Dirt - Controlled Sloppiness

This post is exploring an area where keep alive is taken a step further into a messier realm and where even normal movements, which traditionally follow beautiful arcs, get the occasional hiccup. I can't think of a formal name for this, I usually just say "Dirty up the animation", or "Add some dirt...". Adding "dirt" to your animation is basically the license to be sloppy, but it's controlled sloppiness. It doesn't mean you can now stop cleaning up your animation or forgo polish. Even in chaos there is logic, so think of "dirt" as another layer of polish. Adding "dirt" doesn't change your animation dramatically, there won't be a wow effect once you apply it. It's more of a subtle addition to your animation, but it can make a difference style wise.

Speaking of layers, the latest version of Maya allows you to add animation layers, which can make this process a lot easier. If you don't have layers, or extra controllers above your main controllers, etc. don't worry about it, the principles are the same, regardless of the tools.

This is by no means a definite how-to, but more of an insight into how I go about it. It's probably all wrong and backwards, so feel free to leave comments if you have any questions or suggestions.

When and why do you add dirt?

I usually start adding dirt when a character is not moving that much, for instance when a character is just standing around. Or to specific body parts that are still, so they don't stop moving and freeze up. You can also go a step further and go beyond keep alive and add dirt to certain movements, in order to get rid of the clean CG look. But it all depends on the look and style of the project. You don't always need dirt, nor do you always have time and money to add much detail to your animation. Depending on the style, you can actually get away with a lot (... or nothing).

For instance South Park:

The style is simple, so any fancy animation isn't needed, it would just add a funny contrast. Funny enough though, there is more "dirt" in a south park episode than in one of my childhood shows, Knights of the Zodiac (a.k.a. Saint Seiya).

cool pose on that toy

Here are two clips:

The animation is minimal, a few key poses and holding the last pose until a new movement starts. Common for TV animation. Super smooth animation would be cool, but is not needed. Photo real animation would be weird though. All in all, the animation fits the style, although it is VERY minimal (more so than South Park at times). There are other moments in the show where the animation is more complex and it wouldn't hurt to be like that throughout the whole show, but that is usually not possible on a TV budget.

The more (photo-) real a character (and the environment) looks like though, the more detail needs to go into your animation. The movements have to have more life like timing and complexity, otherwise there is a jarring disconnect between style and animation. You obviously don't have to agree with that statement and I'm sure that there are exceptions out there that will prove me wrong. It's just my opinion. And yes, I know, story goes a long way. At the end of the day, who cares about how it looks if the story is great? I'm a huge fan of South Park: The Movie and that movie sure got away with a lot.

To me the disconnect starts when you have that much (realistic) detail:

... combined with stylized design:


... and exaggerated animation like this:

I like the design by itself and the animation is great, but compared to the level of render detail (especially compared to the environment), the animation is too stylized for me. All you have to do is tone down the detail level and bring it "down" to "Burn Safari" level (which is not meant in a negative way):

And here the clip:

Even here you could go simpler look wise. But again, that's just my personal preference and I can imagine that I'm in the minority with that opinion, since pretty much all feature movies are going for a near photo real look despite the cartoony animation:

(look at the texture on the tongue)

(click on the images for a larger version)

This pet peeve of mine is not just focused on the render, but extends to areas which are simulated, like cloth and hair (as well as water, smoke, fire, etc. etc.). I wish that hair for instance was animated to flow with a purpose, just like the character instead of just being a cold sim. I know, I know, do you really want animation controls on hair, cloth, water or fire? Well, to be honest, sometimes yes, for specific moments, but I understand the technical difficulties of adding these features. Anyway, enough ranting.

[I started this tutorial a long time ago I had ample time to discuss my said preference with friends and coworkers and it really looks like I'm the only one that has this "problem". Hahahaha! Oh well. And no, it's not a dealbreaker for me. It's not like I'm not going to watch a movie because of it or it diminishes the quality of the movie.]

It's all about the style of the project (I'll repeat this a lot throughout this post), so be careful about how much dirt you're going to add. Does it fit the style?

