You are a black technology boss, you didn't say it sooner!

On the second day, the project approval meeting will be launched in the conference room of Deep Space Gazing, that is, the special effects studio.

Jerry and Tom came over, as did the executive director of the studio and several key personnel.

Because the studio is in the Pitmoe building, Jerry and Tom had to enter the building again, and were almost crossed out by the security guards.

At this moment, sitting in the conference room, the two of them looked worried and whispered to each other.

Tom: "Do you think we will be cheated?"

Jerry: "I'm glad your brains haven't been completely eaten by dogs."

Tom: "What do you mean??"

Jerry: "Calm down honey, we haven't signed the contract yet have we?"

Tom was relieved now.

We can't blame them for backtracking, it's really Lou Qingyan's poor conditions - only one script and a half-bottled director, oh, plus a small special effects team of up to 30 people, dare to open the project directly , Who gave him the guts?

After meeting the small special effects team, Jerry believed that Lou Qingyan really planned to invest in the film, but this was too childish...or, to put it another way, too presumptuous.

Does Lou Qingyan know how many fields of professionals an animation film team covers?Counting from top to bottom, chief producer, various supervisors, and various executive teams, there are not thousands of people who can't afford to form a team.Film production is not something that can be achieved just by thinking about it. It is an extremely sophisticated and complex machine, and its operation requires the cooperation of multiple parties, rather than two or three people, a script, and a little money. Such a simple configuration.

The most ridiculous thing is this special effects company with 30 people... Not to mention animated movies, even live-action movies, a famous blockbuster that won an Oscar for special effects, invested more than 800 people just for the production of special effects, It took more than three years.

All in all, when Jerry came to this small conference room and found such an unreliable status quo, he fell into a Buddha.

Disappointed, Tom said, "I thought we finally had our chance..."

Jerry looked at him, sighed, and smoothed his gray hair.

"Honey, don't be discouraged. Seizing an opportunity is one in a million, and failing to seize an opportunity is the norm, understand?"

While speaking, Lou Qingyan opened the door and walked in.

He didn't wear the serious black suit today, but a T-shirt and jeans, matched with that Asian facial contour, like a fledgling student.Only the careless demeanor brought out by every move made him look a little more mature--mature, not calm.

Jerry felt that this man's behavior was too contemptuous, and no matter what he did, he had a cynical attitude, which really made people doubt whether he could succeed in doing something well.

Lou Qingyan threw the computer on the table, and said to the studio staff who were looking at each other, "Let me introduce myself, I am Lou Qingyan, the new boss who gazed at the deep space, you can call me Lou."

Then, ignoring everyone's stunned, inexplicable, and surprised emotions, he directly turned on the projector, "Then, our project initiation meeting will begin."

Tom couldn't help but said, "Wait a minute..."

"Hush—" Lou Qingyan raised an index finger to his lips, "Listen to me," he tapped his ears again, "you just need to listen."

Tom was stunned for a moment, and for some reason, Lou Qingyan's overbearing attitude was clearly undeniable, but it made people feel extra attractive.

"Let's start with a piece of software." Lou Qingyan directly called up the bug animation interface, "I think everyone sitting here must be familiar with it."

Yes, very familiar.

With its powerful black technology, exciting uses and heated controversy, Bug animation has long been popular all over the world.Especially in the field of animation, it has become an indispensable professional tool.

Special effects artists need to use its automatic modeling function.Jerry runs the mocap studio, which he found to be a great tool for testing mocap data.Tom himself is interested in animation, so naturally he will not miss it.

None of them knew why Lou Qingyan suddenly mentioned the bug animation.

Lou Qingyan demonstrated several functions of bug animation, and then said, "This software is very powerful, especially the modeling function, which can greatly shorten the preliminary work of animation modeling."

"In addition, have you ever thought about what fundamental changes it can bring to the entire animation production process?"

"Fundamental change?" Everyone was confused.

As soon as Lou Qingyan tapped the keyboard, five large characters appeared on the big screen: assembly line animation.

As we all know, assembly line is a way to improve efficiency in industry.A product is divided into different parts, and the work of each part is carried out at the same time, and finally it is assembled on the assembly line.

Animation production obviously cannot be done in this way, it has to be done step by step.

First draw the storyboard, do conceptual design, and then model based on the design. Only when the model is completed can animation be made.Animation is also divided into bone binding, key frame, intermediate frame, fine-tuning and so on.After the animation is completed, adjust the material, lighting, camera, special effects, and finally the rendering and post-production.

This is a set of interlocking sequential processes. There must be a conceptual design before a model, a model before animation, and an animation before camera settings.

"However, on the assembly line, everything is different." Lou Qingyan said.

