What is a Maquette?
A maquette is a fine art term and refers to a small mock-up of a fully realized 3-dimensional sculpture or architectural project.
The maquette may be made from paper, clay or other material low cost material in order to provide a visualization of what the actual sculpture or project would look like when fabricated or built. It is used by artists and designers to visualize and test shapes and ideas without incurring the cost and effort of producing a full-scale product.
A set or character maquette in stop motion does not need to reflect the scale or functionality of the final artefact. A character maquette should reflect the proportions of the final version as far as possible, and every effort should be made to establish key visual qualities such as the colour, skin render, costume, textural qualities etc. A maquette can address the entire character, or focus on small details such as the face, hands etc. Often, a number of maquettes will be made throughout pre-production, charting the visual development of the character, or addressing different design decisions. Animators will often begin with very low cost techniques such as paper mache and plasticine, moving on to more expensive materials when the design has firmed up. The process of maquette making should naturally blend into prototyping, where armatured "animatable" artefacts are produced to test their function and qualities when moving under camera.
The maquette may be made from paper, clay or other material low cost material in order to provide a visualization of what the actual sculpture or project would look like when fabricated or built. It is used by artists and designers to visualize and test shapes and ideas without incurring the cost and effort of producing a full-scale product.
A set or character maquette in stop motion does not need to reflect the scale or functionality of the final artefact. A character maquette should reflect the proportions of the final version as far as possible, and every effort should be made to establish key visual qualities such as the colour, skin render, costume, textural qualities etc. A maquette can address the entire character, or focus on small details such as the face, hands etc. Often, a number of maquettes will be made throughout pre-production, charting the visual development of the character, or addressing different design decisions. Animators will often begin with very low cost techniques such as paper mache and plasticine, moving on to more expensive materials when the design has firmed up. The process of maquette making should naturally blend into prototyping, where armatured "animatable" artefacts are produced to test their function and qualities when moving under camera.