Here's another turnaround example from The Incredibles:

Definitely more complex then South Park and Saint Seiya. :) Both the scared thief and Bob keep moving even though they are just standing there and it works well with the style. Clearly the thief has to move more (the scare is not a shock) but either way, if you would hold the pose without any keep alive, they would look dead.

Let's look at an even more realistic example style wise. For instance Beowulf:

(click in images to see them in hires)

As you can see the look is very real, so to me the animation has to mirror that. It would look ridiculous to have super snappy cartoony or minimal animation with a look like that. I can't imagine you would disagree. The animation has to be as real as possible and this example clip works really well (whether you like the mocap approach or not, and yes, you might as well shoot it as a live-action movie).

Pay attention to both hands. If you would track the arcs and the spacing, it would be very jittery. The sword arm after the turnaround has a nice dirty settle. The second part, where he suddenly looks up screen right has a nice stutter in his head and chest. These imperfections make it more life like and believable. The style of movement fits the style of the character and environment. But if you go for such a realistic style, you will have to work extra hard to make the facial features work, so all the dirt and imperfections and twitches, etc. that humans have need to be in there, otherwise your character dies.

So think about the style and medium before you start putting a lot of dirt in your animation. Again, it's not always needed, it all depends on the style:

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So. Now to the technical aspect.

Where do you add dirt?

- root
- head
- arms (hands)
- legs (feet)

I don't really add dirt to shoulders, the hips or the face. Depending on how close the camera is to your character, you could add some dirt to those parts, as well as the fingers (or jaw during certain moments), but that gets into a very detailed aspect where you take it as far as realism (or your client) dictates it. It's more about the basic look and feel, don't overdo it.

Most of the time I add it to the root, the head and the arms. That gets you pretty far. Depending on the action (once you go outside of just the "adding dirt to a hold" realm), you might have to add it to feet and hands, for instance during steps and grabs. This is where I sometimes overlap dirt with regular detail work or polish. After a while the techniques start to bleed into each other, but more on that later.

How do you add dirt?

Either directly using the rig's controllers or by adding keys in the graph editor and tweaking the curves from there. It all depends on the motion and how comfortable you are with this process.

For some actions you can even use a "set random keys" script, like "Shaker". Wait, there is a script that can help me out? Yes, but you still have to do a lot of work on your own (if you have a channel in Maya that is locked, Shaker will barf on you, so make sure that your Translate and Rotate channels are unlocked).

Hold on, did it say "random" in the above paragraph? I thought every movement in animation needs to have a purpose? Well, to me, yes and no. Sure, every little move can be motivated by breathing, muscle spasm, weight shifts, etc. so technically the dirt you put in is not random. But that's going too far in terms of analyzing the movement. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not going to rationalize every little move of my character. For example, stretch your arm out and point to something with your index finger. Now look at the tip of the finger. It's moving around. Randomly. That's good enough for me. So my keys will be random as well. :)

No matter what though, get your basic animation done first. The dirt layer gets added during the polish phase. You don't want to spend all that time adding detail before your blocking has been approved (by yourself, the lead, supervisor, client, etc. ). So:

• planning
• blocking
• refining <= here's where you're adding dirt

Depending on the project or client, you might not have time to add dirt, because your schedule could look like this:

• planning
• blocking
• redo blocking
• redo blocking
• redo blocking
• redo blocking
• ...
• there is time for refinement?

So don't waste time on that awesome ambient move of your character's left pinkie before you nail down the basic performance!

And when do you add it again exactly?

• whenever a body part is not moving for added keep alive
• whenever a body part is holding a pose to avoid a "frozen" look
• whenever your character quickly transitions from pose A to pose B and stays in pose B for a while for a more life like settle
• etc.

You're basically adding complexity to movements, transitions, settles, etc.

• once you are used to the process: during posing of your character to get away from the default pose
  

The more comfortable you get with the process the more you will start sneaking in dirt during the blocking stage (in small amounts though and during low-action movements), but again, get your basic animation right. The foundation has to be solid before you start adding detail stuff.

