Animating on Steps

For the last two posts, I brought up articles on animating in 3D similar to the way a 2D animator would do. One of the things that 2D animator do not have is the luxury of automatic inbetweens. Is that a blessing or a curse? I believe it's a blessing to a trained animator and people who has to produce quantity animation on deadlines. However, it should be used on the foundation of 2D animation, meaning, we shouldn't just set key poses and breakdowns, and then let the computer do all the inbetweens. Instead, we should think like a 2D animator - add in ALL the necessary drawings that are needed to make the animation flow the way the animator intended, and in step mode, only smoothing it when the stepped animation looks good enough on its own. The change from step to spline mode should also be made in parts, such as, the spine first, then the head, continue with the legs next and finally the arms. All other secondary animation are to be done after the main parts are finished, and do the facial animation last. Splining everything at once will create confusion and takes more time and effort to troubleshoot.

I found Wal-Mart animation notes from Kyle Dunlevy who talked about his experience animating the commercials for Wal-Mart. Here's what he said:

#2. Step keys?

 - I know lots of people animate on step keys. And I've heard it said many times that it's the best way to go. I have to admit, I am becoming a believer and that method worked well for me during this production. Here's the idea: Using step keys is the closest to the 2D method of animating. If you want to see a breakdown, you have to create it. When spline or linear keys are used, the computer creates its own breakdowns. Of course, we can always go back and adjust those breakdowns..BUT...and here's the thing; once we've seen those computer breakdowns, our brain has to work extra hard to decide what it should look like. Perhaps we are better off relying on ourselves to come up with, and understand each breakdown.

Kyle has also posted the Robinhood animation notes which talks about his take on the animation process.

For those who are interested in knowing more about animation workflows, here's another one -  Puss in Boots by Justin.

'Developing Your 2D Eye!' by Mike Walling

Often times, when an animator animates in 3D, he/she does the contact poses and breakdowns, and the inbetweens are being handled by the computer. The animator then spends time to fix the floaty in-betweens and the overshoots. If the result looks good, the animator has a tendency to move on to the next shot. However, I find that the result tends to be mediocre at best, especially after the project is long over and I have a fresh eye to look at it again.

The reason is that the computer smoothes out everything. It does not have the ability to think about the spacing as an animator would. Therefore, it is important to learn how a 2D animator works. The excerpt below is from Mike Walling:

When a 2d animator does his scene he has to draw every frame. Every frame he draws has to be perfectly spaced, timed and drawn to make the scene work and the motion smooth. When most 3d animators do their scenes they pose out the character and figure out the spacing and workout all of the antics and so fourth, BUT they do one thing that could potentially make their scene weak. They let the computer do a majority of the imbetweening. What Mike was talking about in my review was me taking the time to look at every frame and making sure that there was a readable appealing pose. Not just letting the computer do the work but touching every frame much as a 2d animator would have to.

To view the article, click here.

'3D Animation Workflow' by Mike Walling

Recently, I taught a class on character animation and most of the students had difficulty when they moved from the blocking stage to the splining stage. Everything that seemed great in blocking turned into a nightmare when they were splined. Even though I tried to explain the workflow as clearly I could, it just wasn't easy.

Today, I found a workflow explanation from Mike Walling and it had a great explanation. It basically nailed the general workflow of 3D animation, which is probably used by lots of animators. Be sure to read the full article.

Beautiful Animation Test by Somboun S.

The above clip was done by Somboun Souannhaphanh using Digicel Flipbook. The poses and gesture were beautiful, and the timing was spot on. It reminded me of the great Disney animations, Jane from Tarzan in particular. I just can't stop watching it.

Ice Age 3: Buck - From Easel to Weasel

I found another character development clip, and this time it's Buck, the weasel character in Ice Age 3. The clip shows how the designers come up with the design, and how Simon Pegg did the voice-overs for the character.

Click here to view the clip.

'The Making of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Trailer' by Blur Studio

I have had the chance to attend the making of 'Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning' trailer conducted by Blur Studio at Gnomon in December 2008. Prior to the event, I remember watching the trailer at GameTrailers.com and it was such an amazing cinematic. As game cinematics usually serve the purpose of introducing the game to the audience, most of them try to tell the story over a short few minutes. However, Warhammer Online's trailer was quite the opposite. It was longer than usual and contain not only the introductory narration to the game setting, but a long battle scene that spawns hundred and thousands of troops on both sides of the war fighting against each other. Then there was the memorable scene of the high elf ranger fighting the towering enemy. Last but not least, the appearance of the most charismatic female, dark elf mage. When the cinematic ended, I felt that was one of the most satisfying game cinematic I ever saw.

