Offbeatr Blog

Meet the Project: Three XXX CG Animated films Interview

Today we spoke with animationbyjc about his project, Three XXX CG Animated films, a project to create 3 adult animated films. We learn more about the process and some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing animation versus live action filming.

How would you describe your project in 2 sentences?

Three all-original XXX films is the kickoff of a new animation company that uses entirely computer generated humans, sets and environments to create its stories. From adventures on the high seas, to the far reaches of the universe, this company will create exciting new movies for both the XXX and R-rated mainstream markets.

How do you go about making an XXX computer graphic animated film? Where do you even start? What kind of tools are involved?

The first and most important place to start when making a XXX CG movie is the same place you start with any movie: the script. Once I have the script completed, I find actors to voice the scripts. This is one area where CG animation is different than live-action. The audio always has to come first in animation so that timing of the scenes can be set. This is important because you want to avoid over-animating, especially in CG, and you always want to try to keep the character actions very specific and short. This reduces render time, which can easily take days for a single scene.

Once the script is written and recorded, I begin formulating the visual approach to the film by placing the audio clips in an editing timeline to determine the best timing for the film. I use very lo-resolution rough characters to block out the action and lo-resolution renders to create a storyboard. Reallusion’s Icone is a great program for this. It’s a real-time animation program so render times are fast. Remember, in an animated film, EVERY action must be accounted for. Every eyeblink, every head turn, finger point, walk, sit, frown, laugh, etc. must be created individually.

After that’s done, the backgrounds (sometimes called layouts) are created. These are the environments where the actions take place. Very much like a live action film, the locations are determined first, before actors and lights are brought in. At this point I do my “casting”. CG characters are created, clothes, given hair styles, facial characteristics and so forth. The textures for these characters and backgrounds are often created in Photoshop. I use stock characters that I purchase online, or else create my own.

The animation begins using Poser, Cinema 4D, and the editing happens in Premiere Pro and After Effects. Even with motion capture, many scenes still need to be keyframed, meaning motions that are created one frame at a time.

You say it takes 3-4 months to product a 30 minute film. What is it that takes so much time?

I’d say it takes about a week or so to write a single script, a week or two to find actors and record, another 2-3 weeks to lay in the clips for the storyboard, create rough character motions, build or find the environments, and get the timing of the show down. That’s over a month just to get to the storyboard stage. It’s hard to do any animating until I have the voices cut and timing determined. I could waste a lot of time by jumping too far ahead in the process. From there, it’s a matter of creating the characters, applying voices to the CG characters, finessing their motions, facial expressions and so forth, doing more test renders at a lo-res, and seeing how it lines up with the storyboard. Then I place these characters in the environments and start lighting and shooting with different camera angles. This is probably the longest part of the process and can take at least a month. Rendering is slow, even if you go through a renderfarm (which I plan to do with this funding) because the motions are rarely right the first time around. It takes a lot of tweaking and coming up with visual shortcuts to make the animation appear as seamless as possible. The final month or so are spent in post-production editing, adding visual effects, compositing elements together in After Effects, finding appropriate music and doing the audio mixdown.

What’s the market like for XXX animation? Is it popular? Is piracy an issue as well?

In my experience in adult, the market for XXX CG animation is growing among adults, thanks in large part to the influence of games. People are getting more used to seeing CG characters in movies, too.These audiences are more interested in artistic films and well-told stories set in unique environments, and CG is a perfect fit for that. I think that part of the reason for this is that over half the viewers of CG movies are women.

The thing holding it back is quantity. That’s why it’s important for me to raise enough money to do a series of films. The audience is there, they just need to see more films.

It’s difficult to do even a single CG film, but when one is posted online, it always gets tons of hits.

Piracy is a problem with any XXX production these days. Part of what I want to do with the money I raise is to work with some of the companies in XXX who specialize in piracy takedowns. I haven’t been aggressive thus far because it costs money and legal fees to chase down pirates, but many XXX companies such as Girlfriends Films have been extremely successful in plugging the piracy holes for their work. I plan to protect my work as much as possible and once my animation studio is set up, be very aggressive in tracking down pirates through whatever legal means are available.

What advantages / disadvantages do you see from doing XXX computer graphics animation versus shooting live XXX films?

The main advantage is that you aren’t limited to where you can set your films. You can control things like the weather, time of day, etc. pretty easily.

The big disadvantage is time. You can crank out a live action film in a week. In that week, I’m still trying to finish a script and find voice actors, and still weeks away from actually making the film.

If your project succeeds what do you hope will happen?

I really hope to create a slate of films that are XXX as well as R-rated horror, comedy, etc. for the mainstream markets, and sell these films worldwide through major outlets beyond just the web. These three films, with their improved motion capture and environments will set us apart from other companies doing the same kind of work. I want this animation company to become a premier company for CG animation worldwide, with an emphasis on quality storytelling and animation technique.