3D animation is the process of creating moving images in a digital, three-dimensional environment, and it's quite complex! It's common for animation studios to have dozens of employees, each 3D artist specializing in one part of the animation pipeline or another.
Unlike traditional 2D animation, 3D animation uses computer-generated models designed with height, width, and depth to simulate realistic motion and physics. Artists then manipulate these models using keyframes or motion capture to bring them to life.
But that's not all there is to it! Here is a breakdown of how 3D animations come to life.
1. Concept & Storyboarding
Concept development is the very first phase of the process, where concept artists, writers, and directors conceive the core idea, story, and characters.
They brainstorm and sketch rough ideas, exploring visual styles, themes, and character designs to ensure the concept aligns with the story’s vision.
The team visualizes the story through a script and then storyboards a series of sequential drawings, much like a comic strip, that map out the flow of the story scene by scene.
Storyboarding helps the production team visualize the film’s structure, camera angles, character positions, and timing of key moments. It’s the blueprint for the production to plan shots, scenes, and transitions.
Production―the execution phase where animators create 3D assets―starts from there.
2. Modeling & Texturing
In 3D modeling, artists define the characters, objects, and environments in a virtual 3D space.
3D modelers and texture artists work closely with concept artists to ensure they faithfully translate the designs created in the pre-production phase.
They use specialized software like Maya, Blender, or 3ds Max to build 3D models from polygons―the building blocks of 3D models used to form the shapes of objects in the animation.
Models can range from simple, low-poly designs to complex, highly-detailed creations, depending on the animation’s needs.
The next step is to apply textures to give them their final look.
Texturing is about applying 2D images (textures) onto the 3D model and adjusting how light interacts with the surface to create realism or stylization.
Texture artists take plain 3D models and add color, patterns, and surface details like skin, fabric, metal, or wood, depending on the object's representation.
3. Rigging
Rigging is creating a digital skeleton or framework within the 3D model.
Just as a human skeleton allows the body to move, a rig gives the 3D model the necessary structure to animate.
Rigging artists build this underlying system using joints, bones, and controls, allowing animators to manipulate and pose the model in various ways.
This skeleton determines how different parts of the model move―bend, stretch, and perform actions realistically or as stylized as required.
The 3D model is then attached to the rig. This step, known as skinning, ensures that the surface of the model (the "skin") follows the rig's movements correctly.
The model will deform naturally when the rig moves, meaning bending limbs, facial expressions, or other animations will look smooth and believable—poor skinning results in unnatural or distorted movements.
4. Animation
3D animators bring the previously rigged models to life by manipulating them to create motion, expressions, and gestures according to scripts and storyboards.
They can use keyframe animation, where major poses are set at specific frames, and the software automatically fills in the motion between them, or more rarely with frame-by-frame animation, where each frame is manually adjusted.
Animators focus on bringing out the characters' personalities and making their movements feel natural, dynamic, and in sync with the scene.
Motion capture (or "mocap") is used in productions aiming for realistic human movement: real actors perform actions while wearing suits with sensors that capture their movements. These movements are then transferred to the 3D model.
5. Lighting
Lighting artists specialize in creating the ideal lighting setup for each scene.
They use virtual lights within the 3D environment to mimic real-world lighting effects like sunlight or indoor lighting―not only to make the characters and objects visible but also to enhance the scene's mood, depth, and texture. Whether it's a bright, cheerful day or a dark, ominous night, the lighting choices significantly influence how the audience experiences the animation.
Lighting artists typically position light sources, adjust brightness, and fine-tune shadows and reflections to influence a scene.
6. Camera Work
Virtual cameras frame and capture the action, much like in live-action filmmaking. Camera or layout artists typically perform this role to make the visual storytelling more engaging and cinematic, but also to guide the audience’s focus.
Camera artists place and adjust virtual cameras within the 3D environment to capture the scenes while ensuring the framing, composition, and movement effectively tell the story.
They pay attention to camera angles, determine the distance from characters or objects, and decide whether the camera will be static or move dynamically within the scene.
7. Rendering
In the rendering phase, rendering artists or technical directors generate the final images or frames of the 3D animation by combining all previous elements—lighting, textures, camera angles, and models.
Rendering converts the 3D scene into 2D images that the audience will ultimately see.
Depending on the scene's complexity—number of characters, level of detail, lighting effects, etc.—rendering can be highly time-consuming, often requiring powerful computers and render farms (clusters of powerful computers used to process animation) to process the frames efficiently.
Each frame must be rendered individually, with animations typically running 24 to 30 frames per second.
8. Post-Production
The rendered animation is polished in post-production by editing, adding visual effects (VFX), compositing, sound design, music, and final color grading.
The animation must be visually cohesive and aligned with the original vision.
Compositing artists are responsible for merging the rendered frames with other assets like background effects, visual effects (VFX), and, if necessary, live-action footage. Compositors also adjust layers, color correct, and add effects like depth of field or motion blur.
Once all the frames and effects are ready, the editing team assembles the shots into a coherent sequence. Editors focus on timing, pacing, and smooth transitions between scenes to enhance the flow of the story.
In parallel with the visual work, sound designers and audio engineers add sound effects, music, and dialogue to the animation. Sound design brings another dimension to the final product, enhancing emotional beats, adding depth to the environment, and immersing the audience fully into the world, whether it's a subtle background noise, a powerful musical score, or the sync of character voices.
9. Final Output
The completed animation must be in a file format suitable for its intended distribution platform.
This task involves adjusting the resolution, frame rate, bit rate, etc., to optimize visual quality.
The resulting exported file undergoes a review to catch any mismatches in colors, audio sync, or other critical aspects before it is deemed ready for delivery.
Conclusion
From initial concept to final output, each stage of the 3D animation pipeline contributes to crafting immersive, lifelike experiences. Whether the detailed modeling or the final touches in post-production, the process is highly technical and creative.
This overview offers insight into the key steps involved in 3D animation productions. Still, there is usually a lot more behind the scenes: from pipeline managers taking care of all aspects of the production pipeline to supervisors going back and forth between multiple studios, 3D animation productions are complex.
The 3D animation process is also not linear either: it's highly iterative, with multiple rounds of feedback and re-modeling needed to achieve the director's desired results.
