I spent 9 Months on this episode alone, made and rendered with blender 3D on cycle and EEVEE

Hello everyone! I just wanted to share the biggest project I’ve done so far.
This is “Mimi’s Adventure.” This is a mini web series and the first episode is out now, right here:

Here is the plot :

In 2050, in a world where humanoid robots are almost as numerous as humans and where inequalities are deepening due to the wealthy buying robots to replace workers, Mimi, a young student recently admitted to a specialised university in cyber neurology and cognitive behaviour, finds herself trapped and caught up in a somewhat too radical movement aiming to change the world. Mimi will find herself torn between her moral values and her desire for justice.

Beheind the scene :

For those interested, here is my workflow, which I assume is pretty common.

I create every character by hand using modeling and sculpting traditional techniques. I like to use painting techniques like Arcane to texture my 3D models, but not always, because it turned out to be very time-consuming.
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Then, I use Rigify to rig every character and create some dopesheet animations that I could use later.

Then, I create the scenes I need, such as a bicycle scene, and voilà! Of course, there is a lot more going on, so don’t hesitate to ask questions about it! :slightly_smiling_face:
ezgif.com-optimize(1)

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Great job! Looking forward to Episode 2

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Awesome work - 9 months spent well!

Looking forward to the next episode … :slight_smile:

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Thank you ! :slight_smile:

Thank you I hope i’ll be able to do it !

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!

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Do you mean story wise, or technically?

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Hey !
Honestly any thoughts if you have any :slight_smile:
Personally I think 9 month is so long for only 8 minutes. I don’t really know how to speedup yet.

It was a fun watch from a story perspective.

The lip sync looks a few frames off in place, the mouths either shut before the word is done, or hang open after. Are you using an auto lipsyncer (I use one myself, this isn’t a complaint about the work flow)? If you are, maybe keep a closer eye on it for episode 2. It’s not super obvious, but once I noticed it I couldn’t stop noticing it.

There’s some clipping issues, especially where Mimi’s shirt comes out of the vest. How’d you rig the clothes? Yellow Boy’s hair also goes into his head in places where it probably shouldn’t. And is it sticking out of his bandana hat thing? I did like the motion on his hood.

Animation is slow. I find things speed up a little when I start having all the characters and things I need modeled, especially the sets/props that are going to be reused in multiple scenes, so I don’t need to keep take time out to do that. But if you find the secret to speeding up the actual animation process, other than just practice, please let me know.

I kinda want to scan that QR code at the end. :laughing:

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Thank you so much for the constructive feedback!:blush: You’re right, some parts of the animation is slow, I tried to make it look better but I did my best… The lipsync was made from the french audio, that should explain why its off. And i tried to use a lipsyncer but the result wasnt that good, so i had to do each vowel and consonant manually, which was easier somehow.
Yes everything is cliping and I noticed it after rendering for days, so i tried to hide it but i couldnt hide everything, i just did an automatic weight for the rigging. And manual a bit.
Also thank you for thoses advices ! ll definitely do that on my nexts projects.

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You’re Welcome

I meant the process of making animation is slow, not your animation itself. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hey,

personally, I don’t think that 8 months for more than 8min of polished moving images is a lot, in particular if the guy who made the movie did all the storytelling work as well - and I really found that compelling and well done.

In fact, one minute/month is pretty much in line with my personal experience, and the ratio I base my quotes and estimates on where it is about money.

It is possible to be faster, sure, in particular once all the characters, set and assets are made, and maybe a library of animation clips too. Even if not, animation speed will accelerate while you, as the animator, get to know the characters’ personality better, hence work more intuitively.

Anyway, had the honors to be part of a couple of short film productions, and most of them, despite teams between 2 and 6+ people working on them, didn’t really proceed any faster.

If you want to keep this up, and go for more episodes, I feel it might be best if you stick to that ballpark of a time budget for production. Otherwise you might exhaust yourself, and quit for loss of motivation in the end.

Regarding quality. I noticed some minor glitches in the animation, intersection problems, visibly IK-ish movements of limbs that could benefit from a bit of polishing to get nice, round arcs instead, some timing here and there - but: none of it had any negative impact on how I enjoyed the film. And enjoy it I did, it definitely left me wanting to see how the story carries on. :slight_smile:

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When I first started this project, I thought I’d be able to do one episode a month! So, I’m quite reassured that a professional like you tells me I wasn’t taking too long, as I felt it was taking forever. And yes, I think you’re right, it did become easier once I had created all the characters, etc. About the animation I really tried my best but I need to practice, It somehow always feels robotic, Anyway , I’m really glad you enjoyed the film :grin:, and I hope I’ll be able to make an episode 2 one day!

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I featured you on BlenderNation, have a great weekend!

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Thank you so much ! I read it it’s very nice :blush:

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You’re on the featured row! :+1:

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Awesome story so far! Can’t wait for part 2. The QR code is a great touch :+1:

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Thank you !
I think you’re the first one saying it ! May be everyone else is scared to scan it.

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It’s not that I was scared, it’s that my phone won’t let me. :disappointed_relieved:

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Then you can have a bypass ! :slight_smile:
The qrcode point to that link
https://dubujordan.fr/sorry-for-that

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