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This looks like it's going to be great.. A full 3d-CG movie adapted from the classic manga, Tetsujin 28 or (Iron Man no. 28).
Official site here : http://www.imagius.com/t28/web/index.php
The trailer so far is great. Really looking forward to see the real movie ~!!
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
How Do You Improve the Arcs in Animation?
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FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Before you go crazy improving any arcs, you must know that you need to work from the root of your character outward (pelvis » spine » neck » head). A slight change in the arc of the root may result in a big change in the arc of your wrist.
There are may ways of improving your arcs so I’ve broken it down to a few sections.
DESIGN:
The beauty of animation is you are the one in control, so why not take control over your arcs. They don’t always have to be your standard arc. Different arcs can have different feelings. So here are some things I like to think about when designing my arcs.
* Arcs should not all be the same. Think of different patterns and how they relate to each other. For instance, if you moved through a squiggly arc and then into a smooth arc, you animation may start off feeling chaotic and then end feeling calm or fluid.
* Like any design, angular shapes and patterns have a rough, rigid and maybe even a negative feeling as apposed to a smooth shapes and patterns may have more of a fluid, organic or positive feeling.
* There needs to be at least three frames (3 points) to describe any curve.
* Arcs can have a thickness to them as well. For example if you move your hand through and arc and your fingers are spread wide at the beginning and in the end, but are close together in the middle that arc will have a feeling of going from thick to thin to thick. When doing this its important to remember volume and anatomy.
DRAWING YOUR ARC:
When I think I have an idea for my arc, I plot it out on my monitor with a dry erase marker (for flat panels I may use a sheet of acetate over the monitor). I first plot out my start and end points so I know roughly how much space I’m dealing with and then I draw my arc connecting the two.
Remember, the more detailed your arc is the more frames you will need. For example, if you wish for your object to follow along an “S” curve you will need enough points to keep it from looking like a “Z” curve.
SPACING:
I think the thing most often forgotten when it comes to arcs is the spacing along the arcs. It's not good enough just to make sure that every frame follows the arc, but the spacing along that arc has just as much value. If the spacing is done incorrectly your arc may or may not read.
As a starting point, I think of my spacing along an arc like the coils in a slinky. If you were to stretch out a slinky along an arc, the coils would be closer to each other at the ends and furthest apart in the middle. When you move through the slinky from the start toward the middle, each coil (spacing) gradually gets further and further apart until it reaches its furthest spacing in the middle. From that point, the coils (spacing) get closer and closer together. Like I said, this is just a starting point, your typical arcs ease out, and moves through a breakdown to an ease in type of spacing. Quite often I will see two random coils in the middle of an arc very close together unintentionally, and even though the object is moving through an arc it still appears to pop because the frames before and after don’t lend itself to that spacing.
DRAG, SQUETCH (Squash and Stretch):
When moving through an arc it's important that any drag, or squetching we do follows that path of action as well. For example, in your standard bouncing test, as a ball stretches on its descent the line of action of that ball points back up the arc where it came from.
MOTION BLUR:
This may be a bit unnecessary to talk about and may even complicate things a bit, but when you get to that big studio it matters. Motion blur is like 5-year-old playing connect the dots. It will only draw a straight line from point to point. It doesn’t know to arc in between the dots. So this may or may not be another factor to the design and detail of your arc.
by Nick Bruno
AnimationMentor.com Mentor
Senior Animator at Blue Sky Studios
--
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Before you go crazy improving any arcs, you must know that you need to work from the root of your character outward (pelvis » spine » neck » head). A slight change in the arc of the root may result in a big change in the arc of your wrist.
There are may ways of improving your arcs so I’ve broken it down to a few sections.
DESIGN:
The beauty of animation is you are the one in control, so why not take control over your arcs. They don’t always have to be your standard arc. Different arcs can have different feelings. So here are some things I like to think about when designing my arcs.
* Arcs should not all be the same. Think of different patterns and how they relate to each other. For instance, if you moved through a squiggly arc and then into a smooth arc, you animation may start off feeling chaotic and then end feeling calm or fluid.
* Like any design, angular shapes and patterns have a rough, rigid and maybe even a negative feeling as apposed to a smooth shapes and patterns may have more of a fluid, organic or positive feeling.
* There needs to be at least three frames (3 points) to describe any curve.
* Arcs can have a thickness to them as well. For example if you move your hand through and arc and your fingers are spread wide at the beginning and in the end, but are close together in the middle that arc will have a feeling of going from thick to thin to thick. When doing this its important to remember volume and anatomy.
DRAWING YOUR ARC:
When I think I have an idea for my arc, I plot it out on my monitor with a dry erase marker (for flat panels I may use a sheet of acetate over the monitor). I first plot out my start and end points so I know roughly how much space I’m dealing with and then I draw my arc connecting the two.
