the count of polygons, vertices and racing game, only

y the
nly e
M o d e li n g edges. And the artists have to fight
them to maintain a nice ‘flow’ and to
dashboard of a car
a was
given high-resolution
lution
t n
The concept art and sketches give artists ensure that a character’s movements imagery and the
e tracks
t c
a clear picture of what needs to be appear realistic in the stages that follow. and surrounding
g
created. Modeling converts this art into To create a behavioral and a true- woods would be
e
3D representations. Yiannis K, a producer to-life model, references for creases, of low quality
and art director at Trine Games, wrinkles and other intricate details are and seemed
mentioned that one of the techniques for considered. distorted,
doing this is polygon modeling. There
r are mainly two types of
re simply because
e
A polygon can be called a models:
mod
m od low-polygon and high- they were low-poly
poly
y
foundation on which 3D polygon. The former have a
p models and the
e car’s
c s
models are created. Usually lower count of polygons, dashboard was
sah
high-
igh-
rectangular in shape and pe faces and vertices. This poly one. With so
o much
uch
representing a flat surface r e e rsco , makes them more flat, so processing power
werr available
vai a e
Ca deler s
of a model, it is surrounded Mo n e r s . tto speak, and hence less today, developers
ers
s make
ake
a e
g
with a number of edges. This d e si accurate. But they can be
ac everything on high-
igh-
technique works on individual
n ind dua rendered
re
ren
endered
n
nder faster and hence
faste
fas poly models to make
parts of a model orr can ma
make do with games and animation
mation
piece by piece, and lesser
ss processing
less
les more realistic. High-poly models have
involves vertices power.
po
p o more polygons, vertices and edges, and
or points where If you also need serious processing power.
lines meet. As rrecollect the In the initial stages of animation,
the complexity older games,
o low-poly models are used and are
and accuracy only
o the primary later substituted with high-poly ones.
of the model’s object
ob used to Another dominant technique that Yiannis
appearance look
l
loo good. For mentioned was digital sculpting, but that
increases, so does instance,
ins
n in a again is in another league altogether.

Te x t u r in g
surroundings. References from nature depends largely on the texture being
and industrial themes are used here, used. Hence, similar to the low-polygon
which adds to the time-consuming and high-polygon theory, the higher the
Texturing gives a breath of life to the process of texturing. details in texturing the closer a model is
model, an artistic and colorful life at Character details such as a fur coat to reality.
that. This stage can make or break a or clothes, hair, eye color, skin texture,
model or character. Since a modeler wrinkles, bruises and such are included
already has a crystal clear image of the in this process. Usually artists work
model and knows exactly what he wants with tools such as Adobe Photoshop
out of it, texturing too is usually done
n for keeping the character lifelike.
by him. This prevents the risk of Environmental details involve
mentally detaching the model surfaces
surfa
u and textures of
from its texture and gives it a Ca i
ina
inanimate objects such
unified feel. Textu reerscop as
a wood, stone, water
re s e
Little imperfections and for sk pecialists droplets and waves,
in, fu
glitches are fixed to make sur r, trees, leaves, smoke
envir faces,
the illusion more detailed onme and dust. To obtain
nts.
and realistic, or, on the otherr good results use
hand, to make a nicely created
ted tools such as ZBrush
model look dull and boring—it w
which provide accuracy
depends what the game calls for. n attention
and a to detail.
If you thought that modeling is In texturing, the challenge
complex, be ready for surprises. is that the closer the subject
Texturing too can be as complex and comes to the camera, the more
intricate as you want it to be. This is the need for detail. A major part of
because it’s about art and art is only quality and detail of a character
limited to the imagination. Texturing depends on the way it has
truly blends the character with its been modeled and also
 COVER STORY

