Blocking Demo

This is an example of how I start to block out most of my shots. My main focus while blocking is story telling, and while this is the most important part of blocking I'm also working on keeping my curves in the graph editor simple and free of as many keys as possible. As I start to block my shots I also make sure my poses work cleanly together and that the motion between my key poses is simple and clean. It is important that the motion between my key frames is not flipping around on itself or doing anything unexpected. If flipping around or something unexpected happens then I know I have built my poses in a way that makes them incompatible with each other and I need to rethink how I create these poses.

Here is an example of two clean poses that the computer is nicely inbetweening between. In my opinion this clean inbetweening is important for the overall success of the shot.

Notice that even though I only have two keys, the computer is already starting to inbetween my shot. Since these key poses have been carefully built you can already start to see that the arms and body are starting to follow natural arcs between the two key poses. I will start to add breakdown poses later to enhance my arcs on the arms or body and/or to define a different arc pattern if needed.

Now that those two keys are built in a clean and simple way, I can start to add in all my other keys. As I add keys I'm constantly making sure they relate to each other in the same way I did with the the first two key poses making sure the motion between each new added pose is nice and clean.

Below I have my shot blocked out to the point it's ready to show. I have the timing roughly thought out, and enough key poses to present my idea clearly.

This is a snapshot of what my dope sheet looks like for the above blocking example. Again my goal at this point is to keep things simple. I want my keys to be fence posts in my shot so that I can hang everything else off of them, at this point forward the key poses are clearly defined.

You'll notice that the entire body is keyed on the same frames this includes the arms,legs,and hands. I generally Block out the Mouth and Eyes in a separate blocking pass and do not tie them to the body keys, I treat them like they are a separate layer.

My curves at this point should be clean and simple for the entire body. I keep the knots flat unless the knot is on a sloped spline. I also always have my tangents showing and I only work with weighted tangents. I don't like the computer doing anything to my tangents that I don't want it doing. It's important that you control what is happening with your splines because this is where the power of computer animation can really shine or where the computer can destroy your shot.

Here is an image of what the splines look like for the Root of my character.

Here is an image of the splines for the right arm.

Besides keeping my splines and keys simple I also try and make sure that my character in working from all angles. I always work in the main camera and pose my character for that camera, but I'm always making sure the character's pose isn't too crazy or off balance in the other cameras. It's good to cheat when you have too, but I've found that the more your character is balanced and works from other angles the more likely your character is going to look right from the main camera. Sometimes when you just pay attention to the main cam you might be manipulating the character in such a way that looks fine because of perspective or for some other reason but in reality your character may be awkwardly posed or broken in another camera. This can lead to heartache when trying to finish your shot and you can't seem to get "that" one part looking right and you have to put in tons keys to try and make an arc look right. I find that most of the time it's because of not paying attention to my poses in the other cameras. Looking at your poses and how they relate to each other in the other cameras will help you create simple and clean poses that work together.

Here are examples of the same blocking from the other cameras, though it isn't perfect from these cameras it's not super broken either. The movement still is somewhat believable.

Front Camera

Side Camera

Top Camera

Computer Animation and Drawing.

Ahh...drawing. In my experience, many students find themselves intimidated when asked to draw, generate thumbnails, or create storyboards for class, artwork which will end up being shown to their peers in the classroom setting. The intimidation is understandable; from an industry standpoint computer animation has liberated some of the greatest animators from the shackles of great draftsmenship, and so many students are forced to ask themselves whether or not the skill of drawing is in fact an industry standard at this point. Well on one hand as a medium, the computer has allowed a greater population to access animation as a career path than ever before. The computer has also allowed animation to become more accessible than ever to the common student, especially for those who may not have been privy to an extensive art background in their youth. Almost overnight, it appears that the computer has become the primary tool for which an animator is expected to express him or herself. Currently most computer games, feature films, commercials, and Internet animation rely heavily on an animator’s knowledge of computer animation. The danger our current industry is now faced with is whether or not working professionals can effectively animate without the skills that are gained from basic drawing as the impression can be that basic drawing may not relate to computer animation. From an education standpoint, my opinion is that the overall quality of current animation being produced may be lacking when it comes to certain animation  fundamentals. Now days many students can enter a program and go to school to learn everything there is to know about Maya, but may end up graduating having taken only a few drawing classes and/or possibly never having taken a class in story or design.

So why is basic drawing an important part of an animators education? If a drawing class is taught well, especially a life drawing class, a student can learn about story, design, weight, physics, balance, squash and stretch, overlap, follow through, positive negative spaces, silhouette, composition, structure, rhythm, and line of action. All from one class. Another benefit of basic drawing is that you will find yourself being challenged to draw on a regular basis which will allow yourself to constantly keep working on and being reminded of the basic skills that create the backbone to a great animator. As a student it can be overwhelming to try to juggle all of the skills at once that are required of animation. A drawing class can provide you the opportunity to create not just one drawing but rather many drawings in which you will find yourself with ample time to work on each skill, either one at a time or all at once. 

When I’m in a life drawing class or any drawing class for that matter, I’ve found that one of the simplest things that I can do for myself is to sit down at home and  re-trace the drawing that I created in class. I put a piece of tracing paper over my drawing and examine the drawing while thinking about design or weight or balance, and when I’ve picked a tool in which to focus on, I will re-trace over my original drawing. I will then keep repeating the process until I’ve addressed all of the ideas I want to work on, overlap, squash and stretch, silhouette, rhythm, etc, etc. 

The point is you don’t need to be a gifted draftsman to be a great animator. However, you do need to understand all the principles that are taught in a good drawing class to become a great animator. Outside of class there is no reason to be intimidated by drawing as you will be the only one examining your work and you don't have to show your drawings or thumbnails to anyone if you don't want to. While you’re in class try not to worry about what your drawings may look like but rather, challenge yourself to concentrate on the process and your thought process that goes on while you’re drawing. If the drawing looks like junk but in the end you came away with a better understanding of how the shapes and forms work together or where the squash and stretch was working in the pose, then you’ve already accomplished something for yourself as an animator. And, you'll remember what you’ve learned so that the next time you sit down to plan out a shot or pose a character you’ll have a greater understanding of what does and doesn’t work. Personally, I don't worry about the drawing anymore. I focus on trying to learn something each and every time I draw.

Just for the fun of it I’d like to show you that your drawings don't have to look great or pretty, nice or presentable by sharing some thumbnails I’ve created from the various films I’ve worked on. These thumbnails may or may not be pushed, nor in the final poses for the characters in the shot. I tweak my poses once they are in the computer when I'm working to the main camera. In these examples I'm only trying to get and idea of what the pose will be, what my acting choices are, and how character is going to move. I take a lot of notes that I combine with the drawings to help me describe the motion, arcs, antics, or ideas that I can't draw. They are the road map of my shots but not always the final destination. 

-Dr. Stephen G.

Animation Workout

Flex. It. Out.
Your animation muscles are just like any other muscle in your body; exercise so that you can grow strong, work harder and results will come. I love animation. I love animating, I do. I also love my animation workout. My workout is easy enough and best of all doesn’t take a lot of time. So often we as animators get caught up in our large acting assignments or even larger chunks of pantomime animation tests. These types of assignments are useful, informative, and necessary for an animator’s reel, but sometimes a quick workout can end up being more beneficial to an animator’s overall success. What I mean by a quick work out is an opportunity  to take one or two principles of animation and create an animation test to focus on those principals. Generally speaking, I use a prim box or sphere for my workouts so that I’m not tempted or distracted by complex humans characters. The goal is simply to focus on one particular aspect and animate that aspect really well. For example, let’s say I want to focus on Overlap. I can easily create a prim box, parent another prim box to it, and then I’ve got a rough stand-in for a character’s chest and an arm to work off of. With my prim boxes built I’m ready to  begin working out my overlap- turn the box and have the box arm overlap may not be that hard... or is it?

Slow-ins and Slow-outs? Not a problem with a prim box, just have the box move from one side of the screen to the other and back again and/or have it move around the screen slowing in and out of certain key poses. Quick and easy. Want to focus on Drag? Create your prim box moving up and down and around the screen, picking one corner or edge of the box to lead with while the other end drags behind.

Now granted, in all likely hood, none of these tests will end up on your reel but hopefully you will gain a better understanding of animation principles through your workout. Perhaps, think of it as a tool that you can use in order to put together a more complex piece of animation that you can put on your reel. There is nothing more valuable than a better understanding of how to use your tools. During your workouts you may choose to focus on trying to animate the slow in and slow out of a prim box, moving around with only your graph editor. Or, you may try to animate something in stepped mode in order to animate every frame so that you gain a better understanding of spacing and how that relates to the graph editor. Perhaps you have a problem with things strobing all the time in quick moves. A workout is a perfect way to help you figure out how to solve your problem, because a workout provides a pressure-free opportunity to learn and grow without an acting piece and/or pressure from, well, anything. You are free to try and mess up and try again because workouts do not require a large time commitment and are for you and you alone. Much like working out at the gym or the yoga studio or even running a marathon, it’s all about the end result.

Dr. Stephen G.