Datasheet
Editing
The rendered and composited CG footage is collected and edited together to conform
to the script and boards. Some scenes are cut or moved around to heighten the story.
This process is essentially the same as in film editing, with one big difference: the amount
of footage.
Live-action filmmakers shoot much more footage than is needed for the film, to make
sure they have adequate coverage for all their scenes and to leave extra room for creativity
in the editing. The editor and the director sift through all the scenes and arrange them to
assemble the film in a way that works best with what they have shot. A typical film uses a
small fraction of all film or video that is shot.
Because CG creation and rendering is much more time-consuming and expensive to
generate than shooting most live action, scenes and shots are often tightly arranged in
preproduction boards so not much is wasted, if any. The entire production is edited with
great care beforehand, and the scenes are built and animated to match the story, almost
down to the frame. Consequently, the physical editing process consists mostly of assem-
bling the scenes into the sequence of the story.
Sound
Sound design is important to CG. Viewers like to associate visuals with audio. A basic
soundtrack can add a significant punch to a simple animation by helping provide realism,
mood, narrative, and so on, adding a greater impact of gestalt to the CG.
Sound effects such as footsteps are added to match the action on the screen; this type
of sound is also known in film as foley sound. Music is scored and added to match the film.
Again, this is much the same procedure as in film, with one exception. In the event that a
CG project requires dialogue, the dialogue must be recorded and edited before CG pro-
duction can begin. Dialogue becomes a part of the preproduction phase as well as post.
This is because animators need to hear the dialogue being spoken to match the lips of the
characters speaking, known as lip-synch. Quite often, the dialogue or musical score inspires
a character’s actions or body language as well.
One of the biggest problems students new to the CG process have is their need to generate
their scene in one fell swoop. It is important to realize the component nature of CG and how
you can use that to your advantage in rendering items separately and compositing them
together in the finishing stage.
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