R ig g in g is known as a chain, which helps to

add animation controls to the skeleton,
skinning, which almost completes the
rigging process. Of course, there are
T s sta
This stage is the bac
backend
end and
d the and act as the basis of the rig. When other tools such as skin modifiers used
beginning of animating a model, and this two or more chains are linked together for polishing.
is where a character truly comes to life. as a complex structure, it’s called a Animation done using computer
Here, picture the model as though it is hierarchy. The process of making this graphics goes back to hand-drawn
a puppet which needs defined points hierarchy move or animating it is known images characters. Through this medium,
where the strings will be attached. First, as kinematics. a character’s movements, expressions
each part of the model is divided into Once the skeleton is ready and and the eight basic emotions that they
parts, depending on the complexity its movements are controllable, it is teach in the field of psychology, are
of the required animation. Each part fused into the model or the ‘mesh’. The pronounced and brought to life. Again,
is marked in places which respond process of putting the skeleton and there are many more if combinations are
to the rigging artist’s controls. Parts the mesh or model together is called taken into consideration.
once marked, are put back together Animation is obviously not restricted
to complete the skeleton or ‘rig’. With
h to live characters and is a mandate for
these points in place, the rigging artist
st ‘inanimate’ objects (like a moving tree)
seamlessly makes the model move in
n too. Incorporating technical elements
the intended way. The rig comprises such as where the weapons are
of bones, other details and certain o appear, or the outburst of
to
presets or parameters. a fire and such also need
Technically speaking, this C ar e animation.
a
Rigg erscop
e e
specrs, Maya
process involves linking or creating What we’ve discussed
a relationship between two objects, ialis here, is only a fraction of
ts.
which allow controlling each of them
m what goes into animating
individually. Another thing to note are
e the a model for a movie or a
‘bones’ created, which are pre-linked
d to
o game. But it will surely give
g
each other (somewhat like a DNA strand
rand
n you
u a good idea of how it all starts
in a cell). This linear series of objects
s and progresses.

Li g h ti n g
Lighting in 3D modeling is an excellent
opportunity and a mandate when it
comes to realism in a game or movie.
In addition to texturing and rigging,
lighting significantly adds realism
to a character and its surroundings.
However in 3D modeling, lighting by
itself is an illusion. It determines and
extracts the true potential of the work
which is already done on a model. On
the other hand, it may even destroy
all of it, if not applied skillfully.
The process has two main aspects
to it: character lighting and background
lighting, where both need to complement
each other. Both have their own
stages or passes such as
foreground pass, props pass
s pe
and such. Ambient occlusion
Ca kgrou
is an important integral part
in 3D lighting. For instance,
in photography, there are
ways to bounce light off
one object to make it fall on
another to increase illumination.
Trine Entertainment Ltd.
3D applications lack this realism, and color of the car and its windows and of
therefore bounce-lights along with the windshield. In technical terms, this is
ambient occlusion take care of it. the decaying of light, in which the light
3D modeling is very different in live decreases as the object or its surface
action movies that are shot with video moves away from the source.
cameras, especially when it comes to Here the light source is not shown,
lighting. In the 3D world the effects of otherwise there are illusions where
lighting are emulated to match that of the light affects its source and its
real-world scenarios. The model and immediate surrounding. For instance,
its surroundings both need to change if it’s a fluorescent tube, it has to have
according to the light thrown at them, a cool haloing effect around it and for
just as they would in reality. a tungsten bulb, the halo changes to
Take a look at this picture. Here the yellow. When showing a softer light, even
light source is located atop the right the outline of the bulb would be seen
corner of the car. Notice the intensity and the halo would be dimmer. While
of light moving away from the source this is just a summary of what goes into
and hence the gradient or the loss of animation, there’s much more for your to
trast ffrom the back to the front.
contrast explore, so stay with us, the ride is about
Loo
Lo
oo at the glare on the surface
Look to get a little bumpier.
of tthe tr
o trunk a
and
d how
o ddark
k
t
the bonnet
bon t is, the
e
r e e rsco d
n
r
Bac haracte
n d c g
a in
light lists.
cia
sp e
Image courtesy:

