New Character Animation CD-ROM Course from Anzovin

[anzovin]

We're now offering the first volume in a new multi-disc series on character animation with Animation:Master.

 

Animate! With Cristin McKee, Volume I: Animation Fundamentals

<http://www.rafhashvideotapes.com/animatecdroms.html>

 

Animate! With Cristin McKee is essentially a complete course on character animation for beginning to advanced-intermediate animators. Future volumes will be released as each disc is completed over the next few months.

 

You can see a sample at:

<http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/rafhashvideotapes/animate1preview.mov>

 

In this initial disc, Anzovin Studio animator Cristin McKee thoroughly explores the techniques and theory of basic character animation. Cristin takes you step-by-step through the fundamental principles of animation, while also calling attention to many beginners' mistakes and explaining how to avoid them. Numerous examples are animated "live" to give viewers a detailed look at the animation process of a professional animator. All of the animation examples include "right" and "wrong" versions which are analyzed in depth to provide a framework for distinguishing between good and poor animation. A complete and detailed lesson plan supplements the training materials, making Animate! With Cristin McKee an excellent text for any animation curriculum.

 

"My goal,” says Cristin, who has been developing this series for more than a year, "is to show new animators practical ways to apply the established rules and tricks of animation--approaches that I always wished someone had taught me while I was in the early stages of learning to animate." Cristin has worked on many high-profile projects, including “GI Joe: Valor vs. Venom”, “Halo 2”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (the game), “John McCain: Faith of My Fathers”, and Anzovin Studio's short film “Duel”.

 

Included topics: Getting Started * Keyframes * Squash & Stretch * Anticipation * Follow Through * Overlapping Action * Secondary Action * Animating a Simple Character.

 

The disc contains approximately 1.5 hours of hi-res video and more than 20MB of supporting materials. Hash models, Hash project files, tip sheets, transcribed lessons, and sample movies, among other extras, are included on the disc.

 

UPCOMING DISCS:

 

We plan to release one disc per month through the fall of 2005. Upcoming discs in the series will include more intermediate and advanced topics such as: Arcs * IK vs. FK * Timing * Silhouette * Pose * Holds * Exaggeration * Weight * Walk Cycles * Straight Ahead Walks * Run Cycles * Jumps * Personality * Thought Process * Acting * Animating to Dialogue * Final Details

 

Happy animating!

 

Raf Anzovin

Cristin McKee

Steve Anzovin

Anzovin Studio

http://www.anzovin.com

[animateden]

On the website link it says there will be one a month for the duration of fall 2005. How many disks will there be total?

Will they be offered as a bundle?

 

Thanks,

[anzovin]

3 or 4, depending. A bundle will eventually be offered, but no release date yet.

[ZachBG]

<parody>

steve this sound gr8 but i wuz wondring if i could get it 4 free since i'm a loyal customer i mean i know i havnt upgraded tsm2 and all but i will sinz i dont have any $$$! so could you give it to me free? thx

</parody>

 

/me waits for new debit card to arrive, so I can get it

[rhinthell]

Hi all. This is Cristin, the creator of these discs.

 

If anyone has any questions, concerns, or comments about the content of this cd or future cds, please feel free to ask here and I'll answer as quickly as I can. I wanted to make this collection as helpful and as chock full of information as possible so I'd love to hear feedback on how successful it is.

 

In fact, it's not too late to add additional content to the later CDs so if there's something you'd like to see addressed that you don't think is included, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

Thanks for your interest. I hope you enjoy the discs!

 

~Cristin

[luckbat]

Hi, Cristin! Thanks for making these.

 

I have an advanced one for you: something along the lines of "Solving Problems," or "Putting It All Together." I know that sounds a bit broad, but what I'm getting at is this: even if a person can properly understand arcs, exaggeration, moving holds, timing, and all the rest of it--that doesn't automatically make that person a good animator. How do you use those building blocks to express yourself? If an animation ends up looking dead and mechanical, how do you bring it to life?

 

Okay, I guess that's still a bit broad. How about a section called "Avoiding Common Pitfalls?"

[rhinthell]

Hi, Cristin! Thanks for making these.

 

I have an advanced one for you: something along the lines of "Solving Problems," or "Putting It All Together." I know that sounds a bit broad, but what I'm getting at is this: even if a person can properly understand arcs, exaggeration, moving holds, timing, and all the rest of it--that doesn't automatically make that person a good animator. How do you use those building blocks to express yourself? If an animation ends up looking dead and mechanical, how do you bring it to life?

 

Okay, I guess that's still a bit broad. How about a section called "Avoiding Common Pitfalls?"

Hi luckbat. Thanks for replying. That's a great question, and one that I tried to keep in mind as I made the CD.

 

Well... I'm pretty sure I managed to cover what you're talking about. Let me explain and you can tell me if you agree.

 

For starters, though each section has a fairly technical term like "squash & stretch," "anticipation," and "follow through," as the title, I spend a lot of time talking about the theory of WHY I use these techniques and how to use them well to bring life to your character. I basically crammed in as much information as I could. And of course there are "good" and "bad" versions of everything. There is also a lot of overlap between the sections to point out how these principles work together to create quality animation.

