Josh Wedlake
zaja.kr...@gmail.com
I think that it's great that you're trying to organise some kinds of
networking between us.
On Jul 13, 3:58 pm, Josh Wedlake <josh.wedl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> test
> --
> Josh Wedlakehttp://joshwedlake.tumblr.com/
Josh Wedlake
good to see the list is working! thanks for signing up so quick &
supporting the idea.
For everyone that's new to email groups, to avoid getting your inbox
flooded, you can change your settings so you only get one email per day (or
one per week, a 'digest' of everything that's been sent to the list). Go to
http://groups.google.com/group/animation-dailies click on 'Edit my
Membership' on the right hand side and change the option to 'Digest' and
click save.
Basically the college near where I was an intern last summer had a similar
emailing list for all their alumni and there were some really great
discussions on it. Here's a few recent notes which came up on that list
about animation workflow which might be useful - obviously impossible to
post this stuff to the college PgDip facebook group!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Louai Abu-Osba" <ly...@hampshire.edu>
+1 everything Cristin said. That's an awesome link. More ramble....
There's a million ways to approach this. Keep in mind that workflows
are often talked about as a series of linear steps, but they are
almost always iterative and resemble more of web of steps by the time
you're done with a shot.
I take part of the question as "How do I modify poses, to enhance
weight and timing, after I've layed down a bajillion keyframes and I
have no idea where my poses start and end? How do I know if my poses
suck in the first place? or if I'm making foolish technical choices in
my blocking?"
Posing is my weakest skill as an animator, and I think it directly
corresponds to my lack of experience in life drawing. I had lots of
training in theatrical acting, but actors rarely look in mirrors like
dancers do, and spend most of their time thinking about their
feelings. I live and breathe video reference. It helps me immensely
when it comes to proper posing. When i shoot reference I put it to use
in a few ways. The two big things are body mechanics and finding a
performance I like quickly. I'll often edit together parts of
reference I like, often because I like motion I did in certain takes,
or I want to adjust timing.
Once I get the edit I like I'll analyze it. That usually means I'll
plop it into After Effects, and then I'll lay down markers on the
timeline for what i would consider are key poses and breakdowns and
occasionally extremes. Then I'll take those frames and hold them in
the video, so none of the inbetween frames are playing. This tells me
right away if I can still feel the weight of the motion, and if the
timing is clear. Sometimes I'll draw over these frames to push the
line of action, essentially thumbnailing over the video. Depending on
the action, I may even draw out the arcs of the hips, feet, or arms.
You'll be surprised at how they're really moving, as compared to what
you think the path of action is. I will also take the frames I've
marked and turn that into a contact sheet of still frames for easy
reference, and as well as type up notes in the actual frame with a
text layer. Once I get to blocking in maya I've got a good
understanding of how the weight is moving and what poses I want, and
how i can exaggerate them in ways that make sense. After spending this
much time with reference I usually don't need to look at it much when
i start blocking, as all the analysis has seeped into my head. If I
can't get the body mechanics right after blocking I'll look at the
reference again. I use a few simple After Effects scripts to make this
whole process as fast as possible.
So the next step is to block in my poses in my DCC tool. I like to use
as many controls as I need in blocking and nothing more. I also block
with as few poses as I need to make the idea clear. Get lots and lots
of feedback. Basically, I know my poses suck when other people tell me
(I'm looking at you Bishop! hahahahah). If you look at one of my
Caldera shots, c4-02, the early blocking passes, were just terrible.
Big changes were made in her poses by the time it was finaled, but the
timing stayed pretty consistent. You're so much better off revising
poses in your blocking than further down the pipe, so take the time to
get it right. I love looking at pencil tests. It's pretty amazing how
much weight you can feel in a few well drawn poses, and that's what
I'm striving for when I'm blocking. As I'm blocking I'll key all the
poses on every control on the same frame and that makes it much easier
to revise and to feel how well your poses are working. I spend much of
my blocking time flipping between poses, by using previous_keyframe
and next_keyframe shortcut keys. If i can't feel the overlap and
weight in the poses as I'm flipping between them, that's one
indication that they are weak. I spend as much time as I can getting
my keys, breakdowns and extremes as weighty and fluid as possible
before moving on.
It's inevitable that posing will need to change after you've started
refining motion and you've been sculpting your curves and offsetting
keyframes. When this happens I'm usually better off using the DELETE
key and reposing from scratch than salvaging something that isn't
working, whether it's a small or large frame range. The delete key is
your best friend! Every time you press delete you are freeing yourself
from a destiny of mediocrity. Some revisions may not require so much
rework however. Usually if I find myself with a ton of keys and I
can't figure out where my poses start and end, I will rekey what I
consider key poses, breakdowns and extremes by selecting all the
controls and adding a key frame. Then I'll delete all the keyframes
that are in between the frames that I rekeyed. This gives a clear set
of poses to work with that are much more easily revised. I may do this
several times over the same frame range until I get it right. The
delete key is why computers are awesome.
With Maya, I've become an avid user of animation layers. This can
really help my main poses from getting really keyframe heavy when I
add polish and secondary movements to them. They can also really help
if you're taking a layered approach to posing, where you animate the
core movements before anything else. On caldera I used several
animation layers for the bike movement. That helped a lot with trying
to get the motion of the bike fluid and natural, which was
surprisingly deceptive. On c04-02, I animated the banking of the bike
first, on one layer. Then I animated the rotation of the bike, using
the back wheel as the pivot, on another layer (while counter
translating the bike to keep the back wheel from sliding). On yet
another layer I animated the translation of the bike from side to
side. And I did it REALLY big, so that I could see the overlapping
movements clearly. To dial down the movement, all i had to do was turn
down the layer weight slider (which would be the mathematical
equivalent of scaling each curve using the graph editor). Anim layers
are awesome. Try them when appropriate and leave them alone when
things are simple. I would have found posing the bike using a
pose-to-pose approach pretty difficult.
