Animatics: The Moving Storyboards of Episode I

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September 20, 1998

Step 6A: Cheat the Model to 2D if Possible

Since the tank does not rotate or move in this shot, it can be approximated for the animatic much more easily using a 2D still image rather than an animated 3D model. This works on the same principle as "flats" in real photography. In A New Hope, it was too expensive to build multiple full-size X- and Y-wing fighters for the Rebel Hangar scenes, so for background ships the crew constructed flats, which were near life-size cutout paintings of additional spacecraft.

Savvy animatics artists "cheat" and use 2D stills wherever possible, since it is much quicker and easier than rendering animated 3D models.

In A New Hope, most of the Rebel fleet in the hidden hangars of the Massassi base was realized through the use of painted flats. Similar shortcut techniques are often used in animatics as well.
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Keywords: Animatics, Behind-the-Scenes

Filed under: The Movies, Episode I

Databank: Trade Federation AAT (Armored Assault Tank)
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