Going back to the Gnomon event, Blur Studio came and did a 2 hours presentation on how they approached the project. It was great to see how they tackled the technical hurdles, and Sze Jones, the modeler and designer of the female, dark elf mage, did a detailed explanation of how she created the model from the design stage to the final render. I learnt quite a lot that evening.

Character Design

I came across a clip on YouTube called Chicken Joe's character build and development which shows how Sony Pictures Animation approached the character building of it. There's also another clip on Cody Maverick. Although the clips are very short, it's nice to be able to see how studios approach the character design stage.

For those interested in learning more about character designs, 'Creating Characters with Personalities' by Tom Bancroft is a great book to read and study, which, in my opinion, should be part of every animation schools' textbook collection. You can also find lots of helpful information on the web. Below are some of the links.

Tips and advice:
'Character Design 2: Prime' (deviantart.com)
'Tips for Creating a Unique Character Design' (johnkstuff.blogspot.com)
'20 Character Design Tip' (compterarts.co.uk)

Light reading:
'Confessions of a Lazy Character Designer' (by Mark Kennedy)
'Character Design 1: The Character Design Fallacy' (johnkstuff.blogspot.com)
'Designing Up: Well-Rounded Boy, Meet Old Square' (New York Times article)
'Character Design' (from amateurillustrator.com)

The 12 Principles of Animation

Many beginning animators usually have a tough time creating good animation, not because of the software, but because they lacked the information on what makes an animation good. According to the "Illusion of Life" by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, it is the '12 principles of animation' that forms the fundamental principles of animation.

  1. Squash and stretch

  2. Anticipation

  3. Staging

  4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

  5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action

  6. Slow In and Slow Out

  7. Arcs

  8. Secondary Action

  9. Timing

  10. Exaggeration

  11. Solid Drawing

  12. Appeal

I've also come across a video tutorial from traptcg.com that explains how the above principles work. As for those who love animation and aspire to be one, you should definitely consider investing in the book as it is considered to be the bible of animation.

How Pixar Built Toy Story 3

Wired magazine has published an article entitled 'Animation a Blockbuster: How Pixar Built Toy Story 3'. Although the article's main point was on the 4 years' making of the movie, I actually found the following article more interesting:

"Pixar’s secret? Its unusual creative process. Most of the time, a studio assembles a cast of freelance professionals to work on a single project and cuts them loose when the picture is done. At Pixar, a staff of writers, directors, animators, and technicians move from project to project. As a result, the studio has built a team of moviemakers who know and trust one another in ways unimaginable on most sets.

Which explains how they can handle the constant critiques that are at the heart of Pixar’s relentless process. Animation days at the studio all begin the same way: The animators and director gather in a small screening room filled with comfy couches. They eat Cap’n Crunch and drink coffee. Then the team begins analyzing the few seconds of film animated the day before, as they ruthlessly “shred” each frame. Even the most junior staffers are encouraged to join in."

I've heard about Pixar's employment system many years ago and have respected their way of building the company, making it more like a family than just a business. It is unfortunate that most companies nowadays are going for project basis. It seems to be more profitable that way, but in the long run, it's Pixar's method that works. Why? Because they invest in people, and that's they key.

The Importance of Appealing Design

I was watching 'Delgo' today and when the disc hung on me 30 minutes into the film, I quit watching it. To be fair, the environment was actually done pretty well, although the story was predictable and the animation was lacking the acting ingredient that makes an animation good. But the biggest issue was the unappealing character design that made me cringe whenever the characters appear on screen, especially the main characters. Mark Kennedy's blog page, 'Temple of the Seven Golden Camels', brought up the topic on appealing versus unappealing design. The following is taken from part of his blog:

"But here's why it is important: unappealing drawings can kill an otherwise good idea. I have seen this over and over: a really good idea gets storyboarded with unappealing drawings and the idea just dies. People can't put their finger on why it doesn't work but they know it's not quite clicking, and it's only because the drawings are not very appealing. And so a new idea is brainstormed, and it gets rewritten and reboarded all over again, when the old idea was good, it just didn't get presented right. Everyone responds to good design and appeal on a deep level and they aren't always able to articulate the fact that they're being turned off by unappealing drawing and it's affecting the way they react to the ideas. But it definitely happens.

Ideas can be unappealing or appealing as well. As you storyboard and make choices about how to present the characters and situations, you should always strive to find the charm and entertainment in every idea in the most appealing way."

Mark also talked about the simple things that people forget once they leave school. If you are interested to improve your animation, be sure to check them out.

