The process starts with the creation of the models. This is done entirely within 3D animation software . Each item is created by combining a series of polygons which can twisted, pulled and shaped within the software, to create any object imaginable. The scene below contains over 500,000 polygons!
Once the models have been created a shader is applied, giving the objects their color and texture. Objects can be made to look shiny, rough, transparent, etc. In the step below, photos were taken of real-life wood textures and applied to relevant courtroom objects. Reflections, specularity and transparency were then added to mimic real world attributes.
Since we now have our scene laid out the way it needs to be, we finish off the animation by adding all of the lights. "Digital or virtual lights" act very similar to real lights in that they provide illumination, shadows, specular, refractions, etc. One of the biggest differences between digital lights and real lights is that we have much better control over the virtual lights. Notice in our example the shadowing beneath the tables and the light shining off the wood texture.
Now that the shaders and textures have been applied, our attention is turned to animation. Animation is the process of adding motion to the compenents of the scene. Anything can be animated - the camera, the lights and the objects themselves, including their shaders and textures. In our example, we animated the camera across the courtroom. Since everything is virtual, we don't have to worry about any complex camera setups like you would shooting this scene in the real world.
The final step in the process is rendering. Rendering is the "painting" of each frame of animation. The video production standard is to have 30 frames of animation per second of video. What this means is that for every second of animation there are 30 individual frames or images. Fortunately, once steps 1 - 4 are completed, the computer does the rest. It is not unusual animations to take days or weeks to render!
