In the fall, a precocial sneaker “Jack” salmon returns to the river it was born in, smaller and more agile than the larger males, to spawn and die.

SALMON

As a former live-action director of photography, I am always thinking about how the virtual camera affects the audience in an animated scene, I’ve also always wanted to put a snorricam on a fish. This balance between impossible and realistic camera motion is especially important in Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR) work, as uninformed motion can quickly put the shot in the “uncanny valley” of stylized rendering, looking neither acceptably 2D or 3D. By placing the camera in the “jack” salmon’s point of view, I hoped it would sell a sense of urgency and keep the viewer’s eye on the character.

I attempted numerous methods for rigging the fish characters. The first rig was just two bones for the mouth and and a displacement modifier that distorted the curve of the fish as it moved through 3D space. This made for an interesting effect but wouldn’t work for close ups. The second method I tried was building a full skeleton for the fish and trying to keyframe animate it. The problem with that method was that I was not a good enough animator. The third method, which I ended up choosing, was to use an evenly subdivided set of bones for the spine with the tail moving in a sine pattern.

To texture the fish, I started out using a basic color palette UV map to set colors for the larger fish, and created procedural fish scales for the close up on the “Jack” salmon (see test shots). This method yielded interesting results but I chose to hand paint both fish models instead for a more visually enticing look. The scars on the face of the larger salmon are a separate texture to allow for variance. I also chose to replace the volumetric lighting and rocks with 2D cards as well. The caustics on the fish are procedural emissive textures animated over time to give the impression of moving water.