Early Drawn Designs

Thankfully, I have already drawn out the environment designs for the animatic, therefore, now all I need to do is colour them and assign materials (if I am deciding to edit them in Substance Painter or in Maya only). The colouring part, I find essential to design the audience’s perception of the room. There is a psychology behind how shades and colours change the perception of interior spaces. I intend to tap into this, even slightly. I will use the images above as a base for my environment design and colouring.

Lighting

Here is the quick lighting sketch I made during the animatic process. As you can see, the atmosphere/ aura feels quite nice, however, the tone selections are not very dynamic. The eye does not know where the focus is supposed to be drawn to.

Colouring Plans

Here is the colouring that I plan to use for my character and environment. At this point I have my character colour scheme already, hence I can design the environment to match. I intend the setting to be early evening, something like the third image of figure 6 on the top row (perhaps a little less orange). The environment will mostly be pale orange/brown based, just like the colour schemes below.

Mood Boards

My mood board consists of mostly ‘mood’ or ‘aura’ style rooms. I wish for my environment to look ragged, therefore, I have included some very old and dilapidated rooms. However, unfortunately, I do not know how much time I will have to add these elements. Out of interest and admiration, I included a few shots from the animated series ‘Arcane’. As you can see in the top two left images, the lighting in that corridor shot looks very realistic, with a glow around the character when she is standing in front of the window. Creating a strong rim light. I also looked at other lighting arrangements, see all of the images on the right side of the mood board.

Research on Environment Design

Changing Perception of Interior Spaces (Souza, 2020).

What this reference describes is very useful for selecting placement of tones from my colour scheme.

It states:

“To provide the desired spatial experience, there are elements which change the perception of a space without changing an inch of wall. This can be done by painting surfaces, using different materials, or applying different coatings. Lighter and cooler colors make the space appear larger. Darker colors make them appear more closed and smaller to the eye. The arrangement of colors or textures in an environment changes the perspective, making the room appear taller, longer, wider, or highlighting a particular element.”

The list below refers to the figure 8.

1. Light colours on the walls and ceiling, darker floor = feels more spacious. This reflects light and makes the space feel more open.
2. Darken all walls = compact, cozy, smaller. Absorbs most of the natural light.
3. Dark ceiling only = lowered ceiling effect. The space can perhaps feel more pleasant and welcoming.
4. Darker walls than the floor and ceiling = raise the ceiling.
5. Dark ceiling and back wall = space feels wider and spacious. E.g. used for narrow rooms like a corridor.
6. Dark side walls only = Space feels narrower.
7. Highlight a single wall = eye is drawn to that wall.
8. Dark back wall only = shorten the space. Feels more intimate in a large space.
9. Half dark walls (flooded appearance) = shorten the walls.

In retrospective, a more compelling corridor environment in my animation, more thought it necessary. I have precisely judged each of the options based on the information above. The result being the the best option for the corridor is to have a mixture of no.5 and no.9 (with a subtle tone difference). Number 5 will help my corridor to not look so compact and number 9 will help draw attention away from the floor, onto my character’s mid/head area.

Colouring of Interior Design

What I can learn from this reference:

• Mood and tone are important for when deciding the purpose or function of the room. The colour tone of the room will set the intended mood. How I want the audience to feel inside the space. and how the user should behave, concerning their activities inside the room. For example, consider the quantity and direction of windows in the space, with room covered in light colours, the natural light source will be more efficient.
• Neutral colours. Select these first, as the backdrop and base.
  • Primarily, the colour of a space is made up of these colours first, the most basic and not bold colours in comparison to the accent colours. (e.g. beige).
  • These colours help to accentuate the accent colours, drawing focus to that area.
  • Choose between warm or cool neutral- for mood choice, and to match the accent colours.
• Then add accent colours where in the room you want your focus to be.
  • These can be replaced by any colours. E.g. one accent colour on a single sofa pillow.
  • These do not need to be bold colours, but they should be contrasting.
• You should distribute your accent colours evenly throughout your space- this creates rhythm.

This video enforces a professional and advanced perspective on interior colour design. My usual colour picking strategy can be quite unrefined and impulsive based on preference on individual colours. However, with this structure, I can build the colours from the ground based on strategic techniques.

Applying These Theories into My Designs – Colour

I plan to use complimentary colours of yellow and blue for the purpose of emitting a mixture of joyful and melancholy tones. Within the colour versions below, I applied neutral colours to the walls (see fig 10) and more vibrant (accent) colours (see fig 11) to the doors and picture frames, since in this case these are focal areas. As well as for aesthetic purposes.

Orange/Yellow Tones:

Blue Tones:

The outcome of this was mostly successful. I believe this colour composition will work, however I am not satisfied with it. I wanted to add more blue. Nevertheless, with this colour scheme, the blue flowers will stand out dramatically.

Feedback on the Colour Scheme

“The colours in your colour scheme reference mood board look much better than these ones, however, this will obviously look better when rendered and with materials on it. In terms of tone, the more orange tone looks better, rather than the cold blue tone. I think that the orang tone would suit your story more. Since, you said that you want the story to have a more positive outlook- about how your character is trying to overcome his mourning and loss. You will have plenty of ‘sad’ themed aspects to your animation in your music and acting anyway, so make the environment brighter.”

“I actually prefer the base colour image, without the accent colours (figure 10). However, that is just my preference for white/ light colours. The orange colouring would suit an elderly couple’s house more than the blue tone. You can add tone changes if necessary in your editing software anyway, so start with that.”

“Since I am the one who suggested you to add the carpet, I do not want to complain too much. And I understand that I in 3D the carpet will look better, however, try the environment without the carpet when you are in Maya.”

Practicing Depth of Field

I will be using Arnold depth of field (DOF), to ensure that it works for Arnold rendering. I have used DOF before but I have not been able to make it work, when it comes to rendering time it always acts strangely. For example, it does not render out in the sequence in some shots for it does for others and single frames Therefore, I have to add it in post production, in Premiere Pro. This time I have learned the correct method and definitely intend to use it to add a more dynamic effect to my animation visuals.

Here are my practices:

Aperture 0.08 and 0.02, will be my mainly used range for the aperture. 0.05-0.08- will be used when I need strong aperture. 0.02 will be the default setting for most scenes. Focal distance will be edited towards the focal object, for example the protagonist’s head or a prop.

References

Souza, E., 2020. How Colors Change the Perception of Interior Spaces. [online] ArchDaily. Available at: <https://www.archdaily.com/935067/how-colors-change-the-perception-of-interior-spaces> [Accessed 18 September 2022].