So how does this look like?

Alright, let's look at a few examples.

• whenever a body part is not moving for added keep alive

For instance: a character is just standing around. This is a good opportunity to use the above mentioned script, "Shaker".

As you can see, all I'm adding is random movement to the body, so it doesn't look dead. The character isn't doing anything, there are no arcs I need to preserve. This is just basic keep alive and for that kind of work the script is great. You'll also notice that the movement is very subtle. It's more about feeling it than seeing it. No movement at all on a CG model can make it look dead (depending on the style of course), so any little movement will help. There is no mathematic rule as to how much or how little dirt you need to add, that's up to your judgment and/or the person you're working for.

Once you get used to the process you don't really need the script anymore because you're faster at setting random keys by hand. Here's a clip with the default Shaker settings (except shot length) on the left, then with adjusted curves to get more of what we want in the middle and on the right the whole thing done by hand.

The more you use dirt in your animation, the more you get a feeling of where and when to add it, so that after a while you won't have to use the script, except if it saves you time. Imagine your character is just standing around like that for 1000 frames. You'd either do a little section as a cycle and then copy/paste the animation, or set your script to run for the whole shot length, but you wouldn't add random keys to your curves and controllers by hand for the duration of the shot.

Even when adding dirt, you want to start with the basics and then adjust the movement depending on the camera, character position, etc. Here's a vidcap of the basic setup, where I set random keys on the body controller, arms, head and chest. You can then adjust the keys in the graph editor to get the movement you need, or you move the body parts directly. Either way won't be perfect from the get go, you will always have to adjust and rescale the keys.

(this clip is long and pretty boring, but I added it for those who really want to see everything)

You will also see that the added dirt in a full body shot can be too much once your character is closer to the camera. The further away from camera the character is, the less detail is needed of course, so don't go crazy with all the dirty work for something you won't see. Always be aware of what your shot needs and where you're character is. You don't want to spend precious time adding dirt and forget that your character is hidden by something or someone.

And there are moments where you know you will have to exaggerate it more in order to be felt/visible. Camera moves can really force you to go beyond what you think should work because whatever subtlety you have in your animation might get canceled out by the camera move. Here's the same idle character but with a moving camera:

As you can see the added dirt/keep-alive is invisible, so you'll have to adjust your animation.

Let's move on to another example.

• whenever your character quickly transitions from pose A to pose B and stays in pose B for a while for a more life like settle

For instance: a character is pointing at something.

As you can see the differences are subtle but the feel is different. Now, adding all that messiness can make the character look older maybe, not as forceful, or having the extended arm move around could take the focus away from the face, etc. etc. so make sure that the added dirt doesn't compromise the original intention of the shot.

What about:

• whenever a body part is holding a pose to avoid a "frozen" look

A good example would be the above Madagascar clip, where Alex has a slight drift in his arms and body before he gets out of that pose. Without that subtle move the character would feel frozen and dead. Again, depending on the style and focus, you can dirty up that pause/drift if needed. It can be any gesture or pose that is being held for a few beats.

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This next part is blurring the line between animation detail and dirt addition. When you have movements like a step or a hand plant, you want to make sure that you don't reveal any IK solutions or have the feet/hands locked (of course you might have no choice depending on the style or time constraint, budget, etc.).

But adding detail and complexity to such a move is just part of the polish phase and something that you should be aware of as an animator, dirt or not. So it's not quite accurate to call this dirt, but I still do it. And this is where the blurry part comes in. For some it's just a normal thing to add to their animation. I'm just used to say: "Make that step dirtier." or "Dirty up that hand plant."

So for the step it would be something like this:

The more you add dirt and complexity to it, the more you alter the original vision (for instance if you add a little side step), so make sure that you don't add too much, unless your lead, supe, client, etc. is okay with it.