 

One of the advanced sections on a later disc is an 8 second acting shot that I take step by step through acting, planning, rough animation, good animation, and final detail animation, explaining along the way what techniques I use to make the character seem alive.

 

Also, the final section of the final disc will include revisions. It will have step by step movie files showing many of the shots I animated on all of the cds, as well as a shot from Duel, from the first rough mechanical version to the final detailed "alive" version. Each of these shots will have an accompanying description of what changed in each shot and why.

 

I like your "avoiding common pitfalls" idea. I don't have any one area covering this although it's a concept that is scattered throughout many sections. I'll definitely think about bringing it more to the forefront with its own section. Thanks for the idea.

 

Yikes, I'm rambling. I hope this answers your question.

[luckbat]

Sounds good to me!

[lafnjack]

Can't wait to buy the CD, Cristin! I'm not sure if I'll wait for the bundle or not, but I GREATLY look forward to the tutorials. The Anzovin folks consistently put out quality product. I'm sure your tutorials will shine...

 

lafnjack

[luckbat]

As long as we're showering you with requests, Cristin, I hope you can include a section on "Moving Holds." They drive me nuts, and I really don't know any tricks or techniques to deal with 'em...

[rhinthell]

Thanks lafnjack. I've certainly made every effort to live up to the standards of the other Anzovin tutorials.

 

 

luckbat, I do talk about moving holds but you make me wonder if I might want to cover them in even more detail. I'll add it to my list of updates to consider.

[Rodney]

This looks to be a great resource in the making.

Thanks for putting these together. I may wait to buy until a few more sessions are out... but I fully expect to be buying and adding this course to my other collection of Anzovin CDs.

 

Thanks also for the preview video. Very clear and of high quality.

 

Rodney

[ChrisThom]

What, no introductory price discount?

[Far Star Productions]

Cristin,

This sounds like a great new product. I do have one question.

What are some of the movies or TV shows I have seen your animation work in and how long have you been animating as a professional?

[anzovin]

in the past two years, Cristin has worked on the feature GI Joe: Valor vs Venom, which was released theatrically as well as on DVD; the UK Action Man direct-to-DVD feature; A&E's Faith of My Fathers, the John McCain biopic; the games Halo 2 and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; and Duel, of course. She's presented at a Siggraph panel and taught at Hampshire College.

 

--Steve

[Chairoscuro]

I received the CD yesterday and thought it was great. The use of the graph editor for animating was very informative. I look forward to the others in this series.

 

David

[forevernameless]

What, no introductory price discount?

It's only 30 bucks. How much of a discount do you need?

[Kamikaze]

30 bucks ,that's alot of money, it can almost buy a gallon of G.W.B.jr gasoline! oh I forgot...

[animateden]

My Wish List for an Animation Curriculuum:

 

Before you even start (really:)

 

a) Squash and Stretch

Anticipation

c) Staging

d) Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

e) Follow through and Overlapping Action

f) Slow in and Slow out

g) Arcs

h) Secondary Action

i) Timing

j) Exaggeration

k) Believeability

l) Appeal

 

1) How to animate inanimate objects

2) The animation of solids

3) The animation of liquids

4) Basic Human (character) animation

5) Lifting

6) Pushing

7) Pulling

8) Showing Weight

9) Timing

9a) Stagger Timings

9b) The Side to Side Vibration Formula

9c) Whip Action

9d) Wave Action

10) Anticipation

11) Follow-Through

12) Overlapping Action

13) Walks and Walk Cycles

13a) Getting Weight and Attitude

13b) Sneaks

14) Runs and Run Cycles

14a) Runs, Jumps, Skips and Leaps

14b) Blending Walks, Jumps, Runs, etc.

15) Animal Walks and Cycles

16) Animal Runs and Cycles

17) Animation of sea and amphibious creatures

18) Animation of birds

19) Acting

19a) Appeal and Dynamics

20) Consequence

21) Emotions

22) General Body Language

23) Basic Body Postures

24) Acting out a scene

25) Acting-Facial Expressions

26) Emotions with just the face

27) Emotions with just the eyes

28) Expressions with hand and face gestures

29) Putting it together with more than one character

30) Setting up the space

31) Avoiding mirroring

32) How character look at each other

33) Conversation

34) Action and Reaction shots

35) Groups and Large Groups

36) Lip-sync

37) Acting with dialogue

38) Extremes and breaking down an action

39) Making a scene read- silhouettes

40) Demo Reels

41) Reference Footage

 

There are three books I take as the gospel on animation, these ideas came as much from them as from my experience teaching animation.

 

The holy books are:

 

The Illusion of Life by the Amazing Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (when I was in college a few years ago, they came and spent a week with us, I learned more in that week than in the other four years of my education. I also was able to spend a week with Chuck Jones another amazing animator.)

 

The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams (he breaks it all down and makes it all make so much sense. Especially for hand drawn animation.)

