modellers.
9 Texturing
After a model is completed, the 3D texture artists give it color and make it look more realistic. “When a 3D model is created, 2D images can be overlaid on it to add colours, designs, and textures. This is called mapping, and often the entirety of a model’s colour comes from this,” according to Media Freaks. Texture artists are the ones who make the characters look the way they do in the movies along with giving the props color so they look real.
8 Rigging
Before the animators can start animating the characters, they need to have controls so the animators can move them like puppets and riggers work with the animators to create the proper controls. According to Media Freaks, “Rigging is the process to set up a controllable skeleton for the character that is intended for animation. Depending on the subject matter, every rig is unique and so is the corresponding set of controls.”
7 Layout
This is the step in between rigging and animating. Layout artists set up the camera shots and give animators a general idea of what the shot (a part of a scene) should look like. They animate the characters just a little bit to show the animators where they are placed in a shot.
6 Animating
This is when the characters finally come to life and become the Pixar characters we all love. Animators use the shots the layout artists provide for them and the storyboards of the shots to animate the characters. Depending on what the director wants in the shot, the animations can range from lip syncs to body mechanics among other things.
5 VFX
Visual effects (VFX) makes the scenes even more believable after the animation is finished. According to MasterClass, visual effects are “the creation or manipulation of any on-screen imagery that does not physically exist in real life.” VFX is a little bit different for animated films than live-action ones. In animation, the VFX is usually used to make objects and characters more realistic, such as weather, water, hair, fur, and other things.
4 Lighting
Lighting artists set the mood with 3D lights just like filmmakers do with real lights for live-action films. Not only do 3D lights set the mood in a shot, you wouldn’t be able to see anything without them. “In 3D, lights don’t actually exist as they do in the real world. Lights in 3D are objects that are designed to simulate how lighting works in real life, but in order to obtain the results you’re after, you have to apply a number of settings, not only to the lights, but to the materials,” according to Media Freaks. With the proper lighting, 3D animations can look completely realistic.
3 Rendering
Rendering is the last step in the 3D production pipeline, but there are still other steps to do in post-production before the entire movie is finished and can be released. It is pretty much exporting the final shot after the lighting and everything else is completed. It’s what you see in the movie, but without the music and sound effects.
2 Music And Sound Effects
While the filmmakers are finishing the renderings of the final shots, the music and sound effects are recorded. A composer creates the music and a foley creates the sound effects for the movie. According to Media Freaks, “A foley artist ‘recreates’ sound effects for film, television and radio productions. Using many different kinds of shoes and lots of props—car fenders, plates, glasses, chairs, and just about anything I find at the side of the road—the Foley Artist can replace original sound completely or augment existing sounds to create a richer track.”
1 Editing The Movie Into The Final Cut
This is the last step before the movie can officially be released. The editors work with the director to turn all of the shots into their vision of the movie. They combine the shots with the vocal tracks, music, and sound effects to make the final version of the movie. After the editors are finished, the director approves it and then we get to watch another amazing Pixar movie.