physics of emotion

In reality a ball takes a certain amount of time to fall from a certain height. This time is the same whether it is a tennis ball or a cannon ball. But do we really want this to be case? This is where emotional physics comes into place. What world do the chracters inhabit ? - the mental and physical world. Is this a character that will need a 4 frame recovery after a jump or a 9 frame recovery? This is a decision that I feel most animators make instinctively. OR they talk about it in terms of believability or acting. No matter what terms are used it is a decision that every animator has to make.

cutting on an action

Some tips I got when I was trying to continue an action between two shots. ( in my case turning)

It is OK to cheat.

Try and have similar silhouettes between the last and the first poses.

It is very important to follow the same arc of motion as the previous shot. Like say if an arm is awooping down in the previous shot have it swoop up continuing the arc on the next shot. ( this is where you'll have to cheat.)

No need to be exact, have some purposeful mistakes. If it is too exact it might look like a pop.


On a side note: Unless a shot absolutly demands it, DO NOT have the character start and stop at the head and tail of shot. It looks very odd if all shots in a sequence are like that. And there is a tendency to do that in CG. Animate through the cut, it feels much better.

2d nature of things

Even tho we use 3d models to animate, the end result is flat. Even though the pose looks good in the regular 3d viewer, the animation is not strong till it looks good in the camera view. I have seen some animators really scale arms and legs many times over to get it to "look right" in the camera view. So tip of the the moment - camera is all that matters.

cutting tip

when u cut in between shots, it looks nice when u cut on an action. In animation there is a tendency to start motion at the first frame and end it at the last frame. So something to keep in mind when u animate a shot - unless it is required to start and stop, on a cut keep the motion alive. it add that extra bit of realism. Tip from rex.

polish - I

After the thinking has been done, after the poses have been laid out, after the acting has been deemd as working - You start polishing. Initially, I saw this as a chore, as somethign that needs to be done AFTER the fun part of blocking is over.

But polishing is much more than that. It is the stage of animation, where the character actually comes to life. This is stage which will aid in suspension of disbelif. It might be a minor ease in, or a minor overshoot but every thing you do will make the character seem more real. The monitor turns into a window and you just happen to be looking at the character doing his thing through it.

So, learn to enjoy polishing. Cause it aint going away.

Cars trailer

Cars Every site abt animation probably has this. My thoughts? I was a little underwhelmed but am will to give them the benifit of the doubt. It is only a trailer after all.

Double blinks

Doubles blinks look better when the first blink is only a half blink. Remember the eyes lids slow in and slow out too.

yahoo article on animators salaries

Yahoo! News - Toonsters wait for big payoff