36 02/2009 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

 A n im a ti o n
In traditional (2D) animation, images
were drawn by hand on transparent
sheets called ‘cels’. The same image was
drawn on a series of cels with only slight
differences between drawings, to show
the movement of objects. The cels were
then filmed in sequence. An illusion of
movement was created when playing
back the film at 24 fps. This is how you
can create a 2D animation film.
There are many processes in the
animation pipeline. These processes are
also applicable to game development.
We have already explained processes
like character building (also called asset
building), modeling, rigging, texturing and
lighting. After the asset building stage
the remaining production processes
can occur simultaneously. For instance,
lighting and sound mixing can happen
in parallel. Here are some important
processes in the animation pipeline.
Background building: In this stage,
you create the props and the background
set on which you will impose the
characters later. It could be a street
or even an indoor scene. The concept
sketches are first created. Once they are
approved, you refine the drawing and
create a low-resolution version. Add
more details to this sketch to make it
a hi-res one. Then you fill the objects
with shading to create a grey scale
image. A color version is produced and
textures are added. Finally, you add
in the background lighting. Once the
background is created, it’s time to overlay
the characters.
The actual animation of characters
involves a series of sub-processes.
OPPORTUNITIES
The animation pipeline has several
processes and there are specialists
for each process. You could choose
to specialize in rigging, rendering,
lighting, story writing, texturing or in
any other area. Even within a process,
there are smaller specialization areas.
For example, within texturing you
can choose to be a fur specialist or a
skin specialist. Within lighting, there’s
background lighting and character
lighting. It would be a good idea to
understand all the processes within
the animation pipeline. During your
training, get involved in as many
processes and departments as you
can. You will then be in a position to
decide where you fit in.
Animatics: We’ve explained that
various stages in animation production
occur simultaneously. At some point
during the production, you want to
create a rough mock-up, to see if
everything fits together. How will the
scene look with motion and timing?
How will the characters look against the
backgrounds? A series of rough drawings
are put together in sequence and a dialog
and soundtrack is added. This sub-
process is called Animatics. The director
can call for changes after viewing this
mock-up. Once he is satisfied, the teams
can progress further, working together.
Facial animation: If your film has
characters of humans or animals then
you’ll want to show emotions. Facial
expressions convey a lot of emotion.
So you have to give your characters
virtual facial muscles. In fact, you need
to rig the face and define rules about
what shapes different areas of the face
will take to show emotions like anger,
laughter, disappointment and so on.
Layout: Here you define the placement
of characters against the backgrounds. If
there are multiple characters in the shot,
you show the position of a character in
relation to the other characters in that
frame. Camera angles are decided, and
backgrounds may have to be refined.
Acting: In this stage human actors
play out the scene. They may use props
like an umbrella or a ball. The idea is to
understand the movement of the body
limbs and changing positions in relation
to the other characters in the scene.
Blocking: Once the movements of the
characters in the scene are understood,
it’s time to begin blocking. In this
animation technique the key poses of
the characters are created (not the
complete movement). The objective is
to establish the timing and placement of
the characters and props in a scene.
Character Animation: The complete
movements of all the characters are
now defined. Lighting effects, detailed
backgrounds and texturing may be
excluded for now, so that the file size
is not too large. These are added after
finalizing the animation.
Compositing: In this stage, all the
layers are put together. The resulting
image has the complete look of the
whole shot. The director may choose
to make revisions. Then the render
specialist does the rendering. Depending
on the complexity, it takes between 1 to
4,000 CPUs to render a film.
Here's how complex it can get. Film
has 24 frames per second. Each of those
24 frames has multiple images of the
characters. There are various lighting
passes for the characters: background
pass, foreground pass, shadow lighting,
bulb lighting and fur lighting. The
compositor puts all this together and
makes one image and he does this 24
times to one second. Typically, there are
50 passes per frame for 24 frames, for
one second of animation!
 COVER STORY