 

Character Animation in 3D by Steve Roberts (the first book I have found to show you how to apply the principles of 2D animation to 3D side by side.)

 

So if I got the books why am I bothering you? I am the proud owner of every tutorial disk the Anzovin's have produced. There is just sometimes when you need to be shown something not just have it read to you. Also as I mentioned above I also teach this stuff it is always good to sit in on another teacher and see how they are doing it. When a teacher forgets that they have a lot to learn they are finished.

 

Thanks for asking for suggestions...I look forward to the fruits of your labors,

[Kamikaze]

Thanks Den,

some nice material, checking it out as I type this...

 

Michael

[rhinthell]

Sorry about the delay on this guys. Been having some server issues. For those who are interested, we've uploaded a reel of some of my work. It contains animation created for GI Joe: Valor vs. Venom, Action Man, Duel, and Halo 2.

 

Cristin Demo

[rhinthell]

So if I got the books why am I bothering you? I am the proud owner of every tutorial disk the Anzovin's have produced. There is just sometimes when you need to be shown something not just have it read to you. Also as I mentioned above I also teach this stuff it is always good to sit in on another teacher and see how they are doing it. When a teacher forgets that they have a lot to learn they are finished.

 

Thanks for asking for suggestions...I look forward to the fruits of your labors,

Oops, sorry I missed your post there.

 

Thanks very much for the list! Just some notes on some of those...

 

Most of these techniques/topics are covered in the series. Some things, such as "how to animate inanimate objects...solids....liquids" etc... are not discussed explicitly because I think having a solid understanding of how to bring believable life and personality to a character can be applied to any type of character or object once you understand it. Although I do discuss how to bring life and personality to a lamp and a solid sphere, so I suppose inanimate objects are actually covered.

 

The same goes for sneaks and skips. I don't want to pack too much extra material onto these discs that might make them needlessly expensive, if they allready cover walks, runs, and jumps, which are stepping stones to other similar cycles.

 

If people ARE interested in such extra materials and express such interest, I'm sure we could create later discs to meet that request.

 

I'm very curious what you mean by "The Side to Side Vibration Formula." I haven't heard this phrase. What are you referring to?

 

No animal animation yet. Though one of my co-workers is very interested in doing this, so if I don't continue the series with such a disc, I'm sure he will.

 

Again, thanks for the list. I'll definitely use it as a reference for finalizing what's on there. For the most part, it's almost all there, aside from the topics I've allready mentioned.

 

I'm glad that you intend to check it out, as a fellow instructor, and I look forward to hearing any feedback.

[animateden]

Thanks Cristin,

 

I appreciate having to pick and choose among what to cover in a class. As soon as you start the clock starts ticking and it never stops. It would be kinda crazy to try to fit all that stuff into four discs. However, I hope it gives you more choices on what you can pick from and who knows maybe next year you can come back for four more and four more the next year, etc. It's always good to have job security.

 

The side to side vibration formula is a method mentioned in Richard Williams book the Animator's Survival Kit. The problem is stated like this you are moving a character in an arc and when you play it back the character seems to wobble or vibrate. This was a definite problem back in the days of hand drawn animation and something I still see happen often in computer animation.

 

Richard approaches the problem from the hand drawn side and I was hoping you might have some insight from the 3D side of things.

 

I am really looking forward to watching your classes and I will certainly share my thoughts.

 

Thanks again for doing this it is much appreciated,

[strohbehn]

Cristin,

 

Very nice job on the first training CD. You laid out the information well, and your content, examples and delivery was great.

 

Just wondering when the second CD will be available? Can you give a few more details regarding its' content?

[rhinthell]

Thanks strohbehn!

 

The second disc is being edited as we speak. It should be done in the next week or two. We're trying to keep things down to 3 discs total, while at the same time not leaving any material out. But it all comes down to how much will fit when the editing is done. We're also trying to get a few last minute additions in due to customer comments and requests.

 

As of now the second disc looks like: Arcs * IK vs. FK * Timing * Silhouette * Pose * Holds * Exaggeration *

 

Hopefully that will all fit. I would hate to split any of this off onto the third disc. I think it all really belongs together. And of course, as with the first disc, these are simply headings for material that goes much more in depth than the headers let on.

 

~Cristin

[strohbehn]

Thanks for the reply, Cristin. Regarding the space limitations and editing, have you folks considered using DVD format instead of CD for your training materials?

[luckbat]

Standard DVD encoding doesn't allow for the 1024x768-resolution movie files favored by the Anzovin team and others, so the tutorial footage would be too blurry to make out.

 

DVD-ROM could work fine, of course, but that technology is less widespread than CD-ROM, as far as I know.

[anzovin]

Luckbat is correct--we have not used the DVD video format because it does not allow for higher-res screen capture. We also find that many of our customers, especially overseas, still do not have DVD players, or have compatibility issues with DVD-ROM formats. Finally, CD-ROM duplication is cheaper than DVD, so we can keep our prices down.

 

--Steve

Anzovin Studio