Monday, May 27, 2019

Reacting is acting



The thought process reveals the feeling. Sometimes it can be shown with a single, held drawing or simple move. Other times there should be gestures, body moves, or full action. Determine which is best in each case.”

(The Illusion of Life, p. 507)


When animation acting shots, many animators struggle when deciding how to pose a character. One of the mistakes newer animators do is to have the character always moving. But sometimes the best acting choice is to let the character react;  to either the situation in the environment, or another character. 

When working on a dialogue shot, animators should think of your character’s reactions, and not just actions. 

“There is an inherent danger in animating scenes of inner struggle, because most attempts to achieve clear, concise communication cause the character to overact badly and lose credibility. “
(The Illusion of Life, p.482)

For a better understanding of how to built up a good reaction, check out this lesson from our Animating Appeal and Entertainment instructor, Mitch Yager.



Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Blocking Plus Workflow Demo - Part 1 (Timing)

















    So you've blocked in your poses for your animation - now what? You could hit spline, but you can already imagine the cringey, floaty movement that will come out of it. How about taking another pass at your blocking and getting it to blocking plus?


    If you're not sure where to start, take a look at instructor Jean-Luc Delhougne’s blocking plus workflow in Maya (from our Body Mechanics animation course). He takes a blocking pass of a jump from basic poses to a well-timed blocking plus pass with arcs and natural movement. Here’s part 1, where he starts out by adjusting the timing of his poses:  








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