Thursday, July 2, 2009

Tips on Anticipation

Anticipation is a really helpful tool that animators can use to make their shots clear and readable. Combined with solid poses and clear silhouettes, it prepares the audience to what is about to happen in your scene. It gives them time to process your character's actions and intentions, thereby making it absolutely clear what the character is doing or thinking.

On another level, anticipation helps to emphasize the physicality of your character. Flesh and blood characters have muscles and need to overcome gravity with each move they make. If you wanted to animate a baseball pitcher throwing a fastball, for example, you would need to have a big wind up (anticipation) pose before going into his throw. If the wind-up is left out of the scene, the physicality, believability and the clarity of the animation would suffer.

As a general rule, the broader an action I'm animating, the bigger the anticipation I put in. I also try to make sure that I incorporate it into my blocking as early as I can to feel out the overall timing and the rhythm of my shot. The advantage of doing this is that it is easier to dial down, delay and adjust it accordingly down the road.

Another thing I try to pay attention to as I flesh out my animation is to delay the various parts of the anticipation so they don't all fall on the same point in time. Try to offset the brows, lids, or a head move to give your character that nice organic quality, even if you are animating something that is really pushed or cartoony. Remember to keep things clear and simple to get the most out of your poses.

The last thing to remember with anticipation is to make sure that it feels natural and not over done. A common mistake is to put in a big anticipation on EVERY action. This will end up giving your character an odd pattern of movement that will distract and unsettle the viewer. Some robotic objects, for example tends to move quite linearly and have very little (if any) anticipation. Similarly, some insects or animals will have quick staccato movements that are inherent in the way they move. Know what you are animating and use anticipation accordingly!

Guest Blogger Chris Chua

Labels: anticipation, Chris Chua

Posted at 11:15 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Of the 12 Principles of Animation, Which Is the Most Valuable? How Do You Apply It on the Job?

Man, that's such a tough question.

The truth is that you can't single out any one principle as "the" most important. In the past, I've said that animation is kind of like golf. Have you ever tried to golf? Well, I'm not much of a golfer, but I've learned enough to know that there are dozens of important things to remember during a golf swing, and eventually -- after a LOT of practice -- all of these different things become second nature, and they all tie into each other to create one thing -- a good golf swing.

You have to have your toes lined up just right, you have to have your shoulders angled just right, your hips need to be in a specific spot, and you have to swing the club up to a specific height/angle during the back swing. You have to be holding the club in a specific way, and bend your knee in a specific way, and shift your weight from one foot to another mid-swing in a specific way. You have to have one elbow bent just so, and pull with one arm while letting the other drag and steer, and you can't take your eye off the ball, etc.

But at the end of the day, all of those things are really just ONE thing, right? A golf swing.

Animation is EXACTLY the same way. You have to remember anticipation and overlap. Arcs and secondary animation. Force and dynamic posing. Overshoot and line of action. You have to remember squash and stretch and weight & balance and path of action and a million other things.

In the golf swing, if you forget ONE of those things -- say you have your toe pointed in the wrong angle -- then guess what? The ball goes haywire and it's a bad shot.

Animation is the same thing. If you remember everything above, but forget anticipation, then unless the style specifically demands a lack of anticipation, the shot is just plain wrong. It's bad. Because of ONE thing, even though you might have great overlap, beautiful arcs, and the most dynamic poses ever - it's still a bad shot.

We spend a lot of time at Animation Mentor breaking down all the various principles and then showing how they all relate to each other and tie together and morph into one big thing called Body Mechanics, which is basically just the idea of what moves what in the body, and WHY. Overlap, overshoot, force, path of action, etc. -- these are all just different ways of describing tiny facets of what makes our bodies move without falling over, and just as with golf, there's no one facet that is more important than the other.

I wish there was an easier answer, but the truth is that animation requires a serious study of ALL the principles, and the only way to create strong animation is to become extremely familiar with all of them, and -- more importantly -- with how they affect each other.

Best of luck!

Shawn :)

Labels: Principles of Animation, Shawn Kelly

Posted at 1:56 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 29, 2009

Free Webinar on Disney Legend Walt Stanchfield

We wanted to let you know that Animation Mentor is hosting a free webinar with Bobby Beck, CEO of Animation Mentor, Don Hahn, producer at Disney.