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Don't forget: don't overdo it. Keep the animation style in mind. Don't apply dirt to all body parts, only to the areas that are needed. If you can feel it more than see it, that's okay! And here a little cheat sheet:

That's it! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Hopefully it made sense. :)

Cheers
JD

I can animate, now what? - pt. 2

So after I can animate, now what? pt.1 I had an idea for pt. 2, but there were some great questions posted in the comments section, so I thought I'd answer those (as best as I can) as an additional part.

"It's really exciting to reach that level where you really have to think about performance only" - Can you give a rough estimate of how many hours sat behind a computer animating it would take to get to this stage?

Unfortunately no. It is so subjective, there is no time line or time estimation that you can use. If I say "a lot of hours", what does that mean? For some people "a lot" is 9 hours a day, for others it's 15 hours a day. And for some 3 hours are a lot, because what if you have a day job plus a family? Within that world 3 hours spent on animation alone is a lot.

Then you have to consider the individual animators. Some are really talented and it's just in their blood. Others are not that gifted and need to make up for it with a lot of work. So again, "a lot" is very subjective.

But I am going to make an assumption that if you've never done any type of animation and you're just starting out, regardless of how talented you are, it will still take "a lot" of hours. It won't happen overnight.

What's important I think is to get a lot of feedback from people regarding your work. You need to be able to accept critique, regardless of how harsh it might be. Find out what works and what doesn't by asking people for feedback. Don't think that you're the greatest animator and that you don't need help, because as you're thinking this someone is graduating from school at the same time who is already better than you are. Accept it and don't be above feedback. You will always learn something new.

I would suggest you try out different ways of planning and blocking out your animation. Find a workflow that won't hold you back.

And finally: practice, practice, practice.

Also, if you can give a basic structure of how you would effectively go about attaining this level of skill (i.e a list of exercises to master in a hierarchical order of difficulty) that would be really great.

Start small. Start with the basics. I always recommend the bouncing ball. I would read the post "What should I animate? pt. 2" for a good list and order of exercises.

Basically practice until you have a very good grasp of the technical aspect of animation, so that you can concentrate on the performance instead of having to concentrate on the technique. It's about the why, not the how. The motivation of a character is more important than how he is moving. You can have beautiful animation from a technical point of view, but if the audience can't connect with character, can't identify, if your character has no personality, then what's the point?

Do you simply recommend more practice,practice,practice and study?

Yes, yes, yes and yes.

But again, some people don't have to study as much as other people. Some just dive right into it and are able to do it. Others need more studying.
I love reading and studying about human behaviour, movement, acting, etc. A lot of stuff is not applicable to animators, but it's still really interesting to me to do research. But the best study is the observation of every day life. I would put that on my #1 thing to do.

Would you say some people may just not reach a point where their animation is that good?

I wouldn't say never and it also depends on how you define "good". "Good" on a feature movie is different than "good" for a TV show or video game or whatever. It depends on the deadlines, the budget, the target audience, etc.
I think with a lot of practice anybody can reach a technical level that is good. But what sets people apart is what comes after that. It's the acting ideas, the creativity. Some people are just mindblowingly good at coming up with interesting choices.
But I can imagine that there might be a few animators out there who will struggle for a while. It's not for everybody. But I wouldn't give up.

I realized after posting that feedback is also probably very important to your development as an animator. Otherwise, I sense that you can keep making the same mistakes over and over and not really figure out what your doing wrong without A LOT of observation.

That is absolutely true. I mentioned it before but it's worth repeating it again. Get feedback!! Ask friends for feedback. Go to forums online for feedback, use the 11secondclub, etc.

Once you work in a professional environment it's as if you're getting a second education. At least that's how it was for me. When you sit in dailies and you see those amazing shots and you hear how veterans take the shots apart and how the team comes up with ideas to make them better, it's a revelation. You learn so much at work, it's fantastic. Definitely bring your notebook to dailies, even if you are not presenting a shot.

Your probably going to tell me 'Hey, Animation Mentor offers just that kind of critique!' but I've already been through their entire program once and certainly can't afford to do it again! I thought it was a great school but being a complete novice when I started it wasn't until I was someway through the course that I started to 'get-it' in regards to the principles, workflow and even a firm handle on the software, etc. that my animation started to improve.

