- found @ Animated-News
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
FlipBook for iPhone and iPod Touch
Oh yeah! Head over to Flipbook.tv to learn more about it or watch the video below. The app is actually updated if you download it now. Little finessing of the menus, no landscape mode though, just portrait for now.FlipBook for iPhone and iPod Touch from Josh Anon on Vimeo.
Motion Capture Is Your Friend - by Shawn Kelly
There's an elitist vein of snobbery running through our industry right now, where some "keyframe" artists like to stand up on their pedestal and look down their noses at animators working with mocap. Some of these animation purists even have the unbelievable audacity to proclaim themselves the only "true" animators, and that animators working on photorealistic films such as Lord of the Rings or performance captured films such as Beowulf are not "animators" at all, but rather some tech-heads doing grunt work or something.
How quickly they've forgotten that not so long ago, the 2D animation industry was saying the exact same thing about them!
Read the whole article @ CG Tantra
Monday, July 28, 2008
Head Squash & Stretch
I remember when "Over the Hedge" came out how people complained about the squishiness factor of their heads (I admit, I was one of them..). Need real life proof? Watch this:
Ok, still, head scaling should be very subtle during pose transitions, but isn't this clip FANTASTIC?
Ok, still, head scaling should be very subtle during pose transitions, but isn't this clip FANTASTIC?
Reference
Just like the Facial Animation & Lipsync post, this one will be a list of fellow animators' use of Reference, how they go about it.
Jeff Cooperman posted a great overview on how he uses reference.
A new post that popped up is Michal's over @ splinedoctors, which you should definitely check out.
Another recent one is Shawn Kelly's webinar, in which he explains his use of reference, step by step.
These posts are about what tools you can use to find reference, what you should look for in your reference. and my use of reference.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Critique: Gear Change
I have a few question as follows:
1. is it too long? (17sec)
2. is the final pose ok? change too fast?
3. the monkey hand is gone?
Hey,
1. It is very long, yes. But for this clip I think it's okay because you don't want to rush things.
3. The monkey hand is almost gone. :) But it still looks like a grab. You need to have a pose like x155 on his hand and then move the hand as if the object was really hot. He's hesitating, not grabbing.
When he grabs the object, you need a facial reaction before he moves back and lets go. I would squint his eyes at the end as he tries to look into the thing, then he sees what's inside, opens his eyes real wide and then goes into what you have at x204.
You can also get to the reaction at x260 sooner. I would have it around x236. Just cut that pause and move your animation so that 260 happens at 236.
When he's in his pose at x294, add little eye darts, like he is processing what he has done, instead of just being still like that. Don't extend the shot, just add more thinking.
2. Final pose is good. The change is good too, he wants to pretend that everything is okay, so he needs to get into that pose quickly so people don't realize what he did. But you could speed up how he looks up during 310 to 322.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Clean Up Day
Today a cleaning crew comes by and transforms our work area into a fresh new habitat. Given how many times I ate at my desk (especially now during overtime), I'm glad Mr. Vacuum is coming by. But it also forced me to take everything off my desk and my cubicle walls because of the dusting, which means that all my nerdy little things found a new (temporary) home on cozy bookshelves and similar constructions. So what you get is this:
And this:
As well as this:
Which for the most part is the same as before, just way more crammed. It is a scary reminder of how much stuff (and crap) I have. I'm seriously thinking about selling most of this, keeping only the sweetest of the sweetest, like the Rancor. But then I think of those awesome Batman figures...
And then the cartoony Star Wars maquettes... Samurai Jack... more Star Wars figures... and all the little cool gizmos which are hidden behind the maquettes on the shelves right now. But would I REALLY miss them? Lately I've been going back and forth. Keeping... Selling... I know, these are life changing decisions, I know... But before I sell anything, I need to get that kneeling Darth Vader, I really like that one. Later this year I should be getting this crazy Indiana Jones statue. Ahh... it will never end... Until then here some more pics:
For a while I took a lot of fancy, posed pictures of the Batman and Animated SW Maquettes ones, I should post those one of these days.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Animation Mentor Newsletter - July 2008
Animation Art of Bobby Pontillas
This is a cool silhouette picture that I found on Bobby Pontillas' blog. Head over there for more information about it. In that post is also a fun clip he did about a basketball player, check that one out as well.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Facial Animation & Lipsync
Besides the tips that I gave you in class...
(in short: keep it simple, no need to animate every letter and sound - test out the audio while talking with your hand under your chin to see where the extremes are, avoid the skeleton jaw claciticlac look- don't forget arcs in the corner of the mouth - don't pop your lips within one frame (for example on a "B" sound), make it read, don't make it real - play around with lip squishiness, so when you open your jaw, the clips stay closed for a few frames and then open, same thing when closing the mouth - add asymmetrical shapes, a smile doesn't have to look the same on both sides of your face - don't be afraid to animate the mouth and face outside of the dialogue, a pause in the audio doesn't mean that the face goes dead - when you're done, slip the dialogue 1 frame early as a test, it's sometimes a lot better - etc.)
... I started to look for tutorials and tips online and as always, there's a lot of good stuff out there.
First, Keith Lango's "Principles for Lipsync Animation".
Then there's a post on Spline Doctors - "Subtlety in the Face"
You also have Shawn Kelly's "21 Principles of Lipsync Animation".
From Shawn as well you get the post: Animation Mentor Tips & Tricks: The Face
Continuing with the face you got tips about eyebrows in Carlos Baena's resource section.
Another Spline Doctor post about "Eyes in Animation"
Leif's deconstruction of a blink.
If you know of other tips and tutorials, add them in the comments section.
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