Making 3D Animation Look 2D - Part 2

Making 3D Animation Look 2D – Part 2! In this follow-up to the previous video, Nitz' face is now fully rigged, and Pete explains how he spent a month going down another thousand rabbit holes trying to further refine his toon-look renderer, and streamline the 3D to 2D process. Highlights include:

💻 Boring Technical Stuff
‍💻 Boring Technical Stuff‍
💻 Boring Technical Stuff‍
💻 Boring Technical Stuff
🧢 Nitz Before & After

Links

Making 3D Animation Look 2D – Part 1:

Instructions for acquiring the Nitz 3D Model:

Timecodes:

0:00 - Intro
0:44 - Rigging Nitz's Face
2:27 - Improving the Toon Shader
3:25 - Fixing the Mouth
4:32 - Final Results
5:14 - It's A Process
5:54 - Sharing the Nitz 3D Model
6:45 - Request for Tutorial
7:08 - Next Steps/Outro

[EMxeros]

I know you think this is taking forever, but I’m honestly blown away by the amount of progress you’ve made in such a short period of time and with minimal assistance from anyone else. The level of quality that you’ve achieved so far is professional grade. I’d happily wait several years to see an undergrads movie of this quality, though hopefully it doesn’t take that long lol. All this to say, keep up the great work 👍

[whitenoise]

It's like a reverse Klaus and I love it! Instead of being a 2D movie that looks 3D, it's a 3D movie that looks 2D.

[soviut]

I noticed you had a green background in the 3D software. If you're using this to do a "green screen" colour key, don't do it. Just render with the alpha channel and use a pure black background to avoid any fringing when dealing with multiplied vs pre-multiplied alpha.

[Twiddle_things]

Animator here! I'd love it if some squash and stretch was added. It's something HYPER utilized in 2D, and would definitely help sell the 3D/2D look. Not sure how well the shader would take it on, but I reckon it's worth a shot.

[MikeOShay]

This is one of the more ethical uses of AI in artwork that I've seen. There are severe budget and workload restraints, and it still has critical human involvement in polishing the finished product. So far I think it's pretty impressive! You may need adjustments in the source 3D animation to make sure it's adequately snappy, I find that often this 3D-to-2D stuff winds up looking way too floaty, losing some of the expressive snap/jerk in a lot of cartoon movement. The rigging you showed for the exaggerated facial expressions is promising, showing you've still got some good instincts for the way the finished product should feel.

[AshenJoker]

This was a show that meant so much to me as a kid for it being that perfect blend of realism and cartoon level humor, I’m so excited to see the final results when it’s finish it’s looking amazing:)

[BenoitTremblay-tisu]

I have no doubts anymore than using 3d models was the right choice. It looks really good. The only hint left that this is not made frame by frame is the smoothness of the animation. If it's possible to lower the framerate to something comparable to the show then it would look spot on.

[shner]

You're doing an incredible job, guy. Too many ungrateful people complain about how long it takes, I'm super appreciative of these updates.

[Crafting]

The ratio for your personal dedication to making it streamlined and cost efficient for your budget is astounding. Shout out to you nitz-guy

[MrWonderPants]

Keep the low frame rate honestly, it looks fantastic. Reminds me of the new animated Spiderman movies and older Saturday morning animations

[LacTheWatcher]

I genuinely am liking the style! It's really starting to look like the old show in a new way!

[EthanWasHere]

I've never seen Undergrads, this behind the scenes series just popped up in my recommendations. I think these one of the most interesting animation process videos I've seen. It's very cool to see you problem solve with a limited budget and resources. Good luck and i'm very excited for the movie, even if I havent seen the show yet haha

[Rubylove]

The final composite of Nitz is Awesome!!!

[quadrodopollock]

This is the first thing ever that vaguely reminds me of Klaus. That movie was great.

[josecorrea]

Today my 17 year old daughter dressed as Nitz for Halloween. She loves Undergrads. Best of luck

[crispyluck]

OMFG GENUINLY THIS IS SO FUCKING COOL LIKE I GENUINELY LOVE THE WAY YOU'RE CORRECTLY USING AI

Like the love and work into this is just a chefs kiss, I'm so excited to see this movie that's in the works

[rayop]

This is how I’m finding out there’s an Undergrads movie coming out. I’m stoked haha

[AlexandreMullen]

Man, I have infinite respect for the ceaseless work you put into that project. Thanks for the update!

[nlatimer]

Seeing that final composite made my heart soar. Just pure joy.

I teared up a little.

[YuTubeCommentPoster]

In video games we typically use blend targets or morph targets for facial expressions. Facial rigs don't normally provide enough detail.