I would say that this will happen no matter where you go. If you're a novice then the first lessons or courses or books you're reading won't make as much sense as they will a few months into it. That's unfortunately the price that you have to pay.

Obviously the best case scenario would be that you know the software by heart and that you already understand the principles of animation before you start a serious animation education. But how many people can afford that approach (not just financially but also time wise)?

But now that you "got it" you're free to think about the character. Why is he/she/it doing this? What did the character do before that shot? What will come after? In what state is the character? What is the character thinking while doing what he/she/it is doing? etc.

- pic source

I can animate, now what? - pt. 1

My first character animation class was in Fall 2002 at the AAC (before it was the AAU) with Lisa Mullins and she told me early on to think beyond the animation, to really understand and think about why the character is doing something as opposed to how.

I'm mentioning this for multiple reasons (which might not be important, I'm just mentioning it anyway):

Looking back at that first class and then fast forwarding to where I'm at now, I can see specific changes in my attitude towards animation and this job as a whole.

First, in school, it's all about the demo reel. You're spending tons of time in the lab or at home (or wherever your work computer is), with your fellow students and everybody is concentrated on their reel. You live for those shots and it's awesome.
Then, once you get the job, it's all about the first show and your shots. You're spending tons of time at work with your fellow co-workers and everybody is concentrated on their shots. You live for those shots and this time it's even more awesome, because those shots will be seen by tons of people, you'll have your name in the credits, your parents and friends will be proud of you and all that hard work is paying off.
After a while, you realize that the shots you're working on are not meant to be on your reel, they are for the client. And slowly but surely you're detaching yourself completely from the shots, in order to give 100% regardless of the complexity or the difficulty of a project or shot. You truly learn how to kill your babies (or whatever the saying is).

Now, with my first show as a lead animator, I'm getting a fascinating insight into how team work really has to play out. You're always aware of how each discipline depends on each other from the moment you start your first job, but obviously there is much more to it and it's really interesting to go through that experience. Personally, I'm surprised to see myself being ok to animate less and to help out more. Not that I don't want to help, far from it, but I love animating and I expected myself to really miss the animation workload. But the new responsibilities are a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot, so there's definitely no room for complaints.

Now, what does that have to do with "I can animate, now what?"?. Well, it relates to your learning process as an animator. Just like a job path is structured and goes through phases, you will realize that your learning experience goes through phases as well.

First, you start your first class/semester/learning session and you're discovering what is needed to animate your character. You're spending tons of time reading everything related to animation in order to get a grasp of the principles (and software, unless you use another tool). You live for animation and it's awesome. :)

So at first it's about the technique, the tools, the principles, etc. etc. but there will be a moment where you'll have mastered the technique. You'll obviously keep learning and perfecting that technique, but once you reach that phase, you're free to think about performance only. To me it's like where the major feature companies currently are. Every studio has insanely talented animators. I haven't seen Monster vs. Aliens yet, Bolt was the last one and the opening shot with the puppies was just AMAZING! So now that the animation quality is the same, it's all about the story.

It's really exciting to reach that level where you really have to think about performance only. It's also really cool to see how my students reach that level. It's so liberating for everybody when "all" you have to say is "Give this head turn a bit more intensity." and you don't have to explain how to go about that. It's all about the why, not the how. And that's what's what, once you know how to animate. :)

Now your primary question is: What is my character thinking?

It's easy to be lazy at this point and just care about arcs and polish. Push yourself to go beyond movement! Always think about who your character is, what happened before and what will happen after your shot, why is your character doing what he/she/it is doing, etc.

This really applies to every move you animate. If a guy is grabbing a glass, that animation will be different if the guy is drunk, nervous, angry, tired, etc. etc. Don't just animate a head turn, think about the timing of it, how it will change the feel. Again, what is the character thinking during that moment?