Don Hahn is a two-time Academy Award nominee and film producer responsible for producing major Walt Disney Animated films, including Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

He recently edited a two-book compilation of Disney icon Walt Stanchfield's drawings and teachings. Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes is the quintessential refresher for fine artists and film professionals, and a vital tutorial for students who are now poised to be part of new generation in the art form. If you’re interested in attending the webinar, click here to learn more.

In addition to the webinar, we’re also hosting a panel at Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego to discuss the launch of Drawn to Life.

The panel will be moderated by Don Hahn of the Walt Disney Studios and features renowned animators Glen Keane, Eric Goldberg, Tom Sito, and Ruben Procopio.

The event takes place July, 23, 2009 from 12 – 1 p.m.
http://www.animationmentor.com/comiccon/  

Posted at 3:55 PM 0 comments

Thursday, June 25, 2009

What Has Been a Challenging Shot and How Did You Overcome It?

One of the most challenging shots I’ve done was the final scene of my sophomore film, “The Gift.” The film is about a little boy fishing with his grandfather and the shot in question was a pretty lengthy shot of the little boy waking up and realizing that he had caught a fish on his reel. He looks up at his grandfather before excitedly pulling the fish out of the water.

The reason why the shot was so hard and challenging was because I had two characters interacting for the better part of 700 frames. At the time, the shot felt quite insurmountable not only due to its length but also to the fact that the main character, the little boy, had to go from many different states of mind -- from being asleep, to waking up, to becoming quite excited and then finally catching the fish.

This is a shot that I overcame by doing meticulous planning. First, I used thumbnails to search for the most interesting and entertaining poses to sell the acting. Once I had these poses down, I blocked them in and got my general timing and overall feel for the entire shot.

At this point, I fleshed out the shot by adding breakdowns to see how fast or slow I should go into and out of my key poses. Once I was happy with the overall feel of the shot, it became a matter of taking each chunk of the scene and tying down the keys and breakdowns and then adding more in-betweens to smooth out the action.

Although it was done in 2D with pencil and paper, it really taught me that animating is very much like sculpting. You work on the broadest, most important elements first and add the little details later on. Similarly, in animation, you are mainly breaking a shot down to its most essential parts (finding your keys and main story-telling poses) and then slowly fine-tuning it as you go along. The advantage of this method of working is that you are afforded the chance of stepping back and assessing your work thus far and making necessary adjustments along the way.

To see “The Gift”, go to www.cchuareels.blogspot.com

Guest blogger Chris Chua

Labels: challenging shot, Chris Chua

Posted at 9:52 AM 2 comments

Monday, June 22, 2009

Do You Cheat to the Camera in 3D? Or Do You Avoid It to Avoid Problems with Rendering and Lighting?

Hi there -- thanks for the great question!

I have slightly mixed feelings about this now -- I used to say that you should cheat like crazy and all that mattered, at the end of the day, is how your animation looks from the camera's point of view. However, over time, I've found that the more correct I make my animation in 3D space, the better and more correct it looks from the camera. An added benefit is that it tends to be much easier to change/edit when the time comes or when changes are requested if I've animated it "properly" to begin with, and if you have any kind of cloth simulation or anything like that that will be done on top of your animation, it's going to look a lot better if you haven't cheated things.

So, nowadays I would recommend that you try to make your animation work in 3D space, BUT always keeping an eye on how it's going to look from the camera's point of view. Some things, like arcs, for example, should be especially considered specifically from the camera's point of view. However, I would also say that if you're having trouble getting something to work in 3D space, but it looks great from the camera, well -- you might as well just leave it alone and deal with it later, if/when you get a request from the Director to edit it, because no matter all the pros and cons, eventually the camera's point of view will be the only thing that really matters.

So yeah, there are lots of pros and cons either way, but these days I try to cheat as little as possible, though I do still cheat *something* in every shot, even if it's something "small" like specific arcs or something, and I *do* still have the occasional shot where I've cheated the whole thing like crazy in order to get the composition or staging that the shot needs...

