3D Production Pipeline

The 3D Production Pipeline. It is the process which every 3D product goes through in order to reach final cut. This pipeline has many stages, and cycles. The first part is the start: the research. It is almost impossible to continue at all without first researching and coming up with ideas. This research can be compiling a bunch of pictures together, doing sketches, and writing down thoughts and ideas.

Source: http://dpa860.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/production_pipeline.jpg

Once research is completed, and you have a solid idea of what you want, you can model the character, props background etc. Often during this process, there will come issues with the character or props that will cause the need to go back to the first step, and conduct more research. It's completely normal for this to happen, trial and error is the best way to get that perfect looking character, props and background.

Source: jkuo.deviantart.com/art/Twin-Crescent-Knight-Selene-Character-Model-350618242

Just before the final cut is made, there are a couple of things that need to be considered. Lighting, composition and posing. Even though you could techincally take a character in a standing pose, slap on some light from a random angle, and take a head on render, this is incredibly boring and does not look good. For a truly interesting final cut, take some time to put the character in an interesting pose, related to the theme, work out a light angle that show what you want to show in an interesting light and put the camera at a crazy angle! 

Source: http://www.richardcrouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-wallpaper-3.jpg