A Night in the jungle

The 3D short film A Night In The Jungle is a character animation piece that tells the very simple story of a monkey trying to enjoy a good night\u27s sleep in the deep of the jungle, only to be interrupted by a snoring sloth that falls near him. The project was completed using Autodesk Maya and Adobe Creative Suite. The film is purposely dialogue-free, and has the straightforward goal of entertaining its audience with classic animated physical comedy in the vein of the MGM and Warner shorts from the golden era. Although all of the imagery in the film is computer generated, traditional 2D techniques were used for both storyboards and art direction. One of the project\u27s challenges was creating 3D assets that truly captured the essence of the 2D artwork. A lot of research went into building comprehensive 3D character rigs that allowed the expressive, snappy and exaggerated animation style that was required for the film. During post production, the focus of the rendering and compositing phase was making sure that the final frames had a rich look that differentiated them from standard out-of-the-box Maya renders. The hope was that the final look and feel of the film would help the audience immerse themselves in the story. The following paper describes the creative and technical processes employed in the making of the film. Appendices include concept artwork, storyboards, and Autodesk Maya screen captures