AM - Class 2 Starts !!
For Class Two, I got assigned to mentor John Nguyen.
John has been working in the industry for over 13 years, he worked at studios like Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Bros, Digital Domain, and Rhythm and Hues.
I'm sure its gonna be a great learning experience with John, wish me luck!!
John has been working in the industry for over 13 years, he worked at studios like Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Bros, Digital Domain, and Rhythm and Hues.
I'm sure its gonna be a great learning experience with John, wish me luck!!
AM - Class 2 / Week 1 - Lecture
CLARITY IN BLOCKING.
Blocking is setting up the foundation for a shot.
In order to sell the idea to your self or the director first you'll need to block it out , blocking should convey your thoughts
on the shot with a bunch of posses, this is the best way for you to know if your idea is working or not.
1 - Things you need to know before you start blocking:
-Understand the shot.
-What are my goals in this shot?
-What dose the shot calls for?
-What are the limitations in the shot?
-What is the duration of a shot?
2 - Once you answered all these questions, you can go a head & find / shoot a reference video for the action you're about
to animate, even if you know exactly what you need too do you still need to take this step because it will help you finding
this nice little gestures in the reference that you can slide into your shot to make it more interesting.
3 - The next step is to draw little thumbnails poses with the help of the reference, its good to accompany the drawings
with frame numbers to know on where each pose will fit in the timeline.
4 - Then you start blocking in Maya with Stepped Tangents keyframes.
5 - After you finish blocking, re time the posses in the timeline
6 - Push your posses further (exaggerate) to get the most out of each pose.
7 - convert your keyframes to liner, at this stage show your work to others ( director, colleague, wife ) to get feedback.
8 - After you're done with blocking here is a check list that you need to double tick:
-Dose the shot reads correctly??
-Are the posses looking interesting??
-Is the animation looking interesting??
If all the above are OK, you can proceed to the next steps, which is Blocking Plus, then Splining, and finally.. Polishing.
Have fun!
Blocking is setting up the foundation for a shot.
In order to sell the idea to your self or the director first you'll need to block it out , blocking should convey your thoughts
on the shot with a bunch of posses, this is the best way for you to know if your idea is working or not.
1 - Things you need to know before you start blocking:
-Understand the shot.
-What are my goals in this shot?
-What dose the shot calls for?
-What are the limitations in the shot?
-What is the duration of a shot?
2 - Once you answered all these questions, you can go a head & find / shoot a reference video for the action you're about
to animate, even if you know exactly what you need too do you still need to take this step because it will help you finding
this nice little gestures in the reference that you can slide into your shot to make it more interesting.
3 - The next step is to draw little thumbnails poses with the help of the reference, its good to accompany the drawings
with frame numbers to know on where each pose will fit in the timeline.
4 - Then you start blocking in Maya with Stepped Tangents keyframes.
5 - After you finish blocking, re time the posses in the timeline
6 - Push your posses further (exaggerate) to get the most out of each pose.
7 - convert your keyframes to liner, at this stage show your work to others ( director, colleague, wife ) to get feedback.
8 - After you're done with blocking here is a check list that you need to double tick:
-Dose the shot reads correctly??
-Are the posses looking interesting??
-Is the animation looking interesting??
If all the above are OK, you can proceed to the next steps, which is Blocking Plus, then Splining, and finally.. Polishing.
Have fun!
AM - Class 2 / Week 1 - Assignment
The first week's assignment was to choose one shot from a set of pick list, this shot will take us four weeks from
start to completion, I chose the ( About Face ) shot from the list.
We started now with planning, gathering references, shoot video reference acting the shot.
start to completion, I chose the ( About Face ) shot from the list.
We started now with planning, gathering references, shoot video reference acting the shot.
AM - Class 2 / Week 2 - Lecture
BLOCKING TO FINAL
This was another lecture that talks about animating a shot from Blocking all the way to the final stage.
It was hosted by Dimos Vrysellas who is a great animator, worked on a number of features like:
The Wiled, Shark Tale, Sindbad, Spirit, and The Prince of Egypt.
This was another lecture that talks about animating a shot from Blocking all the way to the final stage.
It was hosted by Dimos Vrysellas who is a great animator, worked on a number of features like:
The Wiled, Shark Tale, Sindbad, Spirit, and The Prince of Egypt.
AM - Class 2 / Week 2 - Assignment
The assignment was to block the shot I've picked and planed last week.
Since that the action in the shot was too fast, I had to block it on Twos ( set a keyframe every two frames )
Here is what I have..
Since that the action in the shot was too fast, I had to block it on Twos ( set a keyframe every two frames )
Here is what I have..
AM - Class 2 / Week 3 - Lecture
In-depth Look at Hips
In this lecture, Bobby takes a closer look (through real life references) at hips & how they move.
When we watch beginner animators reels we'll notice that the hips is often ignored!!
Well.. actually everything starts & drives from the hips, and to start understanding how hips moves you'll need to analyze
live footage & see how the weight is distributed between the hips and legs.
One thing to keep in mind is that the center of gravity is always above the point of suspension.
In a well balanced character pose; you should be able to draw a straight vertical line between the base of the neck and
the supporting foot on the ground.
Another thing is that the hips (in most cases) counter rotate the shoulders, this will make the pose rather appealing.
And like we always say, once we understand the principles of hips rotation, we can exaggerate it to serve the purpose of
that shot.
In this lecture, Bobby takes a closer look (through real life references) at hips & how they move.
When we watch beginner animators reels we'll notice that the hips is often ignored!!
Well.. actually everything starts & drives from the hips, and to start understanding how hips moves you'll need to analyze
live footage & see how the weight is distributed between the hips and legs.
One thing to keep in mind is that the center of gravity is always above the point of suspension.