Shawn :)

Labels: lighting, rendering, shawn

Posted at 11:02 AM 6 comments

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Tips on Becoming a Better Animator

Just as there are an infinite number of ways to animate a scene, there are just as many ways to improve as an animator. The ability to observe from life and reflect whatever it is we see in our work helps to make our art more personal and therefore enrich us as artists.

A great way to improve your powers of observation is by keeping a sketchbook and sketching from life as much as possible. This, to me, is the equivalent of a musician practicing their scales. An accomplished musician does not sit there and think about the next note they’ll be playing. Rather, they are more concerned with letting their passion and inspiration drive their performance. Similarly, it is beneficial for an animator to learn and absorb as much technical knowledge as possible so that they can instead focus on bringing convincing performances to life. If you constantly observe the world around you, you will have a better idea of what will make your animation feel more natural and true to life.

Learning from the masters is a great way to improve as well but don't limit yourself to just watching animation...live-action films are a goldmine because they offer a great deal of amazing performances that are fresh and avoid cliched animation acting. One thing I like to do is take a performance I admire and try to deconstruct it by thumbnailing all the key poses and analyzing what makes it work. By doing this, you can really distill the actor's work and learn a fresh approach to constructing a similar shot in animation.

Another important (and often hard thing to do) is to step away from your animation and try to enrich your life. Do anything that will inspire you, whether it is listening to music, going to a museum, seeing a theater performance or reading a book. It can be really easy to fall into a rut when you are animating all day so setting your work aside and recharging those creative batteries will do wonders for your scene.

Most importantly, don’t be afraid of getting feedback on your shots and have the attitude of a student. Show your shot to the people you trust and learn from their constructive critiques. KNOW that you are learning and improving as you do each shot and things don't necessarily have to be perfect each time out. Have fun! If you set realistic goals and enjoy yourself along the way, there is no doubt that you will constantly improve and surprise yourself with how much you are growing both artistically and personally.

Guest Blogger Chris Chua

Labels: better animator, Chris Chua

Posted at 1:59 PM 7 comments

Monday, June 15, 2009

What Is IK? How Do I Animate in IK but Avoid "That IK Look" in Certain Situations?

Great question!

I'm a big IK guy. I like IK, I like working with it, and hate the counter-animation that I feel I have to do if I try to use FK for the arms.

Yeah, yeah - I know, I know. Everyone likes FK for the arms. Good for you. Maybe someday I'll join your FK cult, but for now, I'm an IK guy. :)

So, how do you use IK without letting them LOOK IK?

Well, as far as I'm concerned, you've hopefully done some planning and know what your poses are going to be on what frames, at least generally speaking. If that's the case, then you're just going to a frame, sculpting your pose, and then saving a key on everything, and then moving on to do the same thing a few frames later or whatever, right?

Hopefully, that is the way you are working. If you are only in the first five or six years of being an animator or are a student, then I strongly believe you SHOULD be working that way.

So, if that's the case, then sculpting a pose with IK arms should look exactly the same as sculpting it with FK arms, right? As long as you are carefully crafting your breakdown poses to control the arcs of the arms, the overlap and follow-through, etc, -- then the IK and FK versions of the shot look look EXACTLY the same. Your breakdown poses on the arms and torso will probably need to be different, depending on IK/FK, but the end result should be identical.

If you are getting some kind of "IK look," then my guess is that you are letting the computer do too much for you. Remember, the computer is the dumbest in-betweener on the planet, and it will ruin you every chance it gets! You have to use the computer's in-betweening abilities wisely, and that basically means not letting it go more than a few frames (max) without having a key on SOME part of your character.

Remember, YOU control the arcs that your character's wrists take. YOU control the way that arm moves and looks! Don't let the computer trick you into feeling lazy. It likes to whisper in your ear and say, "Hey buddy... you don't really want to save all those keys do you? Why don't you let me handle it for you? It'll be awesome, and you'll finish quicker! Trust me!"

Don't trust him! He's a liar!!! He's trying to fool you! Just tell him to mind his own business, and make sure you've put the appropriate breakdowns in place to create the arcs and paths of action you are expecting.

Shawn :)

Labels: animating in IK, Shawn Kelly

Posted at 10:40 AM 11 comments