"The boundary of time has been broken. All work is no longer rigidly rigid in chronological order, and can be carried out simultaneously."

"Design and modeling can be carried out at the same time, because modeling has become too simple. Only a few original paintings are needed to generate a model in an instant. Designers can even modify the drawing based on the model."

"Before the conceptual design is completed, the modeler can create a complete set of rough models, including the entire world and all the characters in the animation. The director and the storyboard artist will have a more realistic sense of the animation content, and they can directly create in the scene Posing character poses, rendering them in software instead of drawing them.”

"Modeling and animation can be done at the same time, because AI can read motion data and replace it with other models. The animation work skips the model stage directly. The goal of the animator is no longer to adjust the model frame by frame, but to find ways to build Various action data."

"The pre- and follow-up work can also be carried out at the same time, such as the adjustment of the camera position. In the stage of storyboarding, as long as there is a complete set of rough models, the director can set the camera parameters in advance and lay out the lens language in advance."

"It's like an assembly line factory. Every unit is working at the same time. Some output model data, some output action data, and some output special effect data. They are finally assembled on the assembly line and become an animation."

"The sequential process has become a parallel process, and the production of animation has changed from 'a little production' to 'pipeline synthesis'. Coupled with the various conveniences brought by the AI ​​system, the efficiency of animation production can be improved like a rocket."

"That's the first part of the animation pipeline..."

"What?" The people in the conference room were stunned, and said in disbelief, "It's not over yet???"

"Wait a minute," Jerry interrupted rationally, "The idea is pretty good, but why mention it here? At present, it is impossible to realize it, and the function of bug animation is far from meeting the requirements."

Lou Qingyan smiled, "Friend, come and see this."

He opened the demo of the automatic modeling plug-in.

Xie Jin's team is very efficient. Two months from the establishment of the special effects plug-in project, they have given demos of four modules: automatic modeling, motion data capture, smart material, and smart lighting.

After Lou Qingyan demonstrated the four plug-ins one by one, everyone fell silent.

The air froze, but turbulent waves surged in their hearts.

It wasn't until this moment, after seeing these softwares that were more perverted than bug animations, that they finally put away all their prejudices and realized: Lou Qingyan didn't come here to play tickets.

He came prepared... No, it's more than prepared. He simply came with a bomb in his arms, intending to blow up the sea of ​​animation movies into huge waves.

Seeing that everyone stopped talking, Lou Qingyan said: "I forgot to tell you, I was doing research and development before investing in movies."

Tom swallowed, and asked, "What's your relationship with fire..."

Lou Qingyan didn't even bat an eye when he lied: "It doesn't matter. Is he only allowed to have technology and not others?"

Tom reluctantly believed it.

Lou Qingyan said again: "Alright, let's talk about the second part of the pipeline animation."

"The so-called assembly line, in addition to unified assembly, must also be smooth and seamless. There must be no situation where each component is finished and placed on the assembly line, but cannot be assembled."

"However, animation production is originally a sequential relationship. If it is forcibly split, this situation will inevitably occur. The work of various departments is like a blind man feeling the elephant. He cannot see the whole picture, and he does not know what monster will be assembled in the end."

"So we have to introduce two systems to solve this problem." Lou Qingyan said, "AI consultant, and a preprocessing mechanism."

Jerry said: "I understand the preprocessing mechanism, but what is an AI consultant?"

"You don't understand, Jerry." Lou Qingyan said, "Hollywood's preprocessing mechanism is just a prediction. , to pre-produce a full-length film."

"What?" Everyone was surprised.

"This pre-processed film contains these elements: the simplest scene model, a character model with only bones, preset animations called from the action library, dubbing made with AI software, complete lens language, and complete plot expression .”

"The production of this kind of pre-processing film can be completed in only one week. It can directly replace the sub-shot and layout, and become an important guiding tool in animation production. It makes the work of the assembly line smooth and ensures that the plot will never be derailed."

"As for the AI ​​consultant, it is the lubricant and glue of the entire assembly line, which can play a big role in many unexpected places..."

Lou Qingyan demonstrated the AI ​​film pulling system to them, and naturally gained another chin.

No matter what impression they had of him before, at this moment, there is only one thought left in the minds of this group of people.

This tm... is a big boss!

"But is this model really...feasible?"

When Jerry asked this question, he finally understood the reason why Tom could not be the director.

Lou Qingyan wants to treat this animation as an experimental product of a new model, and he must firmly control the entire production process and follow his process.Here, there should not be a director who is too thoughtful.If Tom was put into battle, everything would be messed up.

"So you need to verify its feasibility." Lou Qingyan said lightly, "Then, our project has been formally established."