Create your 3-D character and scenes in your character creation software, such as Autodesk Maya or 3d S Max.
Create scenes for your character. Set the tone for your scenes using lights. Animate your character within your scenes.
Add cameras to your scenes to capture your character's movements.
Render your character and scenes. Rendering is to complete a project by taking your frames and combining them as one to make your base movie seamless. Your movie will be rendered as individual frames (images).
Open your individual frames in a program such as, Adobe Photoshop to check your lighting and cameras in your frame.
Open up your movie maker program (After Effects) when you are satisfied with the rendered results of your character and scenes. When you open up your movie maker program, it will automatically create you a new project. You will have a time line for your new project. Your timeline is where you will work on your movie. You will have a project box for all your uploaded files.
Upload your frames into your movie maker program using your "File" tab and selecting "Upload Images". A pop-up will appear. Select your files. Drag your image files to your timeline using your mouse from your project box.
Add your character voices on one layer. Add your sound effects on another layer. Add music to your movie under your voice and sound effects. By adding each sound file to its own layer, you are able to control the individual sound files without cutting into or disturbing another sound file. Click you your "File" tab and select "Import". Choose "Audio." A pop-up will appear. Select your audio files. Drag your audio files to your timeline using your mouse from your project box.
Render your finished movie. Choose the format your movie will appear as. Choose MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 for DVDs. Choose WMA for windows media files for computers. MPEG-2 is primarily used for standard DVDs. MPEG-4 is used for higher end DVDs, such as Blue-Ray discs. Click your "File" tab and select "Render." A pop-up will appear. Choose your MPEG format.
Prepare your animation paper using your graticule and light box. Your graticule is a clear plastic grid that measures out field ratios relating to a center point. A light box is a box with a special bulb underneath that is used to trace over your animations. Lay your animation paper onto your lightbox and trace the field ratio for a 12 field using your graticule. Your field ratio is where you will draw your character. A 12 field ratio is used mainly in movie productions.
Draw your characters and scenes onto your animation paper using your lightbox.
Scan your individual frames (pages) using a computer scanner or capture each frame using a capture machine. A capture machine takes pictures of each frame and transfers it onto a capture program.
Upload your scanned pages or captured frames into a color program. Color your scenes and characters.
Render your colored frames.
Upload your colored frames into your movie maker program.
Add character voices on one layer. Add sound effects on another layer. Add music onto another layer under your voice and sound effects.
Render your finished movie as either an MPEG-2 for standard DVDs or MPEG-4 for Blue-Ray discs. Render your movie as a WMA file for movies on computers.