The Impacts of ROad Salts on Freshwater Ecosystems
Client: Professor Michael Corrin, Dr. Shannon McCauley
Year: 2021
Media: Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Maya, ZBrush
Audience: General public
Road salts are not commonly thought of as a pollutant, but when they are washed into our freshwater ecosystems, the increased salinity ultimately leads to less healthy ecosystems that are biased towards salt-tolerant species. This animation aims to inform the general audience about the impact of road salts on freshwater ecosystems. Then, it aims to encourage pro-environmental behaviour by cultivating appreciation and empathy for freshwater ecosystems and their denizens, encouraging hope and self-efficacy instead of fear, and presenting concrete individual and collective solutions.
Process Work
Research, Script, and Treatment
This project started with a paper by Racquelle Mangahas, Rosalind Murray, and Shannon McCauley that showed that larvae of the green darner, a large North American dragonfly, had decreased immune responses when exposed to chronic high salinity conditions. From there, I researched the effects of high salinity on freshwater ecosystems as a whole, as well as what could be done to mitigate this high salinity. I then wrote the script, which explains the importance of freshwater ecosystems, how road salts can negatively affect their organisms and the ecosystem services they provide, and a range of ongoing initiatives and solutions to end on a hopeful note. I also wrote the treatment, which verbally describes what the viewer will see in the animation, to guide the next step in preproduction.
Storyboard
Next, I drew the storyboard to match the script to visuals. The visuals should be clear and work synergistically with the script to guide attention to important concepts and foster learning. At the same time, they should maintain the audience’s interest. At this stage, there were a few revisions to ensure the visuals demonstrated the concepts instead of simply explaining them — “show, don’t tell”.
Animatic
An animatic is an animated storyboard timed according to the narration that essentially serves as a rough draft for the full animation. Creating the animatic helps determine the pace of the animation, whether can be timed properly to the narration, and where there may be moments that need more visual interest or movement. It also helped me start thinking about how to approach the animation, such as which camera movements to use and which visual elements should be simplified or reworked to to make them easier to animate.
3D Work
I approached my 3D models in the same way: roughly modeling and creating UV maps in Autodesk Maya, then using ZBrush to detail and paint the model. The insects consisted of separate segments that rotated about flexible joints, as insect exoskeletons should not deform. The models were then rigged, and animation was done primarily using IK handles for the feet and driven keys for movements such as the dragonfly larva’s jaw and the mosquito larva’s swimming.
The underwater environment was relatively simple: a textured ground plane with some rocks and weeds. The lighting was achieved through a cool diffuse light and caustics that were pre-rendered and then applied as a gobo light filter to a large spotlight.
The scene where the truck scatters salt was also created in 3D, then rendered using a toon shader to match the 2D style of the rest of the animation.
2D Work
The 2D scenes involved sketching in Adobe Photoshop, then creating clean vector lines and shapes in Adobe Illustrator. These vectors were then exported to Photoshop for shading, then exported back to Illustrator to arrange for animation in Adobe After Effects. Because of this complex pipeline, the visuals were simplified and much thought was put into designing the moving parts that to afford the needed movements.
References
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