Question to experienced animators and short film creators

wilendar

Hello, I would like to know how's modern animations are created? They are composed, rendered partially (environment seperate, diferent channels seperate etc.), or they are rendered at once (beauty render) every frame? I'm asking because I when I'm render something high quality for example with Vray, it takes from couple minutes to couple hours rendertime for SINGLE frame ! So how to render an short film animation like 5-15 mins long?
Any step-by-step guide for dummies would be welcome, what to render and how to compse it...

or maybe in modern days I should look for some kind of high-end engine like Unreal Engine 4 to make Animations like this one made in blender. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHLg4hEVZ8"]This One[/ame]

Thanks in advance for all kind of tips how to properly make an animation without render every frame couple hours.

slipsius

Generally each camera cut will be its own scene/maya file. They`ll be rendered out, per camera cut, as they are finished with FX and such. So animate everything, then render. dont render each frame as you do it. that would be rediculous

Lamoot

It's not a direct answer to your question, but the Blender Institute (they made the short you linked in your post) is doing another open movie and they regularly post updates. I find it a good insight into how such a project is done, perhaps it'll be useful to you as well.
http://gooseberry.blender.org/

kanga

Yeah you should break everything up into scenes. I just finished a 7.5 minute animation with a buddy of mine and really rendering is the least of your problems. Everything else is such a crap load of work rendering is the least of it. We just rendered at night and let the stuff churn itself out when we slept. Depending on the render engine you are using go to those forums and try get advice on optimizing your files. A couple of hours sound awkward unless you have loads of hair and reflections.