- pic source

What should I animate? - pt.2 exercises

Alright, so this is an extension to the "What should I animate?" post, which was focusing more on the demo reel side. But what if you don't care about the reel, what if you just want to practice and treat the shot as an exercise? What should you animate then? You can easily create a list of things, just keep the shot short. It's also up to you to add complexity to it. So let's see:

Bouncing ball

• pure physics
• physics with tail
• obstacle course
  

=> same as before but with added squash and stretch
=> same as before but with added character

Human

• walk
• run
• sneak
  

=> expand cycle into unique shot

Body Mechanics

• jump
• fall
• tumble
• faint
• getting out of/into chair
• walking up/down stairs/ladder
• getting/climbing over obstacle
• swinging from something to something
• lifting/carrying/pulling/pushing something heavy/medium/light
• any athletic activity
• fights (punch/kick/slap/martial arts)
  

For instance walking/running/stumbling down the stairs. I once found this image @ vvkonline and what a great set for that exercise (not saying that you should rip him off!).


Specific gestures/movements with a goal in mind, not just mechanics

• grabbing something, for instance getting a drink, but the acting changes depending on the emotion (bored/thirsty/shy/etc.)
• putting a hat on (or any other clothing)
• putting something together (puzzle piece/maquette/decoration)
• opening/closing a door
• getting in or out of something (car/bathtub/rainy spot/etc.)
  

So let's say you're animating someone putting on a hat. You might think "What? That's boring.". Well, can you do it as well as shown in this clip?

watch the clip here

Emotional takes/gear changes

• switch from one emotion to another

Pantomime

• expresse emotions through body/facial acting only, no sound

Audio/facial

• get used to sticking to a certain timing, pick short sentences or even just words, shouts, sigh, grunts, laughter, cry and animate the face only (upper body as well, treat it as a close up)
• full body acting
• longer dialogue
• longer dialogue involving complex emotions
• two+ person dialogue
  

If you've done all that and feel bored then take any section and combine it with another one:
- tennis player looses his game, screams in frustration and breaks his raquet, then falls on his knees. He starts walking on his knees towards the referee, begging him to change the score, the referee doesn't care. Player gets up and stomps away while the other player in the background is surrounded by photographers and fans lusting for autographs. You can add sound to that and break the action up into separate shots for a sequence.

Now, that's just for a biped. You have the whole animal kingdom to explore as well. You can treat the animals as real ones and go through mechanics and movements or combine animal movements with anthropomorphic behaviour.

Again, if you start mixing exercises across all sections the possibilities are endless.

There are many more exercises, so feel free to add your ideas in the comments section.

Cheers
JD

Acting Reference - Flawless

I'm a big fan of heist movies, just like time travel and vampire movies. It doesn't really matter how bad they are, I still watch them. Fortunately "Flawless" wasn't that bad, but I wasn't blown away by it either. What was really cool though was the production design and camera work. Especially the opening of the movie had many shots which stood out in terms of composition and staging.

For instance Demi Moore's clear silhouette thanks to the brighter background.

These following shots stood because of the clear dividing lines, order, clear vanishing points, etc.

This sequence was also very cool because of all the straight vertical lines, highlighting and emphasizing the structure, order and rigidity of the bank by using both the set and the actors.

There's one shot in this sequence that made me really laugh. Demi Moore is oppressed by this male working environment, where her ideas are either unrecognized or exploited. So in this shot it establishes the geography of the scene. The boss screen left, her in the middle, and the advisors on the right. Already here she's surrounded by everybody, no escape, very prison like.

Line of action is established of course, he's talking to the right and she's talking to the left. He has enough room screen right in order to make the shot comfortable.

Same here, she has enough room screen left, so you think all is well.

Ah no. The vultures are right there, hugging the left screen border, making it look uncomfortable. The look on their faces is awesome as well. She's being scrutinized by those guys with no sign of escape.

This part I liked because of Michael Caine's walk and how he contorts his face (nice asymmetry). He's usually playing strong characters, so it was fun to see him act this way.

This next one I liked because of the detail. He's super nervous so obviously his hand is shaking. So what does he do? He uses his other hand to keep it steady. I know, super small thing, but I like stuff like that.

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