A few links:
http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2010/11/how-do-you-deal-with-animation-curves.html
http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2010/12/can-you-tell-us-about-your-animation.html
http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2010/08/do-you-have-any-tips-on-how-to-take.html
http://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961
-louai
>
> On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 8:17 AM, Cristin McKee <rhin...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Tough question! I'll see what I can do.
>>
>> First, the disclaimer, everyone tends to find a worklow that works best
>> for them so one approach isn't best for everybody.
>>
>> Shoot video reference. Even if you don't end up using it, it helps you
>> explore your ideas and can be a lifesaver if you are having a particular
>> problem with some body mechanics. It always give you something to refer
>> back
>> to when you need help. Some people use it for body mechanics, I
>> personally
>> use it for acting. But definitely most people shoot reference in this
>> industry. Just remember to shoot your reference authentically. If your
>> character is standing, stand up! If your character has a heavy prop, find
>> a
>> heavy prop. I'm embarrassed by how often on my div 3 I screwed that rule
>> up.
>>
>> Pay attention to every single control and axis. It's hard to get things
>> right if you miss some important controls. But if you do some rough
>> blocking
>> and then go control by control, axis by axis (mainly on the spine, head,
>> and
>> wrists for axis by axis), second by second, and pay attention to what
>> everything should be doing to improve your rough posing. Start with the
>> base, butt, upper spine, and work your way out to the limbs and face so
>> you
>> don't waste time compensating for big changes.
>>
>> Take this approach to analyzing your video reference too. Limb by limb,
>> axis by axis. And then improve on your video reference as only an
>> animator
>> can. :)
>>
>> It doesn't have to be perfect in blocking. You want to strive for
>> perfection to avoid problems down the line, but it will not be perfect as
>> you will learn as you progress through the shot. Probably every pro
>> animator, when they spline their shot, experiences a brief twinge of
>> panic
>> because the timing and body mechanics are suddenly not quite working as
>> they
>> envisioned. Most animators hate this step. Save a playblast of your
>> blocking
>> so you can always refer back to the timing and posing you had there. On
>> the
>> plus side, once you spline or start refining, suddenly new possibilities
>> will open up about how to improve the motion and the blocking that you
>> couldn't see in the earlier limited version of your shot. Have fun and be
>> creative with it. :)
>>
>> Get feedback from others as much as you can. They'll see things you
>> missed. Professional animators sometimes have to show their work every
>> day
>> to a supervisor, sometimes twice a day. I'm working on a shot right now
>> where almost every single pose has been changed due to supervisor
>> feedback.
>> It's way better because of it. Obviously you have to do all the hard
>> work,
>> but the work you do can inspire someone else to give you inspiring
>> feedback.
>>
>> There's an awesome video online of Glen Keane drawing over the poses for
>> the CG blocking in Tangled that is pretty amazing. I'll try to find it
>> and
>> link it...
Ahh here it is...
http://vimeo.com/23652565
28 minutes in, prepare to have your mind blown by Glen Keane.
>>
>> I'm not sure if this specifically addresses what you're asking about. I
>> mostly just rambled I think. ;) Feel free to ask more questions.
>>
>> Cristin
>>
>>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Chan" <jerry....@gmail.com>
> Just throwing this into the fray, this is a handout that I got in an
> acting
> class that changed how I view animation (i.e. more performance, not
> mechanics. Mechanics are tools used to create a performance)
>
> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3959205/speech/charAnalysis.zip
>
> So yeah, definitely what Louai said: If you can get into the same
> emotional
> state as the character is in, your body willl know what to do, as far as
> performance goes
>
>
> Good luck!
> -Jerry
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Bishop" <djoo...@gmail.com>
>>
>>
>>
>> Everyone knows this, but nonetheless I'll bolster it boldly:
>>>
>>> *Do as much figure drawing as you possibly can. Ideally from observation
>>> of
>>> live models. This is THE BEST way to develop your sensibilities of
>>> things
>>> like balance, silhouette, weight, line of action, etc. *
>>>
>>> Draw people all the time. Period.
>>>
>>> - b
>>>
>>>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jarred de Beer" <jarr...@gmail.com>
> ----------------
> Just my short interpretation of advice from Bassam in a recent chat, most
> of
> which i'd actually forgotten about:
>
> 1. small amount of poses which purely TELL the story
> 2. totally nailing down the ENTIRE pose for each one
> 3. make sure the silhouettes and poses are READING
> 4. Add some additional keys - PRIMARILY contact poses and extremes
> 5. make sure the silhouettes and poses are READING
> 6. ...
--
Josh Wedlake
http://joshwedlake.tumblr.com/
animato...@gmail.com
this by discussing about animation or if we are having any problem in
other softwares too.
Cheers mate.
On Jul 13, 9:39 am, Josh Wedlake <josh.wedl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Heya,
> good to see the list is working! thanks for signing up so quick &
> supporting the idea.
>
> For everyone that's new to email groups, to avoid getting your inbox
> flooded, you can change your settings so you only get one email per day (or
>
> -louai
>
> > On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 8:17 AM, Cristin McKee <rhinth...@gmail.com>
>
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>
> - Show quoted text -