G a m in g
During the game development stages,
most of the game companies use two
teams: the Graphics or the Art team
and the Technical team. The graphics
team takes care of the entire look of the
games, with respect to the characters,
environment, textures, lighting and so
on. The technical team is responsible for
developing the functionality of the game
and integrating the graphics, movements
and stages across different platforms.
While the graphics team refers to the
Game Design Document (GDD) for all the
information they need to create the art,
the technical team develops and follows
the Technical Design Document (TDD) in
parallel with the GDD. The TDD covers
all the information related to the game
under development such as memory
allocation, resource utilization, different
categories of devices in case of mobile
games, temporary storage, the platform
(PC, PSP, Xbox) on which the game is
going to work and so on. Depending on
the type of game, decisions are also
made regarding servers, downloading Creative Head, Zapak Games informs, are in place, the art team and technical
resources, planning the micro “The game engine is the code that works teams initiate the production stage
transactions and unlocking resources if as the basic DNA of the game. It is the where the art for the game is developed,
any in the game and so on. actionscript code or the C++ code that as we have seen earlier, and the coding
In the TDD, they also make a decision drives the game and everything else is for integrating the character, textures,
on the type of engine they are going to built around it”. maps and stages of the game into the
use. There are different types of engines The decision regarding the game engine begins. As we have mentioned
available for every type of game; an engine is very crucial as it also controls earlier, the coding will again be
example of this is a side scrolling engine the way the art (character, textures, developed depending on the type of
for g
games such as Mario. Tarun Durga,
g , maps
p etc)) is displayed in the game and engine and the platform of the game.
the t t n of the movement of the
h rrestriction For example, to make Flash games, they
cha
character the attributes of the racing
aracterr or th use action scripting or lingo scripting,
a p So the game engine
car, for examp
c example.
amp VC++ or C++ for PC games and J2ME or
lays
a d down
w the coding standards for the Java for mobile games. They also build
game
g m aand the
then they break it down into code so as to detect the platform and
a a, Symbian,
Java, y bian C++ and other platforms,
Symbian load the required resources accordingly.
on which
o whic
c the
he
eggame will run. Most of the For example, there are different mobile
gami
gaming companies
c
compa
ompa develop their own phones with different screen and
eng
engines
gines a
and tweak it according to the
nd tw memory sizes. So to tackle this, they
req ent of the game. And what
requirement
quireme create different resource banks and the
about the decision about the choice of
e deci resource files which match that particular
gine? Amol from EA games said,
game eng
engine? phone and its resolution is pulled into
“Th
“There always be a tussle between
here will alw
the
he game
eddesigner’s aspirations and what
desig
is technically
technic achievable. The designer
cally a
will always
w expect
a w s exp
ex
x a lot of things like
s eop nic s
stereophonic sound, for instance. But
that’s
h ’ss not always
n alwa
a a possible. So you get
n a situation
into ation where you work on what
is
s best a d what
es and wh is feasible”.
w
After the TDD is frozen and all
the TD
tec
technical requirements of the game
chnical requ

