I recently came across a machinima/anime by the name of RWBY and it left me very intrigued.

So after doing some research into this thing called "Machinima" I am left wanting for information. Designing a web series, movie, or anything of the like in a game engine is fascinating. Before this I'd never heard of such a thing. So if anyone is knowlegable of the subject and can offer some advice and answers to some questions I'd very much appreciate it.

First, how is something like this done(from scratch)? Do you design all the characters, animate all the actions, and play it like a regular game while recording?

And for a person who wants to make their own Machinima from scratch what advice would you have for them?

Please and Thank You

Ah RWBY, you chose a very unique Machinima/anime/thing to be intrigued by. They use 3d models (made in a program called Poser), and then render them to look 2d, something I didn't know was actually do-able, but they did it.

As far as development goes, I believe you'd have to begin by designing the characters, create a storyboard, create the characters and the world around them, animate them, and then export the animation as a .avi or .mp4 file.

Creating your own from scratch, my advice would be to take your time. RWBY is made by a team of professional animators, and they release an episode once a week I believe? I would suggest making several episodes before releasing anything, because working with a smaller team (or possibly alone) will take longer to create anything. I would suggest picking up either AnimeStudio (if you want to make 2d animations) or Blender (if you want to make 3d animations). Both will take quite some time to learn, Blender even more so.

Now keep in mind, Machinima can be more than just animations like RWBY, Machinima can also be Let's Play, game reviews, fan films, and the list goes on.

Hope it helped, good luck, and happy animating :)

"Machinima/anime/thing" Lol that made me laugh quite a bit. And thanks, you were very helpful.

If anyone could offer more advice that'd be great.

From what I know of the subject, "machinima" is when you explicitly use the engine and assets of a game for making an animated film.
Some games come with modding tools, making this process easier (Gary's Mod for instance, which was used in the making of a Half Life 2 comic). Other games do not, and so producers rely on using ingame footage.

That RWBY series seems to be an original CG work. I don't see how it relates to "machinima," except for perhaps using that "real time rendered game look" - CG features like those of Dreamworks and Pixar are usually raytraced, which gives them much more photorealism.
I don't know in what way using a game engine would help in the making of RWBY, since with a software package such as Blender or 3DS Max you would have absolute control over each aspect of your production. I'm sure it was an artistic choice rather than technical.

You should study 2D (traditional and digital) and 3D (CG) animation production if you want to make something like this.
Regarding 2D animation, I've been meaning to try Pencil2D.

machinima can be a real bonus if you are creating content in the vein currently enjoyed by that community, but the downside is that you run the risk of turning off new audiences or worse, your stuff looking just like everyone else's.

If you are purely interested in telling a story, its great.

personally i would rather see a great concept/theme communicated with stickmen rather than a bad concept/theme trying to gloss over that lacking with 'out the box' assets

Here is a classic: