The 'annotated' Art of Animation:Master

[Rodney]

Each of us collects information related to A:M in one way or another. Some write in the margins of TAOA:M others in notepads, on your desk, and in other obscure places.

 

Here your chance to add useful information to The Art of Animation:Master in a way that can benefit everyone. Who knows, the information you identify just might make it into the next edition.

 

There have been several versions of The Art of Animation:Master.

It is important to note that they differ in a few ways.

 

Updates/Changes:

If you know of any significant changes from edition to edition please let us know by posting here. We'll post examples of these changes as time allows.

The following has been identified as changes from one edition to the next:

- User interface changes Note: These make up most of the differences from one edition to the next.

- Exercise 13: Show some Backbone (Rigging differences noted by Will Sutton)

 

Languages:

There are both Japanese and Spanish versions of The Art of Animation:Master available. Look for them via the Hash FTP and Artware (Japan) sites.

Here is where they can currently be located via FTP:

Spanish and Japanese Art of Animation:Master Manuals

 

Notes on foreign language editions:

- The Japanese edition is quite different in both format and content. Still, very little information is added... much is removed.

- The Spanish edition is largely a straightforward translation from english to spanish.

- The French translation seems to be password protected but several tutorials from it are freely available. I'd imagine all it would take to get access to the full French edition of TAOA:M would be an email to the author stating your request for access. Find these here: French translation

 

*A special thanks to those who contributed their time and talent to translate. Arigato and Gracias!

 

 

Additional Information:

There are several things you'll want to know in order to be able to enjoy the full benefits of completing The Art of Animation:Master. Here are a few things you may want to know:

 

How to screen capture and upload images to the A:M Forum

 

How to get realtime assistance via chat (Login to A:M Chat or #hash3d and ask your questions)

[Rodney]

The Art of Animation:Master FTP Downloads: PDF * MS Word Doc

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

1 COMPUTERS AND ANIMATION

2 AMCOMMUNITY, MAILING LIST (and A:M Forum)

2 MARTIN’S MINUTES +

3 PRODUCT SUPPORT +

4 HELP FILES HTML Help * Seachable listserve Help

4 MACINTOSH AND NO RIGHT-MOUSE BUTTON

5 HISTORY OF ANIMATION Online Presentation by Ken Baer

9 INSTALLATION

9 WINDOWS

10 MACINTOSH

11 IT’S EASY

13 ANYONE CAN ANIMATE

15 EXERCISE 1: YOU’RE THE DIRECTOR Video Tutorial

15 Choreography Window

16 Library

• Keekat Character Study
  

17 Navigation

17 Camera

18 Shot Volume

18 Reveal

18 Dolly

18 Pan

18 Inertia

19 Point of view (POV)

19 Pose

20 Render

21 EXERCISE 2: CHORUS LINE Video Tutorial

22 Populating

23 Lighting

23 Actions

23 Rendering

27 ANIMATION

28 Talent pool

28 Keys to animating

29 The 10 animation ingredients (updated for computers)

29 Pose To Pose

30 Anticipation and Overshoot

30 Follow Through

31 Exaggeration

31 Timing

33 Balance and Weight

34 Secondary Action

34 Attitude

34 Staging

36 Squash and Stretch

37 EXERCISE 3: MOVE IT Video Tutorial

39 Hips

40 Ears

41 Feet

41 Arms

42 Hands

42 Fingers

45 EXERCISE 4: IT’S A PITCH Video Tutorial

49 REUSABLE ACTIONS

50 TECHNICALITIES

50 Action Window

50 Frame Rate

50 SMPTE

50 Skeleton

50 Constraints

51 EXERCISE 5: TAKE A WALK Video Tutorial

53 Exaggerate

55 Follow Through

56 Stride Length

57 Path

59 PRODUCTION Victor Navone's Making of Alien Song (A must read)

60 Storyboarding

61 Multiple Cameras

61 Face Cameras

62 Video Reference

62 Animating Strategy

63 Eyes

64 Pupils

64 Blinks

65 EXERCISE 6: THE DOOR’S STUCK Video Tutorial Not Yet Available

66 Kinematic Constraint

66 Compensate Mode

67 Orient Like Constraint

71 SOUND

71 Sound Effects

71 Music

71 Accents

73 EXERCISE 7: CAN YOU SAY THAT? Video Tutorial

74 Dopesheets

76 Adding Custom Phonemes

78 Secondary Actions

81 MODELING TAKES TALENT

83 EXERCISE 8: CUSTOMIZED CAR Video Tutorial

84 Project Workspace

84 Group Color

85 EXERCISE 9: FLOWER POWER Video Tutorial

86 Stem

86 Add Mode

86 Lathe

87 Leaf

88 Attaching Control Points

90 Deleting Control Points

90 Peaking Control Points

91 Bias Manipulators

91 Copy and Paste

93 Flip Control Points

94 Deselecting a group

95 Petal

95 Rotating a group

96 Moving the pivot of a group

96 Duplicator Wizard

97 Bones

101 Assigning Control Points to Bones

102 Smartskin

105 EXERCISE 10: FW-190 FIGHTER Video Tutorial

106 Fuselage

107 Extrude

109 Wings

111 Tail

112 Canopy

112 Tires

115 Propeller

116 Spinner

116 Decaling

119 EXERCISE 11: GIRAFFE Video Tutorial Not Yet Available

120 Head

122 Neck

123 Body

126 Connecting Front Leg to Body

126 Break

127 Patches

128 Hooks

133 Connecting Back Leg To Body

136 Translate Constraint Keys

137 Copy/Flip/Attach

138 Ears/Horns/Tail

139 EXERCISE 12: LIP POSES Video Tutorial

142 Magnet Mode

145 EXERCISE 13: SHOW SOME BACKBONE (ADDING A SKELETON) Video Tutorials

155 TECHNICAL DIRECTORS TRAINING Video Tutorial

157 EXERCISE 14: PLAYING MARBLE (MATERIALS) Video Tutorial

161 EXERCISE 15: EAT MY DUST (VOLUMETRICS) Video Tutorial

165 EXERCISE 16: SMOKE, WIND, AND FIRE (PARTICLES) Video Tutorial Not Yet Available

165 Fire

168 Smoke

169 Wind

170 Flicker

172 PHYSICAL SIMULATION

175 EXERCISE 17: COSMIC BOWLING (DYNAMICS) Video Tutorial

179 EXERCISE 18: WAVING THE FLAG (CLOTH) Video Tutorial

179 Adding Wind

181 Start Simulation

183 EXERCISE 19: FLYING SOUTH (FLOCKS) Video Tutorial

 

Additional (Print/Book) Resources:

Learning Animation (From Hash Inc website)

Animation:Master A Complete Guide - David Rogers

-Animation:Master Technical Reference v11 - Will Sutton

Animation:Master Handbook- Jeff Paries

Note: If not still in print they usually can still be found.

 

Related Exercises/Info:

Check the Animation:Master ResourceMatrix (ARM)!

The A:M Glossary

 

Until such a time as we can get the elements of animation broken down I highly recommend checking out the information at CGCHAR. 'Tis good stuff!

 

Some other information you may find interesting in your search to master animaiton:

Performance And Acting For Animators

 

The following lectures provide an excellent foundation for understanding what others have accomplished in the field of animation. Studying the History of Animation and The Evolution of 3D lays the foundation from which to move forward into the future.

 

The other lessons that follow review the basic principles of cyclic actions, constraints and compensation, and how the ease function can be used.

 

The lessons can be found under the heading MISC on the video tutorials page. Look for them at the bottom of the page. You can download the lessons in ZIP format from there.

 

Simple Walk and Wheel Cycling Actions

web(17.3MB) zip (16.8MB)

 

Constraints and Compensate Mode

web(30MB) zip (29MB)

 

Path Ease (walk, then wave)

web(4MB) zip (3MB)

 

The History of Animation (lecture)

part 1(5.8MB) part 2(3.2MB) zip (8.7MB)

 

The Evolution of 3D (lecture)

part 1(6.8MB) part 2(9.4MB) zip (15.8MB)

 

Course Outline **

Word Doc (25KB)

 

** In the interest of brevity for educational purposes, the Course Outline varies from the content of the current edition of TAoAM. Some terminology and titling are different as well.

[Rodney]

[Edit]

[Rodney]

COLOR / COLOR THEORY

 

The following theory is based more on subtractive color which is the color we see around us in a day to day life, or used in painting printing, etc. Additive theory involves Red, Green, Blue (what we see on screen and produced by video devices).

 

However much of the terminology and information can be used for both spectrums. I hope you find this useful.

 

Color Theory: As far back as man can recall, color has played an important part in communication, psycology and even physical health. Let's face it, color has power.

 

Your choice of color whether it be for interior design, graphic design, or fine art, can set the mood, and effect the viewer in many way ways. Knowing how certain colors reach a particular target market or elicit a specific emotional response is important for the practicing designer or artist.

 

Let's Start with the Basics:

The color wheel - This very important and sometimes intimidating device is essential to designers and artists alike.

 

You will see why later in the discussion. (Colors are approximations only) The color wheel is made up of 12 basic hues. 3 Primary 3 Secondary (Mixture of 2 primaries) 6 Tertiary (Mixture of a primary and a secondary)

 

Primary Hues: Blue, Red, Yellow (In the printing world these colors are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow)

Secondary Hues: Violet, Green, Orange

Tertiary Hues: Red-Violet, Yellow-Orange, Blue-Green, Red-Orange, Blue-Violet, Yellow-Green

 

Some Color Terminology:

Hue: The term hue is used to describe any pure color, with the exception of Black or White.

Chroma/Chromaticity: The chromaticity of a color is its saturation or intensity. For example if we are using an RGB palette a high chromaticity blue might be 0,0,255 or Red has a higher chromaticity than pink.

Value: The value of a color is its 'lightness' or 'brightness'. Now it might seem that chroma and value are the same thing but they are not. For example, if you take two high chroma colors like Blue and Yellow, Yellow has the higher value than blue because its 'brighter'.

Tone: A tone is any hue mixed with a grey (grey is a neutral of black and white)

Tint: A Tint is a hue mixed with white.

Shade: A shade is a hue mixed with black.

Complimentary Color: The color that is on th exact opposite side of the color wheel of one color. A neutral color is created when you mix these two colors together. TIP: When painting it is often better to use a color's compliment to darken an area of shadow rather than black. The reason being, it creates a richer more realistic shadow and when blacks are used in shadow they tend to 'flatten' them out.

 

The Effects and Moods of Color:

 

The colors of 'Cold': Colors like Blue, green and Blue-green are associated with cold, and calm. Use these colors to promote a feeling of austerity, cleanliness, invigorating freshness, coldness.

The colors of 'Cool': Blue is the base for these colors but added are reds and yellows to bring out a wide range of color from minty green to a soft violet. These colors help promote a feeling of calm, serenity, trust and relaxation.

The colors of 'Hot': Red is the highest chroma color there is...simply put it is the most powerful hue. A hot color may evoke strong emotional responses, and has been known to stimulate physical activity and sexual desire. Use hot colors if you are wanting an aggressive feel or want something to really stand out amongst others. Note: Even though red is the strongest of hues, placing a high chroma yellow in any designsd or work of art will draw the eye first.

The colors of 'Warmth': Based in Red but softened and suffused with orange and yellows. Warm colors are often used to suggest comfort and warm heartfelt emotions.

The colors of 'Darkness': No these are not the colors of evil. They are often used to reduce space. These colors are also used so that lighter colors can stand out greater and be more effective. These colors are somber, and can suggest melancholy and solidity.

The colors of 'Light': These colors are barely colors at all they exist merely as suggestions and hints of colors. They are the opposite of darkness, and they are often used to open up a space or evoke a feeling of openess.

The colors of 'Pastel': These pale colors are hues tinted with large amounts of white and are very soft in nature. The bring out a mood of innocence, fond memories, and romance.

The colors of 'Intensity': The colors of intensity are high chroma colors, pure and when used seem to scream their message. Great for attention grabbing. The Color Schemes: Achromatic: Achromatic schemes are made up of Black and Whites and the various range of neutral grays they produce. You can give achromatics a temperature by adding a small touch of another color.

Monochromatic: If you take a basic hue from the color wheel and use it and only its various tints and shades. The monochromatic scheme is usually a safe bet for pleasabilty factor. However it can often be the fall back scheme for designer and artists that are afraid to play with color.

Analoguos: An analoguous (say that 5 times fast) are three colors that are adjacent (side by side) on the color wheel. These colors are often harmonious and easy on the eye.

Primary: The playground colors. Made famous by such painters such as Mondrian (he rarely if ever used green in work), the Primary scheme is made up of a mixture of the Red, Blue and Yellow and is strong and energetic.

Secondary: The secondary scheme is made up of orange, green and violet. This scheme can aslo be energitic, and fresh.

Tertiary Triad: This ones a bit complicated and hard to conceptualize: but basically there are two schemes of three tertiary colors that are equidistant (Draw a equilateral triangle on the color wheel.) A basic Triadic scheme is when three colors are equidistant on the wheel.

Complimentary: This scheme is made up up of two hues on opposite sides of the color wheel. This can be a very powerful but pleasing mix. When you place two true compliments side by side in print or paint they will literally vibrate or pop out as a visual illusion.

Split Complimentary: A split complimentary is made up of three hues. Take a hue and then find its compliment, then pick the hues on either side of it on the color wheel and you have your split compliment. These schemes when used properly can be extremely effective and pleasing.

Clash: Loud and startling color combinations. A clash occurs when you choose a hue and the combine it with the color next to its compliment on the color wheel.

Neutral: Neutrals are hues that have had their compliments added to them. They are intended to be soft and pleasing. You can further increase the range of neutrals by adding tints or shades (adding amounts of white and black).

 

 

Primary Source: Chris Arlidge-Steel Dolphin Creative

http://www.steeldolphin.com/

[Rodney]

KINDS OF ACTIONS

Animation:Master has two basic methods to create animation. These methods are called actions. The first type of action is called “Action”. It is intended to be reusable and is made in an action window. The second type of action is called “Choreography Action”. This is an action that is used one time in a choreography and is specific to the scene and model. Choreography actions are created automatically for a model when animate in a choreography window.

 

 

Export Action As

This feature is used to save the motion created in the choreography as a reusable action. This is useful when the motion is most easily created in choreography, but will be reused again in a different shot or on a different model. It does not replace or change the choreography motion to reusable. Right-click (Control-click on a Mac) the Choreography icon Action icon in the Project Workspace tree, then pick [Export Action As…], then delete the choreography action, then import the reusable action that you just saved. This only saves the choreography action, not the other underlying reusable actions. (To save everything as a single action, first bake them into the choreography action). “Export Action As…” can also be used to layer motion where a different time interval between the keyframes is required. You can make your low frequency motion first, then save it out, delete it and bring it back in as an action, then using “Add to Underlying Motion” selected on the Choreography Action Properties panel, add the high frequency motion. This could be an arm that swings, but twitches while it swings. This layering technique can be used for layering facial motion, secondary clothes motion etc…

 

 

 

Bake All Actions into Chor Action

This feature collects all of the actions, reusable or not, on an object and bakes them into just one simple choreography action. This choreography action can be saved out by right-clicking (Control-click on a Mac) a choreography name in the Project Workspace tree (this will save actions for all objects in the choreography), a model shortcut in a choreography, or within an object's manipulator in a choreography window. Then choose “Export Action As…” from the menu.

[Rodney]

EYES, PUPILS AND BLINKS (Page 64 of the Art of Animation:Master)

 

EYES

Eyes give life even if no other part of the character moves. Eyes are the single most important focus point for the audience because we all know and understand eye nuances. For example, you easily recognize angry eyes, or surprised eyes. When you listen to another person speak, you usually look into their eyes, and they look into yours. Whenever two characters converse in an animation, they must appear to be looking into each other’s eyes. When the camera cuts to a close-up, you are assuming the role of listener, so the character’s eyes should stare straight out of the screen as if they were looking at you. If you violate this simple rule of eye contact, your animation’s narrative will break down.

 

The reason we as humans look into another person’s eyes when we speak derives from long ago survival tactics. A speaker’s internal feelings are usually expressed in raised eyebrows for surprise, or lowered eyebrows for anger. Quizzical speakers have one eyebrow raised with the other lowered, while suspicion causes the eyelids to half close. These simple eye formulas are required for successful storytelling.

 

PUPILS

Pupils move simultaneously, and point in the same general direction. Pupils should always shift first, anticipating a head turn.

 

BLINKS

Blinks bring motionless eyes alive. Characters blink at least once every two seconds, sometimes more if they are moving. So, if a character turns his head – blink. If a character bends over – blink. Even if a character is looking intently through a close-up, blink randomly every second or so. Sometimes the blinks are fast but every time the character is supposed to be thinking, the eyelids stay in the halfway position for several frames. Surprised characters initially flutter their eyelids. Sleepy characters have half-closed eyelids until they abruptly awaken. Blinks are also good anticipation for any eye shift, to call attention to the eyes.

 

Source: Hash Inc - The Art of Animation:Master

 

ANIMATING WITH EYES and CONSIDERATIONS WITH LIPSYNC (Source: Unknown - Possibly extracted from Disney's Illusion of Life)*

 

The eyes require special attention, because they are a very expressive

part of the face. After careful study of photographs of real eyes, the

Disney animators realised that the eye changes shape in a myriad of

ways, and this shape is influenced by the emotion of the character and

the expression that is being held on other areas of the face. Cheeks,

eyebrows, upper and lower eye lids all exert forces that effect the

shape of the eye. Squash and stretch is also applied to the eyes. Eye

blinks are important to keep the character looking alive, especially

in situations where the character is not performing any other action.

There are recommended timings set down for blinks, depending on

whether they are blinks for puzzlement, stunned looks, or for regular

keeping-the-character-alive blinks.

 

It is important to animate the face as a whole unit, where each part

of the face supports the same expression so that there is no ambiguity

about what the character is thinking or feeling. To get this unity,

there must be a close relationship between these parts. For instance,

when a character smiles, the mouth corners turn up, the cheeks rise

up, affecting the shape of the eyes so that they assume a "smiling

eyes" look The smile flows up the face, affecting all its different

parts.

 

When using the eyes only for sync in an extreme close-up, start the

eyes into the move at least three frames ahead of the accent. If it is

a mushy, soft line, then the action does not need to lead the sound by

more than a frame or two. If the accents are strong, then you may want

to lead by four to five frames. By "lead", we mean to have the big

move that far ahead of the heavy modulation of the word.

 

*Know a source of references. Let me know and I'll add them in. Thanks!

[Rodney]

More advanced info about Relationships

Think of a Relationship as a little Action file embedded in your model. In each Relationship you can do anything you might do in an Action. You can scale bones, rotate them, move control points, change the character's colors, etc. Relationships are very powerful. They define a controlling relationship that defines what happens every time the controlling property changes.

 

Poses and Smartskins are not exactly what they used to be. Poses add a new user property to your model which holds a percentage value. You can think of it as a slider value. The value itself however doesn’t do anything. However, by also adding a relationship that is controlled by the new slider value, suddenly the slider value controls anything that was animated in the relationship. Smartskin is just a special relationship. It is controlled by the rotation of a bone. Generally a smartskin controls muscle motion on the cps of the model in the area near the base of the bone. Now it can control other properties of your model as well such as the percentage of a bump map value.

 

To create a Pose, right click (or Mac-Equal) on your model's name and select "New, Pose, Percentage." This will open a new Relationship window. Now do whatever you want in the window. You could, for instance, make your character frown. Then close the window.

 

Open a new Action and make the pose slider panel visible (Alt+4}. You'll see your new Pose, and since you chose "Percentage", you can slide the slider to 100% and watch your character slowly frown. So far this is very similar to how previous versions of AM have handled poses.

 

In the Project Workspace, return to the Objects Folder and click on the little triangle next to your model's name to expand it's info. See the "User Properties" item at the bottom? Expand that, too. Inside, you'll find your new Pose. Now we'll do something revolutionary. Right-click on the Pose and select "New Relationship." A fresh Relationship window appears. You've just added ANOTHER Relationship to your pose slider! In this one you

might decide to make your character's face turn purple, in rage.

 

This brings us to an important difference: When you create a Pose in v9, you are actually creating a new property for your model. And every property can have one or more Relationships. You can keep adding Relationships to your new property. In previous versions of AM, if you created a Pose, you made this thing that looked like an Action Window, and that's where'd you do your stuff. And you couldn't do very much -- you were limited to muscle and bone actions. So why would you want more than one relationship on the same property? Each relationship can be individually turned on or off when it is actually used in your action or choreography. So in a sense you have the ability to create motion in layers by using relationships, much like you might layer reusable actions. For poses this may not seem all that useful, since you can always just choose to not animate a particular slider, or break the two layers of motion into two different sliders. However this is even handier when it comes to relationships like Smartskin where the relationship is based on the rotation of the bone. You often can’t just decide not to rotate a particular bone. Now you are able to turn your Smartskin off and on. In fact you can have two or more sets of Smartskin, and turn one on and the rest off. You could use this to create both strained and non-strained Smartskin. You turn the relationship off and on by changing the Enforcement property of the relationship in the instance of the model.

 

The enforcement property of a relationship is actually a multiplier. While the range of motion of a percentage property slider goes from 0 to 100, it may not be linear as it passes through 50%. It can do any crazy thing we like between 0 and 100. The artist manually creates the behavior of the pose slider. However, the enforcement, if not set to 100% will just scale the effect of the relationship up or down linearly. So enforcing a relationship 50% does it half as much, and 200% does it twice as much. I actually expect the enforcement will mostly be ignored except to turn certain relationships off or on.

 

In addition every relationship has its own lag, which allows it to be controlled by the controlling property based on its value a few frames ago. This value is animatable and can be set separately for each relationship on a property. This may be another reason to break your motion up into multiple relationships. You may want part of the motion to lag, while another does not.

 

Within your model there is folder called "Relationships." Inside that there is another folder called "User Properties Relationships." Since Poses are a type of "User Properties Relationships," you shall find a folder in here that contains your Pose relationships. To edit each Relationship, just double-click it.

 

This same paradigm applies to Smartskins. Bluntly: A Smartskin is a Relationship. When you create a Smartskin, you automatically create a subfolder, buried inside the model's "Relationships" folder, which holds the 'skin. New to v9: In the 'skin you may edit changes along any combination X, Y, and Z axes, (no more X-axis Smartskin, Y-axis Smartskin, etc.) Also new to v9 is the power and versatility of Relationships. You can

create a character, and create a Smartskin to smooth out a shoulder joint. Later you can add a jacket to your character. To get the folds of the jacket looking right, lock out the CPs of the body's mesh, and then add a new Smartskin! That way there is no danger of accidentally damaging your character's shoulder, as you work to get the jacket looking right.

 

Finally: If you want constraints to be embedded in a Pose, just add them into the appropriate Relationship window, and, in your Action file, crank the pose slider to

100%. New to v9: Angular Limits can be activated by a slider!

 

 

Relationships relate properties within the same model, giving you a way to create "Smart Models". This information is saved within the model itself. It is possible to define a relationship directly in the model, in a choreography, or in an action window. Any way you choose to define it, the results are always stored in the model. When defining a relationship from the model. A private editing window is created, that is essentially an action. The action gives you access to a shortcut of the model. This shows up in the project workspace, which gives you a place to access all the properties of the model that you may wish to animate.

 

Most relationships will be created during the model setup phase, which means they will be defined in a private editing window created from under the model itself. Being able to define or refine relationships in a scene may be useful after model setup when the animator realizes that the character isn’t holding up well from a particular unforeseen view or situation. Rather than be forced to duplicate this situation in a private editing window, Animation Master allows the artist to refine their relationship right there and then. To do this just find the relationship shortcut under the shortcut to the model. Once the relationship is selected, the Edit Relationship button should be enabled. Pressing it will enter editing relationship mode. However since the relation keyframes created are still stored in the model, this change will persist in all future situations the model encounters.

 

For those familiar with previous versions of the software, the frame number, in a pose or smartskin window, no longer represents the value of the controlling property. Since the controlling property can be a multi-valued quantity like a rotation, a translation or a color, the controlling property itself is the only indication of its value. Where ever the controlling property appears it will be drawn with a red background. You can change this controlling property using the tree, the property page, the timeline, or using a manipulator if one is available. This is equivalent to changing the frame in an 8.5 pose or smartskin window. Changing any other property while in "Define relationship mode" results in that property being controlled by the relationship. In a choreography or an action the purpose of the frame number is obvious. In a private relationship window it is less clear. It may be used to create motion tests for your relationship allowing you to view your relationship in motion by pressing the play button.

 

In the event that another property already controls the one that controls the currently edited relationship, it too will appear with a lighter red background, and changing will result in a change to the controlling property. So this “Super Property” also becomes like a frame changer in previous versions of the software. This change is not stored as an effect of changing the controlling property. This would create a circularity.

 

When a relationship is driven by a 1D property, like a percentage slider, the keyframes are stored in a traditional 2 dimensional channel, where the x axis represents the value of the controlling property, and the Y axis represents the value of the property that is being controlled. These channels can be graphically seen and edited in the timeline.

 

When a relationship is driven by a multidimensional property, the keyframes are stored in a special relationship storage driver. Every keyframe created can be seen in the project workspace. These key values can be stepped through using the next and previous keyframe buttons, but they cannot be displayed graphically. You can also double click on a keyframe in the project workspace, and the software will display that keyframe. You have the ability to define a default radius for the falloff that occurs from one keyframe to another. This falloff internally is actually the distance in the units of the controlling property. So for and angle it would be in degrees. The software already computes a default radius each time a new key is added. This default radius is equal to the distance between the two nearest keys. This seems to be a good starting point. You can set a multiplier on this radius to make it smaller or larger. Smaller numbers give more local influence, similar to small magnitude in a channel. A radius factor of 0 would be equivalent to peaked. Larger numbers increase the size of the falloff radius, and soften the interpolation to include more of neighboring keys. So 200% would be roughly twice as soft as normal. If this doesn't work, more keys will help define the transition that you want. Since the entire relationship uses the same falloff for all keyframes, it is important to attempt to keep the keyframes fairly evenly placed.

 

The good thing about using an automatic falloff radius is that in general the user doesn't need to know about falloff, or what distance is reasonable, or that such a setting even exists. Even if you do understand the concept, who would want to keep track of their keyframes? And just how many degrees is it from 30,15,45 to 10,90,-45 anyway? For a computer it is easy to measure and keep track of these things. However, one downfall of this automatic technique rather than have the artist enter an actual falloff distance is most easily seen by example. Suppose you have created a nice relationship with 4 keys, then you proceeded to tweak the radius factor a bit, and it looks pretty good. Then you decide that you really need a fifth key between two existing keys. If this new key is closer to an existing key than any pair was before, it changes the internal default radius, and essentially changes your interpolation. This will force you to re-tweak the radius factor to get the key transitions to look like they did before.

 

Source: Hash Inc Help Files (www.hash.com)

*If you've found information in this study useful please commit it to memory and exercise the principles illustrated therein. Where information is outdated or could be further clarified please feel free to post your suggested improvements below.

[Rodney]

REUSING AN EXISTING SKELETON

Because using established naming conventions and bone hierarchies is so important to reusability, it seems appropriate to describe how to put an existing skeleton in your own characters. Because skeleton and constraint setups are still a developing area of animation, different animators may use different skeletons, so you must choose the kind of skeleton you want (Animation:Master has the suggested skeleton “Models\Actors\2001 skeleton\2001 skeleton.mdl” located on the CD). This is important because action reusability, a big advantage of Animation:Master, requires similar skeleton and constraint setups.

 

First, build your model. Usually you will be using some reference materials that suggest a natural skeletal layout. When finished, just import the existing skeleton (sans geometry) into your model. Adjust the position and length of the bones to fit your model, then add or delete any bones you need to. For example, you may need to add bones for tails, long ears, hair, or whatever. If your model calls for three fingers instead of four, get rid of the ring finger, leaving the index, middle, and pinkie.

 

One helpful thing to do is to only capitalize the first letter in the names of bones that will be visible and animatable most of the time. You will need to hide all the appropriate bones before the model is finished.

 

Very importantly, to ensured that actions and constraints are reusable, make sure that all of the Roll handles are pointing straight back along the length of the bone, (for bones that are pointing straight forward or straight back, the Roll handles should be pointing straight up).

 

Lastly, go through the laborious task of assigning control points from the model to bones in the skeleton using the extensive grouping tools.

 

The Art of Animation:Master manual has a tutorial covering this.

 

The 2005 CD will only contain actors with only the 2001 Rig. Non-bipedal characters need not have such standardized rigs.

 

Source: Hash Inc Help Files (www.hash.com)

*If you've found information in this study useful please commit it to memory and exercise the principles illustrated therein. Where information is outdated or could be further clarified please feel free to post your suggested improvements below.

[Rodney]

Today's reading:

 

THE ADVANTAGE OF PATCHES

A computer animation program is primarily defined by its modeling. Without getting too technical, modeling technologies are divided into two camps: Polygons are prevailing, but patches are the future. Polygonal programs represent models, such as a vase, a gear, or a human head, as large numbers of tiny flat surfaces. At close inspection, the polygonal models appear to be made out of crystal, for example with many tiny facets forming the curvature of an eye. A polygon model that is composed of hundreds of thousands of polygons is not uncommon.

 

Polygons have a long history, they are easy for programmers to understand and implement (most computer hardware use polygons for this reason), and have a large installed base of existing models and tools to manipulate them. However, building the model in the first place is extremely difficult, and manipulating the thousands of polygons that make up a character’s mouth for lip-syncing is virtually impossible for a human. Consequently, polygon programs must provide an endless variety of tools to help move the large amounts of polygons indirectly. For example, you would associate the dozens of polygons that form the upper corner of the top lip of a character’s mouth with a bone, do this with all other parts of the mouth, then manipulate the dozens of bones to make the model talk. This explanation glosses over the difficulty in identifying the polygons that go with each bone, and the model distortion that occurs at the junction between the bones. Whatever the difficulties, many fine animations have been created with this technology by animators who sweat blood on every frame to make it look just right. Certainly, this is not something you want to do.

 

Patch models, on the other hand, are of much lower density than polygon models, on the order of one fiftieth the density of objects with similar fidelity (edge facet detail). Therefore, a mere dozen or so patches replace the thousands of polygons that would make up the character’s mouth. The animator manipulates it directly instead of using tools to manipulate the model for them, providing much more tactile feeling and throughput. Equally important patches stretch so that there are no distortions during the animation. Low density and stretching also facilitate in the original construction of the model. Humans and animals can be fully and quickly constructed entirely on the computer with patch models, (though talent is an important ingredient).

 

Animation:Master stands alone in its ability to use patches entirely throughout the animation process. So much so that the patches used by Animation:Master have become known as “Hash patches". Some complain that Hash patches are incompatible with polygonal programs. This is untrue: Hash patches can be exported as polygonal models for use in other applications such as game engines, high-count polygon models cannot be turned into low-count patch models, (you can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse).

 

Source: Hash Inc Help Files (www.hash.com)

*If you've found information in this study useful please commit it to memory and exercise the principles illustrated therein. Where information is outdated or could be further clarified please feel free to post your suggested improvements below.

[Rodney]

I received a response this morning from Mr. Adrian Ludwin of The Animation Learner's Site and he has graciously agreed to let us use some of his collected information on animation here in the forum.

 

While his focus over there is on classical 2D animation, it is more than relevant to our efforts to produce quality 3D animation over here.

 

Of perhaps greatest interest to me in the short term is further study of the 12 Principles of Animation. While not complete, Mr. Ludwin has some information on the subject at his site.

 

I think I read that the site isn't being updated anymore but I hope that he might do so again in the future if he finds the time. If you visit his site give him some feedback and tell him "Rodney sent me".

 

Thanks Adrian!

[Rodney]

Anticipation – by Adrian Ludwin (Originally Presented at The Animation Learner's Site - Used with Permission)

 

Introduction

Imagine that you are animating someone throwing a ball, underhand. How do you do it? If you animated it with direct actions it would look bad. The arm would just comes up and releases the ball. Do people move this way? No. That is because we humans, to do something, must be prepared to do it first (to every action there is an equal and opposite preceeding action!).

 

So, our little man should actually rear back before throwing the ball. Now this is important both for physical and staging reasons: a)by moving his arm back, the man can accelerate his arm more and throw the ball with more force, and b)when he just throws it (as he does above, in the first picture) the action itself is over so fast that the audience might not even know it was there. Think of a golf swing - the entire swing takes a fraction of a second, but because we see the golfer twisting his or her body into a coil, and bringing the club way up over their heads, we know that something is about to happen. This pre-action is known as Anticipation.

 

Anticipation in Acting and Physics

The anticipated action is a key to believable animation. The early animators called it "aiming," because each character was aiming for a particular action. Anticipation can be used either in a physical or in an acting sense. In a physical sense, the character anticipates enough to complete the next action. Eden, to the right, crouches down to the ground to enable her to jump a fraction of a second later. I did not tell her "now, crouch close to the floor, and when your legs have enough potential energy, jump..." - I just told her to jump as high as she could.

 

The second type of anticipation concerns acting. It is much slower than physical anticipation, and indeed, is much closer to the everyday meaning of the word. As Chuck Jones said about his film The Dover Boys, "No character could announce an intention of going upstairs without pointing very positively in the general direction of the staircase." Indeed. This sort of anticipation is just funny - its mocking the extravagent poses of the pre-sound actors. However, anticipation before an event can influence how you will draw even a serious character.

 

Case studies

Imagine someone about to go cliff-diving, or bungee-jumping. As she steps forward, there is a look of intense concentration on her face. She looks back, down, around. All of a sudden, her eyebrows go down, her arms swing up, her knees bend. Freeze this picture for a moment - this is a squash (I hope you recognized that!). Resume action - she springs up, arms go down a bit, knees straighten - this is stretch and the action has begun. She know proceeds to fall down the cliff.

 

Now, imagine that this poor woman doesn't want to jump- she's standing on the edge talking to her friend, explaining that she doesn't really want to go over (I can sympathise). To emphasize a point, she looks around and points down, noting the Niagara rapids below. While she is looking away, her friend (some friend!) gives her a quick push, and over she goes. In this case, there will be no anticipation on the part of the jumper, who didn't know she was jumping. So the squash is initially absent. There will be stretch though - she doesn't want to jump but she wants even less to crash into the sides of the cliff, so she will probably stretch herself out all the way to get her head as far from the cliff walls as possible. And down she goes. Now, if you remove her friend, and you remove all expressions from the jumper's face, and you look at the two actions side by side, there will be little difference between the two jumps. Yes, when she is being pushed her body might bend a little differently, but apart from that the two jumps are similar. However, before one jump, she shows she is in full control by anticipating her own action. When she is not in control there is no anticipation. This shows how important both types of anticipation are for beleivable acting.

 

An action can also be funny if there is only anticipation, and the action itself is not there. Example: Sylvester is chasing a mouse. The mouse runs through a hole into a closet where, unbeknownest to Sylvester, one of those charming adult kangaroos is waiting. Sylvester, convinced that his prey has been trapped, swings open the door. His arms go back, his tail goes up, his head focuses down onto the ground where the mouse should be - that's the anticipation. But then he perceives that the mouse has grown to about three times his own height. He freezes, and his pose, which was not at all funny when he was about to eat a mouse, becomes very funny indeed when he looks like he's about to attack a kangaroo's foot (the worst part of a kangaroo to attack, as I almost discovered once on my trip to Australia). So, the acting and the physical anticipation are there, but the action itself is not. It's that sort of surprise that will make something funny.

 

On the other hand (again), anticipation alone can make something more dramatic. Consider the Huntsman from Snow White. In the movie, he drops the knife when he cannot bring himself to kill Snow White. Now, if he were just to walk up and drop the knife, it wouldn't be very exciting, would it? He is anticipating the action, but cannot bring himself to the action itself. That's what makes it dramatic.

 

Anticipation in Art

In many pieces of art, the action itself is not represented, just its anticipation. That is because the action itself, like a golf swing, may be entirely too fast or too uninteresting to capture on its own. However, the anticipation has the power of implied action, which is always more dramatic than the action itself.

 

(Text has been edited to remove references to missing graphics)

[Rodney]

Its been quite a while since I left off annotating... here is an interesting link that might be of some use to animators:

 

Nonverbal Communications - Links and Information

 

There are of course many other sites that have useful information.

This one I definitely hadn't seen before.

 

For those that don't care for links you can also consider the following when animating characters:

-Pose and Mood

-Shape and Form

-Anatomy

-Model or Character

-Weight

-Line and Silhouette

-Action and Reaction

-Perspective

-Direction

-Tension

-Planes

-Solidity

-Arcs

-Squash and Stretch

-Beat and Rythem

-Depth and Volume

-Overlap and followthru

-Timing

-Working from extreme to extreme

-Straights and Curves

-Primary and secondary action

-Staging and composition

-Anticipation

-Caricature

-Details

-Texture

-Simplification

-Positive and negative shapes

 

These 28 Principles of Animation can be found with additional commentary by Mark Kennedy at:

http://www.animationarena.com/principles-of-animation.html

 

I leave off this update with a quote from 'Acting for Animators' by Ed Hooks.

...acting has almost nothing to do with words. Audiences empathize with emotion, not words.

[Rodney]

Sometimes as animators we must walk before we run.

So too animated characters often are 'taught' to walk.

This is the domain of 'the walk cycle'.

 

Here courtesy of SIGGRAPH site are lessons from George Maestri for all to enjoy as we learn how to walk all over again.

 

Learning to Walk - The Theory and Practice of 3D Character Motion by George Maestri

 

Contrast and compare this information with what you've learned about character walk cycles while completing Exercies 4: Take a Walk in The Art of Animation:Master

 

If you are serious about character animation you'll not only want to study more... you'll never stop studying!

 

Learn more about the study of walk cycles with:

The Walk and the Whip by Andrew Jaremko

[Rodney]

If there is a focus in this annotation of TAoA:M it would be on the Principles of Animation.

If we are to master them ourselves getting advice from experts on their perspective of these principles is not a bad idea.

 

 

 

Brian Lemay's Animation Tips

 

An artist, animator and teacher Brian has an extensive list of credits to his name. One credit in particular should sound familiar.

 

In 2002, while at Seneca College, Brian was asked to draw the storyboards for a film entitled "Ryan", directed by Chris Landreth. "Ryan" won the 2005 Academy Award Oscar© for Best Animated Short Film. To date the film has won more than 35 international awards.

 

Be sure to check out the rest of the site too!

Did you know that starting in May Brian Lemay is offering a course in Animation?

 

http://www.brianlemay.com/Pages/course.html

 

$500... not bad.

The final deadline for applying with payment for this course is April 30th, 2006 according to the site.

Deadline has passed. Inquire via the site for additional classes.

[Rodney]

For those that like to dig deep and explore the art of visual communication in animation this and other related sites might be of interest.

 

 

The NonVerbal Dictionary

 

It delves into the scientific investigation of nonverbal communication and as such can be quite useful to the animator.

 

For example, here's an example on Fingertip Movement.

 

Edit: Added an attachment for use elsewhere in the forum. Completely unrelated to this post. Sorry.

[Rodney]

Going way back to the basics here... and keeping it simple.

 

I've long wanted to put together an interactive (or at least informative) demonstration of the 12 principles of animation. Lack of time and talent have kept it on the backburner.

 

This site however does a good job of demonstrating the basics in traditional animation.

I've learned that if it works in traditional animation it can work or at least be adapted to computer animation. Take a look and make that determination for yourself.

 

Animation Toolbox - Principles of Animation

 

Note1: The Flash Player is required to view the demonstration.

Note2: This is a basic introduction to the principles of animation only.

Note3: For those of you involved (or getting involved) in Animation Bootcamp the Ball Bouncing exercises should look familiar.

[Dhar]

That's great Rodney. Excellent examples.

 

One note though, on the bouncing ball exercise, you got 3 frames where the ball's on the ground. Two frames is what's been propogated

[Rodney]

One note though, on the bouncing ball exercise, you got 3 frames where the ball's on the ground. Two frames is what's been propogated

 

I did notice that. I almost commented on it but wasn't sure how many people would notice... you did!

There is apparently some history (and evolution) behind the ball bouncing exercise.

Early versions of the ball bounce didn't have any stretching at the contact frame. Later the stretch was adjusted to include the stretch and contact on the drop but not on the rebound.

 

Apparently the bouncing ball lesson isn't as easy as it seems... as people keep adjusting here and there. Some texts even get it grossly wrong according to some of the experts (Richard Williams for instance).

 

The effect of the stretch on contact during takeoff *and* initial impact is a new one to me.

Historically the initiall stretch is omitted. This one seems to want to keep both... thereby creating a three frame contact.

To each his own I guess. It actually works in the flash example provided but gives a lazy bounce effect.

 

Good eye Dhar!

[Rodney]

Some of you may know that Walt Disney put together a training program like no other in the years just prior to the release of 'Snow White'. Led by the legendary Walt Stanchfield 'the Disney school' ushered in a new asthetic and promoted interest and further experimentation in animation art.

 

Most of you will also know that many of Walt Stanchfield's notes from his classes are available on www.animationmeat.com in (as of last count) 61 parts.

 

What some may not know is that Leo Brodie had the inspiration to wonder what Walt Stanchfield's notes might look like if he had compiled them in a book. As such he did just that; edited 59 of the notes into a book.

Running at just over 200 pages... it may be one of the best books that never existed ever written.

 

"Gesture Drawing for Animation" is the title of the book and it's available online for download at:

 

http://punchandbrodie.com/leo/stanchfield/

 

It's not just about drawing though it's about the art of animation.

Do yourself a favor and download this book.

 

For the purist, the original notes can still be found:

http://www.animationmeat.com/notes/waltsta...tanchfield.html

 

Notes 47 and 61 are not incorporated in the book.

There are benefits to reading the book version as well as the notes alone.

[Rodney]

Here is another old 'drawing book' in the classic Preston Blair tradition.

 

This one is by a perhaps lesser known but probably more prolific comic artist, animator, layout artist, director... he's just about done it all; Ken Hultgren. The book, "The Know How of Cartooning".

Ken Hultgren is perhaps best know for work on Bambi but he was involved in a whole lot more than that.

 

http://arglebarglin.blogspot.com/2006/06/k...cartooning.html

 

What is featured on this site is a 12 page 'sampling'.

I'm unsure how many pages comprise the entire book but if these 12 pages are any indication of the quality of the rest of the book I'd buy one today if I saw it on the bookshelf.

 

Of special interest to those interested in such things there is a diagram illustrating the classic ball bouncing exercise.

 

I like several things he's done with his 'version'. First, he uses Roman Numerals in an interesting. This is a bit strange as there is one 'keyframe' that doesn't follow that methodology; frame ten, which is written as "10".

 

He notes one important aspect of the principle of squash that often escapes most lessons on ball bounces; decreasing of the squash on subsequent bounces. Many lessons treat each bounce with the same degree of squash.

 

Of particular interest, Ken Hultgren appears of the school that the ball's contact w/ stretch occurs after the impact rather than before. As far as I've been able to ascertain this view is in the minority. The debate rolls (or perhaps bounces) on...

 

I'd like to learn more about the very talented Ken Hultgren.

'The Know How of Cartooning' looks to be a very interesting book on drawing from a veteran animator. Well worth a closer look.

[Rodney]

In another post I linked to a Ken Harris inteview by Richard Williams.

The interview had some formatting that detracted from it so I've removed that code and attached the interview in PDF format.

 

As you read the interview consider the following:

How important are walk cycles in learning character animation?

 

 

Can everyone be an animator?

 

 

How do you learn timing?

 

 

What is 'Timing ahead'?

 

(According to Ken Harris) How long does it take an assistant animator to become an 'Animator'? What insights does he provide into the process of progression?

 

What is a 'systematic test'? How can it help improve animation?

 

What simular formulas are found in computer animation as in 2D animation?

Are there any pitfalls to using them? Any benefits?

 

What is the best way to learn how to animate?

What is the best way to teach animation?

 

How does the concept of Tracing apply to digital animation?

How does it relate to the study of animation?

 

Ken Harris says in the interview, "I can animate anything I can do or see somebody do."

How does that apply to our own efforts?

 

 

 

Ken Harris finishes the interview with this advice:

Think it all out in your mind and then visualize it the best you can; Then, draw it out the best you can, and then test it and see if it's right; Unless you have somebody here who can say, "Oh, throw this drawing out," and "You need to speed it up here, and put in a couple of inbetweens

to slow it down here."

 

Timing is just something you can't tell a guy how to do. He's gotta feel that himself. It's obvious that when you hit something from here in anticipation and all you want is some kind of a path over to the hit. I don't know - the only thing I can tell a guy to do is just to animate. What's this author, he says, " If you're gonna learn to write, write." That's the only way to write - he says, "I can't tell you how to write - you just gotta write."

 

To animate, you take a sheet, and then you write down what you want to do and so forth and so on, which is a good way to do it. You just get a stop-watch and time the action and yourself. Act it out, and time it and put it down here and then draw it so it fits those marks, so it fits those things. But that comes after experience.

 

The first thing to do for anybody, to learn to animate, is to practice making walks. Do walks of all kinds, 'cause that's about the most important and hardest thing to do. All this hand action and personality and dialogue and expressions, that's from learning to act, watching guys like Barrymore, or any good actor.

Ken_Harris_Interview_by_Richard_Williams.pdf

[Rodney]

Profiles in Animation: Sergi Camara

 

Sergi Camara was born in Barcelona Spain in 1964.

In 1981, at the age of 17, he began working as an assistant at an advertising agency in Barcelona.

In 1989 he struck out on his own and started his own production company, Studio Camara.

 

He later teamed with coproducers in New York to bring his own projects to animated life. 'Slurps', a series of short films proved to be a successful series shown in 130 countries.

Studio Camara has made most of the Slurps episodes available via youtube.

 

The work you'll see there is limited animation but with a good range of physical and character (mostly cartoon animal) animation in classic traditional 2D style. The animated action is presented with no dialogue so the action and sound effects must carry the story. The gag, or point to the short if you prefer, is conveyed within a few seconds. This makes them good study material for short projects with Animation:Master.

 

Sergi has balanced an interest in his profession with that of teaching animation and script writing and continues to develop projects for television while writing children's stories for publishers in Spain, England and the United States.

 

In 2006, Sergi published a book in Barron's 'All About' series.

'All About Techniques in Drawing for Animation Production' covers almost every aspect of traditional animation production. Storyboarding, Characters, Layout and Animation are each covered in turn from the perspective of Sergi's experience. This book has slipped under a lot of folks' radars but its a really great read. I recommend it.

 

Sergi appears to have well absorbed the lessons taught by Richard Williams and others and examples he uses could well be taken out of 'The Animator's Survival Kit'. Interestingly however, Sergi expands in little ways upon many of them. As such Sergi's book has found a nice place on my shelf and when I need to refresh my memory I pull it out. Of interest to me... he gets the bouncing ball exercise right!

 

Studio Camara has done work with computers though not with Animation:Master that I know of.

For more information see the Studio Camara Filmography.

 

It should surprise no one that Sergi's experience has of led him to appreciate the history of animation.

His blog may be of interest to those seeking information on early animation technique, technology and presentation methodologies. I've long wanted to write a bit about turn of the century technology used in animation and some of the pioneers behind that technology but Sergi has already done that better. You can find that and a lot more here: http://animatedcartoons.blogspot.com/

 

If you find some free time on your schedule check out a few of these links, read his book or visit his blog.

There is a lot to learn from Sergi Camara.