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 CHIP VERDICT
Eighty five domestic animation
movies were announced at the
beginning of 2008, with 28 already
in various stages of production. It
was estimated that 15 animation
movies would be released over the
next two years. Indian animation
films produced in 2008 did not do
well at the box office. New strategies
were tried, like bringing in films from
abroad and dubbing these with
the voices of Bollywood stars. But
that did not work either. Now all
animation films in production here
have been put on hold.
STARK REALITIES
The industry has been through a
phase where work was outsourced
to India because of the cost
advantage. While all the creative
work and conceptualization was
done in the West, Indian studios just
executed the work. Large swarms
of animators were employed to do
the program. For mobile games, the
respective service providers also provide
the Software Development Kits (SDK) for
the games to be integrated in the code
such that the games can be distributed
on their network, and to ensure that it is
built according to their requirements. The
code also defines the stages, difficulty
levels, speed of the car, path, check
points and all these important attributes
of the game. The initialization code for
different platforms is also mentioned in
the coding stage.
After the code and graphics are
integrated in the engine they get the
alpha build of the game which is sent to
the clients to see if all their requirements
are met. As Yashraj Vakil, Game
Development, Zapak Games informs,
this. This demand gave rise to many
“animation” schools in the 90s and
early 2000s. Most of these schools
had a software-centric curriculum.
They neglected the aesthetics or
fundamental animation techniques.
So India wasn’t really developing
any original content and there was
no intellectual property to speak
of. Soon the companies that were
outsourcing work to India found
that they could get this work done
at a lesser cost in countries like
Korea. Suddenly India had a lot of
competition for outsourced jobs in
the animation sector. It was time for
the industry to find another way.
In the second phase (that began
last year) Indian studios began to
develop original IP. There were films
based on Indian themes. Sadly
many of these did not do well at
the box office. Industry experts say
Indian studios copied concepts and
themes from Hollywood films and
sounds are usually not integrated with
the game in the alpha build. "After
the clients give their feedback on the
game and the required changes are
incorporated, the sounds are added to
the game and we get the beta build of
the game," says Vakil. There are many
iterations that go on between these
stages as there are several challenges
that are encountered during the game
development process. Once all these
iterations are done, the game then goes
into the testing phase.
Testing is the most important stage
of game development as a lot of time,
effort and investment goes into
making the game
and a bug will
ruin it all. Mobile
games go through
two types of testing:
Frontline testing and
Deployment testing.
In frontline testing,
the game is tested for
things like the playability
of the game, difficulty
level and checking the
integration of sound with
Image courtesy: Jump Games
the quality of these films left much
to be desired. Also, the investment
in production and marketing was
far less. The Indian animation
industry needs to develop unique
concepts which could take years to
gain acceptance. The Japanese, for
instance, have Anime, which is now
well known worldwide. Anime dates
back to 1917, so it did take a long
time to gain global acceptance. Also,
the industry here needs to pioneer
techniques and technology. For
instance, Pixar invented RenderMan,
a software for rendering animation,
because they couldn’t find suitable
software that met its needs. George
Lucas’ Lucas Arts invented THX
sound for Star Wars.
So it takes a combination of
investment, unique style, original IP,
serious commitment and time.
There is huge potential, but
success will come after a few years.
And yes, we need good films!
the game. After these bugs are fixed,
the game is sent for deployment testing,
where the game goes through checklists
and certifications and then goes for the
Porting stage.
Partho Sengupta, R&D Lead,
Indiagames explained porting in brief.
“Porting a game basically involves taking
your game code for one platform and
rewriting a part of it so that it works
on another platform. Most common
differences between different platforms
occur in the way they handle sounds,
networking, their display configurations,
file and data management. So a
programmer trying to port
a game between platforms
needs to study the functioning
of both platforms thoroughly
and figure how out how to
make things work on the new
platform without affecting
the game too much”.
After the porting stage,
the game is ready for
release on a platform
like online, mobile, PC or
Playstation.
feedback@chip.in
COVER STORY

According to a Nasscom report, the Indian Gaming and Animation industries

In d u st ry E x p er ts
are poised for growth. We asked industry experts about what it will really take
for India to develop world-class films and games. These experts have many
years of experience and work at prestigious institutions.

Whistling Woods
Visual Computing Labs, Gokul K
Tata Elxsi International
HOD, Animation

In the first batch 90 percent of our students got placed

in different studios. One is working in Rhythm and Hues
(a VFX studio with live action and animation), another at
Dreamworks, and three are in Big Animation (an IP studio).
Two have gone abroad for higher studies. All these students
had three offers. They made a choice about what they
wanted to specialize in and where they wanted to join. So
the students developed a vision of where they want to be.

Pankaj Khandpur
Creative Director
Prakash Moorthy S Miditech
Animation needs both Head of Animation
a creative and technical
mindset. Many students I feel there should be a national curriculum that takes the
think that if they can’t draw, quality of teaching to a particular level. We need to generate
they can’t be animators. our own content and our own creative IP. We also need to
That’s not true. You don’t have countrywide appreciation programs (workshops) to
have to be an artist to be an show aspiring students the depth of the subject and the
animator. Of course it does full cycle. These workshops will give students a complete
help. In rigging, modeling overview of animation and an update about what’s being
and lighting you don’t need happening around the world.
to know drawing. But it
helps to have an interest
in any of the visual forms Alva Brothers
ation: design,
of communication:
Nikhil Alva
Executive Chairman
photography, sculpture,
ng.
video shooting. “Altough 2008 was a bit of a damper, the good thing is that
If you are we started making digital content for Indian audiences. Of
technically course, very little of this content will be exported. But that
inclined then isn't such a bad thing—at least we made a start. If we create
ps.
that also helps. our own style and our own storytelling technique (like the
ven
The art is driven Japanese Anime technique) then the industry will survive. It
nd
by the high-end will not survive on back-end work done cheaply here on an
technology. outsourcing basis.”

