Klaus Trailer- 2d Animation Technique??
polycounter lvl 10
I am sure a lot of animators have seen this trailer:
I am really curious about the shading style. I am wondering for one to achieve this look, u would require ToonBoom harmony for the shading and lighting technique? I understand the studio is working with ToonBoom devs for this project. I am wondering if this can be achieved by painting the frames using Photoshop but I think this would be time consuming.
This is most certainly a game changer .Has anybody been able to decode the technique so far?
I am really curious about the shading style. I am wondering for one to achieve this look, u would require ToonBoom harmony for the shading and lighting technique? I understand the studio is working with ToonBoom devs for this project. I am wondering if this can be achieved by painting the frames using Photoshop but I think this would be time consuming.
This is most certainly a game changer .Has anybody been able to decode the technique so far?
Replies
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/interviews/sergio-pablos-talks-about-his-stunning-hand-drawn-project-klaus-exclusive-113621.html
has glimpses of how they did it.
Does anyone know of any other 2d animation that looks like a painting or concept art style like or even better than Klaus? I am currently studying this style and potential techniques used.
http://sykosan.deviantart.com/gallery/
Seems to be even better than the guys making the Klaus animation. His style looks even more detailed and cgi and its all 2d animation. From what I gather he uses photoshop and AE, I am suspecting morphing tools in After Effects?
And here is the tumblr URL.
Really cool stuff.
I am really stunned and very curious about the coloring/shading process. Any one has any possible clues on how they are doing this? Appears there is a texturing pass.
Seems it's a normal map that enables relighting the characters, so it's all about painting animated normal maps for each frame. For the texturing, I am suspecting animated motion vector maps? I will have to look into the generating motion or vector maps from the shading/normal map of an image/animated image sequence.
Found this guy's page:
http://3dcg.net/#software
Unfortunately, it appears some of the other cool plugins for after effectsbare no longer available for download. Normality is still available. Are there other plugins for this?
As for the main character? I'm probably sure that it's all hand painted, frame by frame, using passes and layers of color.
You can see it @ 5:58
From what I can tell, they draw and animate all the characters traditionally, they painted the base (unlit layer) digitally, and the final lighting was handled by software(?).
Nuke has a relighting node like AE which has the normality plugin. Toonboom has a volume shading feature which creates softer normal shading so all u need to do is animate the volume shading per frame and not bother about shadows or highlights. Just set up lights. I have to say Toonboom is leading the way in trying to make 2d animation workflow look better, easier and faster.
@Blond The painted look on the character is way too smooth to be handpainted. Handpainting every frame would take forever and would look bubbly. Hopefully, they will be willing to share more of their process. I am curious how they generate their motion vectors to map their textures on to the drawings. I can just imagine a mecha animated movie with this style. It would look drop dead gorgeous.
Seems like a proxy mesh or cage that is generated per frame and textured on top. It's kinda like 3d but removes the need to make a 3d model to generate the normal map and textures from.
Anybody with programming or software skills to throw more light on the process?
On a semi-related note, gotta love the huge attention to detail 2d animation brings. In each frame, literally every prop is animated in some way. Nothing feels quite static.
I remember during my postgrad, we did some compositing modules with nuke, after effects and 3dsmax. Found a video that gives a clearer approach to this for vfx purposes:
This is a brillant technique that can be used to add texture to a 2d image by tracking the camera and then adding a 3d mesh that can be used to relight and add texture to the 2d assets. So I think an animated proxy 3d mesh is used in post production to add textures and lighting. It's just like Paperman technique used by Disney but the difference is the 2d animation drives the post fx process rather than the 3d models.
But I remember an interview he did in the past:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/interviews/sergio-pablos-talks-about-his-stunning-hand-drawn-project-klaus-exclusive-113621.html
He mentions that there is ''no geometry is involved, that the end result depends greatly on the artistic ability of the creators, and that it mostly takes place during the later stages of production, which means that it does not affect the way in which traditional animators work.''
So I may be wrong.
This may sound funny but that quality of realism isn't something I think computers are capable of yet. Whenever you see realistic skin in a game or movie, it always looks like a plastic doll or a very matte like play dough.
But with Klaus, every frame is consistent in having that very realistic but stylized hand painted look.
However, I wouldn't be surprised if they're using some software to assist with that. I posted the Looney Tunes example above as one example of exploiting normal maps while remaining traditional.
Another example is Skullgirls, which also used pixel shaders for the lighting but every frame is drawn by hand.
This is the technique I think klaus is using. This saves time tremendously. It's the texturing pass I am wondering about and I think Toonboom has derived a technique for this. I understand the studio is woking with toonboom devs on this Klaus project.
I think Blond is on the right track except I believe they are meticulously refining the normal maps as well as touching up everything to get beyond the shortcomings.
As for the texturing pass, there is a software they used that tweens between textures or something like that.
Seems sort of what Klaus animators might be using only that a lot of parts are cut into layers, and the inner shadow effect is used for the lighting and shading. I don't still get the texturing pass though. They might be using something similar to After Effects like Nuke to move the lighting around like the inner shadow layer effect.
No one still gets how their technique works. Maybe they might share it when they complete the film?
Klaus might be doing something along these lines. Great work by the software developer.
SPA Studios posted a recent video. It basically confirms they are using 3D modeling for their environments (although this was evident in some earlier progression/test reels) .
thank you for that thread. Was exactly what i was thinking when i watched this teaser. Any new Infos? Are you really thinking it is a ToonBoom Tool? Or After Effects Plugin? Would be so nice to know.
I am working right now on my bachelor thesis (final assignment) about "Digital Workflow for traditional Animation for Smal Businesses". Any Tips for that?
They are currently working with the Toonboom devs on the project. If they release the film in 2019 I think, maybe they will be willing to share the process used. I am actually curious as the cell shaded look that is quite common now will give way for more diverse styles where paintings come alive and everything looks vibrant.
I wonder whether this might rival the way 3d animation is rendered now especially the ones with a cartoon aesthetics if Klaus becomes a very successful animated feature film.
@JordanN
@Monkeycel
Thread bump!
New trailer:
More footage and so now more frames unto which we can analyze even more their process.
Unfortuanetly, while some shots are gorgeous, others might feel a bit lackluster (perhaps it's just me?)
Being a Netflix Feature and not a hollywood high budget movie, you can feel how some corners have been cut in a few shots here and there: at 0:17 when he leans to the right, they obviously used Interpolated Puppet Animation for the movement...There`s a couple of other shots that have the same ''puppet'' feel but overall, I'm still happy over the whole thing.
It`s beautiful and I really enjoy the ''Every frame is an Illustration'' vibe coming form it...
I also wonder if it would have been easier from a production standpoint if they just used 3d for everything.
The texturing of the characters was made with a software named MOE and the lighting with another software named KLAS. These two softwares are proprietary Tools of my company, Les Films du Poisson Rouge.
Sorry, you were all wrong… but i'm happy to gave you the answer and very happy about your interest. Thank you very much.
Catherine ESTEVES
Wow! Thnak you for the info!
Alot of what you said has been confirmed in CB's latest article:
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/how-klaus-draws-on-centuries-old-artistic-principles-to-push-2d-animation-forward-182325.html
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ginFUIro_-B5HEqJegMLeYRwYO7NwWkN/view
A lot of the coloring/texturing was probably done with this method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnmQy0UMLtA