In a well balanced character pose; you should be able to draw a straight vertical line between the base of the neck and
the supporting foot on the ground.
Another thing is that the hips (in most cases) counter rotate the shoulders, this will make the pose rather appealing.
And like we always say, once we understand the principles of hips rotation, we can exaggerate it to serve the purpose of
that shot.
AM - Class 2 / Week 3 - Assignment
This week's assignment was to spline out the shot from last week,
I felt that the blocking was too monotone, so I tried to break off the rhythm a little bit!!
Still I have one more week to work on this shot.. this is what I made so far..
I felt that the blocking was too monotone, so I tried to break off the rhythm a little bit!!
Still I have one more week to work on this shot.. this is what I made so far..
AM - Class 2 / Week 4 - Lecture
Walk-Through: Blocking to Final
Yet another lecture hosted by Ethan Hurd explaining his way of approaching a shot from start to finish.
Ethan is such an amazing animator, he animated on famous titles like Toy Story 2, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Open Season, Surf's Up, Bolt, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and Gnomeo and Juliet.
Its really cool to see professional animators walking us through there process of animating a shot..
They are humans!! just like us!!
Yet another lecture hosted by Ethan Hurd explaining his way of approaching a shot from start to finish.
Ethan is such an amazing animator, he animated on famous titles like Toy Story 2, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Open Season, Surf's Up, Bolt, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and Gnomeo and Juliet.
Its really cool to see professional animators walking us through there process of animating a shot..
They are humans!! just like us!!
AM - Class 2 / Week 4 - Assignment
This week we had to polish up the last shot to make it final, I got some comments on it looking slightly over animated so I had to tune things down a bit.
Also we started planing for a new shot that we'll be working on for the next three weeks, this week is only sketching and shooting / gathering video reference..
For the first time we're gonna animate Stu with no arms.. it will be fun!!
Also we started planing for a new shot that we'll be working on for the next three weeks, this week is only sketching and shooting / gathering video reference..
For the first time we're gonna animate Stu with no arms.. it will be fun!!
Line of Action.
Our mentor John Nguyen shared with as a very nice article that might be known for some but not for others!!
It talks about the line of action, and the Rule of Thirds..
Here, check it out!!
It talks about the line of action, and the Rule of Thirds..
Here, check it out!!
AM - Class 2 / Week 6 - Assignment
Splining last week blocked shot!
AM - Class 2 / Week 7 - Lecture
FORCE.
Animation is not about moving characters from point A to point B, we have to know why we're moving these characters,
& we have to think about the force behind the movement because : Nothing Moves Without a Force!
There are Two types of force:
External Force: like a character puling / pushing, jumping... etc..
Internal Force: tells you that the character is a live and making its own decisions.
While animating a certain action we DON'T just keyframe the main poses and let the computer figure out the in-betweens,
its up us Animators to direct the sequence of transforming between these poses, How we get from one pose to the other, What body parts are involved in the process, We need to make sure that the entire body of the character IS involved in the movement but each with different level of intensity..
So Force is what part of the body is moving first, and the parts that follows along, its setting up a sequence of energy being released through out the body to make the movement.
Its how we transition our characters from one place to the other, and that involves Lead & Follow, Timing, Path of Action, All the important animation principles that we're learning at AM.As for Internal Force its what's going in in the character's head displayed through external posing, its the acting, the personality, its the reaction in a certain situation.
A very good advice I got from Wayne Gilbert during the lecture: Animators should always have a reference to work with,analyze the motion in that reference, de-assemble it, study it carefully, then re-assemble it into your animation the way like it.
AM - Class 2 / Week 7 - Assignment
This week we had to wrap up the previous shot and plan for a new one, which is going to be our last shot for this term.
For the next shot we'll be using Stu with full body.
For the next shot we'll be using Stu with full body.
AM - Class 2 / Week 8 - Lecture
Arcs and Path of Action
Arcs & Path of Action are greatly related, they always go hand in hand with each other..
Every time there is a motion there is a path for that motion, that path is called path of action. The path of action -in most cases- has an arc shape. In animation we need to make that arc smooth & clean to add quality to the shot, bumpy path of action will weaken the animation no mater how good the character posing is.
If you watch any animated Disney movie you will notice that it has a very fluid feel to it, that's all because of smooth arcs & path of action, and that what makes Disney work so remarkable!
I personally never thought of tracking arcs in my animation before joining Animation Mentor, and was always wondering why my work looked so bad!! Now, I came to realize that it was all about two things: Arcs, and Path of Action.. along with solid character posing of course.
There is plenty of tools in Maya for Ghosting, and showing animation path, but I found the best way for tracing arcs is by drawing on my monitor with a dry wipe marker.. try it.. it really works :)AM - Class 2 / Week 8 - Assignment
As usual, I blocked the shot planed last week, it was harder than the others because it was the full rig of Stu..with 250 Frames to animate!
AM - Class 2 / Week 9 - Lecture
Timing & Spacing
To understand what is timing and what is spacing we'll go back to the bouncing ball example, Timing is when the
ball hits the ground, as for Spacing its how you place the in-between frames of the ball arcing through the air.
To further demonstrate, here is an illustration form Richard Williams book 'Animator's Survival Toolkit'
Quick notes:
- There are a number of elements that influence timing in a shot : Weight, External / Internal Force, Momentum, Animation Style.
- A great advice that all pros agree on is that Do Not let Maya make the in-betweens for you, if you do so the
spacing will look very even & boring, adding ease ins & ease out will make the spacing much more interesting.
- Tracking your in-betweens with a dry wipe marker (same like what I've mentioned in the last post) will help you
see and correct the pops in the spacing..
- Making simple changes in spacing & timing will make a huge difference in your shot.
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