Zapak Digital Rohit Sharma

Entertainment Chief Operating Officer

Gaming Industry in India is recession proof. Worldwide gaming is the largest

entertainment revenue generator, and in India gaming is one of the top five
usage models on the Internet. Gaming in India is not at a nascent stage
anymore. It is young and growing. For the rapid growth of this industry and to
put India on the global gaming map, the companies in our country who have
taken gaming as a serious business need to face the challenges and recognize
opportunities together. The Gaming industry in India is getting more and more
aggressive.

40 02/2009 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

 Trine
Somil Gupta EA Games India
Entertainment Ltd. Mobile Division
Managing Director

I believe in India the gaming market could be as big as

countries in North America, Europe and North East Asia if
we get more localized games like these countries do. To
achieve this we need support from the gamers of India by
saying no to pirated games. The revenues generated by
selling legitimate copies can only support the production of
newer and better games. Piracy is the only reason why we
have not seen localized quality games so far.

Amol Gurwara
Jump Games Mobile Division
Salil Bhargava
Chief Executive Officer
Career prospects in the
The Gaming industry is less than a decade old in India. It's gaming industry are huge.
only in the past few years that it has grown considerably, EA itself has got about 400
that too only in certain segments like mobile and casual people in Hyderabad. There
gaming. In terms of PC and console gaming, India still has are several career options in
to catch up with international players in that space. India is the mobile gaming. People
also growing as an outsourcing destination. A lot of mobile can become programmers,
game porting and online game creation or art asset creation artists, graphics designers or
for PC and console games gets outsourced to India. even product analysts.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN INSTITUTE

1. VISITING FACULTY: While doing
the course, it is important to have
industry perspective. This will help
you understand industry requirements
and you can relate to topics in the
curriculum accordingly. Only industry
people like producers, composers,
directors and studio executives can
give you this kind of perspective. Ask
if the institute invites guest lecturers
from the industry.
2. FACULTY EXPERIENCE: Perhaps
the most important thing to check
is the background of the faculty.
If your guru is knowledgeable and
experienced you can be sure that
you will actually learn something.
How many in-house trainers does the
institute have? Who are they? Check
their industry experience. What films
do they have to their credit? Have
these won awards like BAFTA?
3. TRAINING TECHNIQUE: Most
institutes focus on the software.
They teach you tools such as Maya,
3DS MAX, Zbrush, Combustion,
After Effects, Premier and others.
But there’s very little focus on
aesthetics or the art of animation
and film making. How many schools
emphasize on the importance of
perfecting the classic animation (2D)
technique? Do these schools conduct
workshops on alternative animation
techniques such as Claymation?
4. CURRICULUM: The duration and
curriculum is often an indicator of
the quality and depth of the course.
It must be a full-time course (full
day) of at least two years duration.
Is the curriculum aligned to industry
requirements? Ask for a preview of
the syllabus.
5. SHORT FILMS: The best way to
learn how to make an animation film
is to make a short film. In doing so
you go through the complete pipeline
and understand the techniques. You
also learn to work in a group. This
will develop leadership and project
management skills too.
6. INFRASTRUCTURE: Does
the institute have the latest
software? How often are the
systems upgraded? Do they have
a render farm? Also look for other
infrastructure such as a library,
dubbing studio, film cameras,
camera cranes, lighting equipment
and recreational facilities.
7. HANDS-ON TRAINING: How much
time is spent on sketching, rigging,
lighting, sound recording and other
processes? Do they teach you film
making techniques? Will they let you
handle a camera or sound mixer?
8. PLACEMENT RECORD: Ask about
the placement record of previous
batches. Where are their students
working now? What kind of contacts
does the institute have with studios
in India and abroad?
9. TECHNICAL PARTNERSHIPS:
Students must always have access
to the latest technology. Some
institutes have technical partnerships
with IT hardware manufacturers like
Apple, Intel and nVidia. They sign up
for R&D programs and also get the
benefit of getting upgrades regularly.
Then there are special licensing
schemes for animation software.
10. EXPOSURE: Exposure to global
standards is important. What kind of
resources does the institute offer to
keep its students abreast with the
latest developments?

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP 02/2009 4

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