'Part 1: Silhouette'
'Part 2: Appeal'
'Part 3: Draw clear, not clean'
'Part 4: Three dimension drawing'
'Part 5: Making poses more expressive'

'Ice Age 3' Progression Reel

A decade ago, my animation instructor told the class that the industry standard for animation delivery is about 4 seconds per week. Knowing that animation takes a lot of work, I received the information well and never really wondered why. On Animation has uploaded a progression reel of Ice Age 3 done by Jeff Gabor that illustrates the necessary steps needed to pull off a scene. The clip is extremely thorough and one can see the progression as the days go by. According to the information on the clip, it states:

"The reel demonstrates the entire process of completing a production shot from rough poses to blocking, splining, and polish. The shot was created working 7 days a week during "crunch". Some days represent 16 hour workdays while others are only 3 hours on a Sunday."

It was extremely helpful and educational to see the progression of creating a quality animated scene.

'Tarzan Meets Jane'

Disney's 'Tarzan' has long been a favorite animated feature of mine. I was in my 2D animation class that year it was released and thus had high expectations of the movie. The story was a little too simple for my taste (I was expecting it to have longer build-ups and bigger climatic ending). However, the animation, art direction and cinematography was jaw-dropping. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, with camera angles flying around as if it was a motion feature film and Tarzan gliding down the vines of the trees like a roller-blader.

As I browsed through YouTube, I found clips on the 'Tarzan Meets Jane' scene. They had the storyreel, the clean up and the final clip of the scene to show the progress.There's also a clip of Glen Keane, the supervising animator of Tarzan, where he talked about the animation tests that they carried out to prepare for the film. It's just beautiful to see how they brought the animation to life

'I Love Sky' by RG Animation Studios

'I Love Sky' is simply hilarious. The main protagonist is a polar bear who seems to be unlucky in everything that he does. RG Animation Studios is responsible for the creation of great animated shorts that can be enjoyed by anyone across the globe due to the non-existent of any dialogue whatsoever. The comedic ingredients can be seen throughout all the animated shorts, and the creative talents behind those ideas are definitely not short of it.

The studio also has a blog page that contains a number of short that they did. Enjoy your time there.

'The Subway Time' by Dongzhen Li

'The Subway Time' is a sweet little animated film that I came across today from animation blog. The story, though simple, is something I can buy into. The animation are lacking in quite a few areas as the timing and spacing are off. However, the overall quality and atmosphere is very pleasing. While watching, it reminded me a lot of Tekkon Kinkreet the animated movie. The artist also provided the making of his short film which was a treat. I found myself enjoying the making as much as the movie itself, if not more.

'Distraxion'

'Distraxtion' is a short film done by Mike Stern during his studying years in Animation Mentor. He is currently an animator at Dreamworks. The film has a simple premise which I believe many people can relate to. The animation is simply breathtaking. Federator blog has interviewed him, which you can read it all here.

'Alma' - A Fantastic Creepy Short Film

'Alma' definitely took us by surprise with its atmosphere and storyline. When I saw it at L.A. Siggraph, I was first blown away by quality of the animation. But what came next something that I could not forget - a simple but creepy story.

'French Roast'

'French Roast' is a short film that started out from school, continued through a studio and headed into numerous festivals, including the Academy Award for best animated short film category. The story is simple but captivating, and the technical aspects are amazing, down to the little details. There's not only 1 or 2 readings, but layers of it. Every time I watch it, I just found myself marveling at the details that the artists have added into it. It makes the film that much more fun to watch. Be sure to visit their production blog page for more information about the film.

'Lost and Found' - A Beautiful Film For All Ages

'Lost and Found' is a beautiful film adapted from the best selling book by Oliver Jeffers. Unfortunately, the film isn't shown to the public. Only a trailer version can be found. I was lucky enough to have watched it and those who have watched it too agreed that this film is truly beautiful.

The DVD is not available in North America. To get your hand on it, you'll need to go through Amazon UK. Be sure to check if your DVD player can play multi-region DVDs prior to buying it.

'Father And Daughter' - Powerful and Emotional

Father and Daughter is a film that's very emotional. Despite not having a single dialogue, the film conveyed the story very clearly. After watching the film, I wanted to cry. That's how powerful the film is.

'Fly'

'Fly' is a hilarious film that's definitely not the norm coming from Aardman Studios. The story is very simple and it's based in one location. However, the scenes helped to build up the pace. I found myself laughing towards the end of the film.

After watching the film, I saw a message in it: "Sometimes, things are simpler than it seems." Only if I could see that in real life, and clearly, that message was for me.