CHARACTER ANIMATION 1

01/17/2007

Timing and spacing
Poses and frames, (24frms/sec). Timing is the total no of frms from pose 1 to pose 2. Spacing is how u get from point A to point B or pose 1 to pose 2.
Ease in, when it ends slow. Ease out is when it starts slow. Everything has ease in and ease out to a certain degree. In the case of the pendulum it will ease out slightly and then gets faster, when it goes to the other side (half way) it slows down and then starts to build momentum again on its way down.
Graph editor X is intensity (up and down), and Y is the timing or no. of frms (left and right).

Weighted tangents
Curves: weighted tangents
Keys: free tangent weights
Tangents can be broken, but don’t make the tangents too drastically different. When u break the tangent, u shift drag the tangent to make the tangent smaller (limits to the axis).
Insert key inserts a key without upsetting the curves tangency.
The buffer curve snapshot, allows u to take a snapshot of ur curve. The swap buffer curve switches it back to the original.

01/23/07

Assignment 1
Bouncing balls
Squash and stretch the first contact frame it is stretched and the next frame is squashed. The stretch starts as soon as the ball lifts off the ground. Also make sure the squash and stretch follows the arc, as in the stretch is in the direction of the arc.

Assignment 2
Drag and follow through box with tail eg ears in boundin by pixar
Same with an arm


Assignment 4
Norman rig looking to the right and he looks to the left and does a take as in a surprise look. Head turn, remember there is a little dip in the nose, watch the arc. blink in the turn.
Eg pixar animation of incredibles http://www.navone.org/HTML/Tutorial_DashTake.htm


Assignment 5
Only pelvis and below hide all else. step right to left no perspective, front view. Pay attention to weight.
Assignment 6
Keep working on the side step.

Assignment 7
Mike Kunkel excellent animator
Camera 720x486 bad guy on left good guy on rt
The character is and what he is doing
Think of the line of action. Break it down to a simple line. (book)
Remember the hot points….everyone loves hot points
Show depth, think of camera angles
Full character shots
Think of staging everything is kept at an angle to the horizontal and vertical of the frame
Gesture vs structure gesture is the outer line the structure is where the details are.
Squash and stretch in the pose
Straights vs curves

What do I have to pay attention to
• Pose should be clear
• Weight and Balance/forces (by showing opposing angles specially eye line is usually never horizontal always at an angle)
• Rhythm - dynamic shapes, (figure drawing) curves (fun-happy, angles-anger). Negative space inside the silhouette. Things flowing into each other. Everything connects. Fluidity
• Focus, where is the focus, the smile, the face, the hand
• Asymmetry

Feed back for poses

Assignment 8
Jump
Put in key poses, its not smooth its broken. Everything is on stepped keys. Contact frames

Start
Anticipate (antic to getting into squash)
Squash (antic to jump)
Stretch to jump
in the air (relaxed)
land (stretch)
land (squash)
rise over shoot
settle





POLISH

When he steps back roll back weight on the back leg and then shoot forward to show more. Arms anticipation is good too much. Body is too straight. Break body up from the beginning. Legs are lagging behind body….does not look like they r moving together. The legs will actually move first and then the body kinda follows.
Remember hips rotation not only in 1 axis but rotation in others to balance. Make back curve….watch ur action lines. When he bends, let his back arch. Make the body action lines opposing and arched. More time for anticipation. Foot in the beginning steps back very fast.
Break his arms so that it looks like it is dragging. Also do the shoulders when his arms are moving. Shoulders need to come up and rotate back when the arms move.
When he jumps, the leg that goes up that hip will go up. Look at the side step see how his hips are working in it. On high point take him higher his root should be where his shoulders are right now, and when he is reaching down turn his hips so that he is turned towards the camera. Remember the lag….everything has overlap and also everything is connected to each other. Head always be looking at the prize but have lag and overlap too.
The fall back the feet should happen in like four frames each, right now it is about 16 frames, cut it down to half.
PUSH PUSH PUSH

Walk Cycle
Homework

Do a walk cycle, in place key frame 1st frame and copy paste that on the 24th frame, but then shrink the time line to 23 frms. 12 is ur inbetween frame. Constant walk from frame1. look at Ref. full body, overlap, bounce. Generic walk. The foot thats out, that hip is out and the same shoulder is back. In the middle position the hip where the foot is on the ground is higher. Counter postal. Everything maintains balance. Pay attention to side and front view. It should look right from every angle. Contact points are on a line. Feet barely go of the ground. Animators survival kit
Contact pose is lower than the passing position. Widest position of the arms is not where we think it will be.
START WITH ROOT UP AND DOWN SIDE TO SIDE then move to the legs

Walk cycle
Foot going behind should start to turn up more on the toe.
Arc of foot should look like this
This means just before the foot contacts, lift it up a bit.

Rotation of the hips rotating forward starts 1 frame before legs to lead the legs. Also when the hips go up and down make it prominent. The feet should go in towards each other a little more in the passing position. Like cross the foot in front of each other, like when a model walks.
The arms are at their widest when the body takes the weight, just after the contact position.
The highest position is just after the passing position and the lowest is just after the contact position.
The knee leads the foot.
Look at the translate Z of the feet, make sure they don’t hit a wall.
Undulating whip feeling in the spine. V. IMP V. IMP make it subtle but it has to be in.
Don’t cross ur body with ur hands. It does cross but very little.
Do not do a Z translation to the root at all.
Arms move in a figure 8.

Specific remarks to me.
Increase Rot y in hips( front and back), rot z in hips look at the arcs, rt and lt not matching up, match curves.
Remove animation on the head if parent
Angle feet out slightly, bring feet tog during passing.
Shoulders need to be smooth,
Watch the back foot should continuously rolling up, and not roll up and then down
Cleaning up the curves, clean clean, clean