My Animation Era

Domestic animation, especially domestic 3D animation, generally has a problem, that is, it does not pay attention to background textures.

for example.

Assuming a certain animation, the story is an interstellar war that takes place in the galaxy. The good and the evil sides drive space battleships to fight against each other.

Then here comes the problem!

Since it is a space-class battleship, can you make it the look and size that a space battleship should have? Don't give people the illusion of a small fishing boat, okay?

This example may not be intuitive enough, so let’s put it another way, buildings!

In common 3D animations, the shaping of background buildings has always been criticized by viewers.

The protagonist and the others came to a palace. It looked pretty good from a distance, but as soon as the protagonist and others entered the palace, all the flaws were exposed.

With this layout and this height, are you sure this is the palace where the XX emperor/king lived, and not some private house with three bedrooms and one living room?

This is still an ordinary building.

If the background of the story is expanded and a complete city is derived, the problem will be even greater and it will be easier for the audience to get upset.

Mist grass? Is this a city?

Mini cities created with "Cities: Skylines" or "Minecraft" are probably much better than this, right?

Several architectural textures were sewn together. From a distance, it looks like something like that, but when you get closer, it is full of flaws. The scale and layout are completely unworthy of the name "City of XX".

The same is true for "The Adventures of Luoluo". The so-called City of Time, City of Snow and City of Energy, the names are more awesome than the last, but the actual texture effects...

One thing to say!

These three motorcycle cities feel more like a "landmark building" than a city scale.

"Perhaps we misunderstood?" Huang Kun asked, "Perhaps in the eyes of these robots, the so-called city or city is just such a single building?"

"What you said makes sense."

Gu Miao nodded first and agreed with Huang Kun's guess. After all, how could humans understand the aesthetics and ideas of robots?

"But this is animation!"

"This animation we made is not for robots, nor for Human Torch, or Vanguard, but for human audiences..."

Therefore, it is not important what kind of aesthetics and understanding the robot has. What is important is that as a human audience, we must give priority to human visual aesthetics.

Maybe Huang Kun is right.

Perhaps in the world of "King of Robots", the City of Energy, City of Time, and City of Snow and Wind look like this, and robots call these "iconic buildings" cities.

But this is a cartoon, a cartoon made for human audiences. Is it okay for them to reshape the layout of a city based on human aesthetics or cognitive understanding?

"OK! You have the final say..."

Huang Kun raised his hands in surrender and said, "Then you can tell me, what exactly should these cities look like?"

“Let’s talk about the City of Time first!”

Gu Miao took out a black pen and drew on the whiteboard behind him while saying: "It is easy to attack but difficult to defend. Its architectural style is mostly castle-style, made of blue glass, surrounded by towering walls and a moat. "

From a distance, the City of Time looks like a blue ocean floating on the earth.

The internal structure is also very simple.

The square main body is divided into four "urban areas" by two main streets. From a bird's eye view, it looks like the word "田"!

The floor space is pretty good.

Because the Beast Clan has repeatedly tried to seize this city, it has been in turmoil. How could it have persisted for so long without sufficient troops to guard it?

Sufficient military strength means that the area of ​​the City of Time cannot be too small, otherwise there will not be many motorcycle tribesmen inside, and it will be difficult to defend the time just relying on Thunderbolt, the general who defends the city, and Luoluo, the machine war king. City.

Energy City is different!

As the most important city of the motorcycle clan, it also has the highest defense. It is guarded by a central missile system, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Therefore, Energy City should be positioned as a "military city". There may not be many ordinary residents, but there are many elite soldiers.

This is not difficult to understand.

The City of Time is easy to attack and difficult to defend, so a large number of troops need to be sent to guard it. However, the City of Energy is easy to defend and difficult to attack. With full defense attributes, it does not require so many motorcycle troops.

In the original animation of "The Adventures of Lolo the Robot", the design of Energy City was great, and the tower also had a "sci-fi feel" and a "futuristic feel".

Gu Miao decided to use this design.

However, in order to make Energy City appear more large-scale and more like a city rather than a landmark building, he decided to use the "copy and paste" method!

The so-called copy and paste refers to making several copies of the "ring tower" in the original animation to "connect them together."

The new version of Energy City has a total of five similar tower buildings, one in the center and one in each of the four directions.

The five towers are linked by circular passages, connected to the missile defense system, and suspended above the hot magma flow.

"interesting!"

Huang Kun's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw the general "layout" of Energy City drawn by Mr. Gu.

The sci-fi feeling comes right away.

This is the future city in his mind, and it is also the robot city that meets his expectations!

"What about Snowstorm City?"

"Snowy City...ugh!"

Gu Miao had a bit of a headache about this city, and for a while she couldn't figure out how to design the layout.

Why?

Because the Snowy City is very special. The special thing is that this city is not only located in the ice and snow, but is also surrounded by cliffs. The environment is very harsh.

Under such a harsh environment, the motorcycle warriors in Snow City can basically transform into "fighters".

to be honest!

Snowstorm City is more like a city than an airport. There is no room for cars and excavators. When the Human Torch came here, he had to lament that it was "difficult to travel".

More abstractly...

Obviously, almost all the soldiers in Snowstorm City are fighter jets, but in the end, this city was still a "bunker" type building in the original animation.

Is this reasonable?

Even if it is a little simpler, it would still make sense if it doesn't design any runways and just build some hangars. But the bunker is full of fighter jets, which is a bit insulting to the intelligence.

Gu Miao has not yet thought about the transformation of Snow Wind City.

After all, in the harsh natural environment of cliffs, ice and snow, the city structure and layout are naturally different from those of the City of Time and the City of Energy.

As for the Moon Temple and Paladin Forest?

Well……

Of these two places, one was destroyed by the Tiger King and the other was a forest, but the background textures were relatively relaxed.

After the animation production actually started, the scene that was probably a waste of time would be the inconspicuous Fire Dragon Valley, which contains a large amount of energy amethyst!