Remember, the more detailed your arc is the more frames you will need. For example, if you wish for your object to follow along an “S” curve you will need enough points to keep it from looking like a “Z” curve.
SPACING:
I think the thing most often forgotten when it comes to arcs is the spacing along the arcs. It's not good enough just to make sure that every frame follows the arc, but the spacing along that arc has just as much value. If the spacing is done incorrectly your arc may or may not read.
As a starting point, I think of my spacing along an arc like the coils in a slinky. If you were to stretch out a slinky along an arc, the coils would be closer to each other at the ends and furthest apart in the middle. When you move through the slinky from the start toward the middle, each coil (spacing) gradually gets further and further apart until it reaches its furthest spacing in the middle. From that point, the coils (spacing) get closer and closer together. Like I said, this is just a starting point, your typical arcs ease out, and moves through a breakdown to an ease in type of spacing. Quite often I will see two random coils in the middle of an arc very close together unintentionally, and even though the object is moving through an arc it still appears to pop because the frames before and after don’t lend itself to that spacing.
DRAG, SQUETCH (Squash and Stretch):
When moving through an arc it's important that any drag, or squetching we do follows that path of action as well. For example, in your standard bouncing test, as a ball stretches on its descent the line of action of that ball points back up the arc where it came from.
MOTION BLUR:
This may be a bit unnecessary to talk about and may even complicate things a bit, but when you get to that big studio it matters. Motion blur is like 5-year-old playing connect the dots. It will only draw a straight line from point to point. It doesn’t know to arc in between the dots. So this may or may not be another factor to the design and detail of your arc.
by Nick Bruno
AnimationMentor.com Mentor
Senior Animator at Blue Sky Studios
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Saturday, November 8, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
How Do You Go About Timing Out Animation That Can't Be Performed in Real Life?
That's a tough one, and it depends entirely on the style of the project you are working on. The timing is going to be very different between Davy Jones jumping vs. Mr. Incredible jumping vs. Horton jumping. These projects all land at different places on the meter of stylization, and each of those character's movements and timings are dictated heavily by those chosen styles.
If you're working on a more stylized piece, and are creating a performance that you can't find or create reference for in the real world, then my advice would be to use the principle of exaggeration to push the timing and poses that you see in the real world.
You always want to base your animation on the real world while adhering to the rules of the universe that have been set up by the style of the project you are working on. No matter how stylized the motion, if it has zero connection to the world we live in, the audience is going to have a hard time connecting to it, and will likely find it confusing or off-putting. You want to give the audience some anchors - something they are familiar with, and use that as the jumping off point for your stylizations.
As an example, let's say that you are animating a character jumping up into the air, but you want to give them extra "cartoony" hang-time. In this instance, I'd encourage you to study (and maybe even film) the mechanics of how a real jump works. Jump around at your desk and feel what happens in your own body. Study how the whole body squashes on the anticipation, stretches on the launch, squashes at the top of the jump, stretches on the way back down, and squashes on the landing. Just study ALL that stuff about how a real jump works.
Once you know how a real jump works, now you're ready to animate your exaggerated jump. Just take what you've observed and apply your knowledge of the principles of animation to it (including and especially exaggeration, in this case) and you'll be fine! Keep that overall squash and stretch for at least the launch and landing as anchors, for example, and be sure to have a frame where at least one toe is still on the ground with a very straight leg so the character feels like he's pushing himself upward. Maybe get his arms involved, as people do, etc.
With those anchors in there, you will successfully communicate the idea of a jump, no matter what other craziness you now add to the mix. Give him a longer hang time, for example, but try to hang onto those anchors as well. Keeping him on a nice arc would probably be another good anchor, to keep things somewhat rooted in the way the audience understands how our gravity works, but that doesn't mean you can't elongate that arc and keep him in the air for as long as you possibly want to!
Hope that helps! Have fun, and keep animating!
- Shawn Kelly.
Co-founder of AnimationMentor.com and ILM animator.
If you're working on a more stylized piece, and are creating a performance that you can't find or create reference for in the real world, then my advice would be to use the principle of exaggeration to push the timing and poses that you see in the real world.
You always want to base your animation on the real world while adhering to the rules of the universe that have been set up by the style of the project you are working on. No matter how stylized the motion, if it has zero connection to the world we live in, the audience is going to have a hard time connecting to it, and will likely find it confusing or off-putting. You want to give the audience some anchors - something they are familiar with, and use that as the jumping off point for your stylizations.
As an example, let's say that you are animating a character jumping up into the air, but you want to give them extra "cartoony" hang-time. In this instance, I'd encourage you to study (and maybe even film) the mechanics of how a real jump works. Jump around at your desk and feel what happens in your own body. Study how the whole body squashes on the anticipation, stretches on the launch, squashes at the top of the jump, stretches on the way back down, and squashes on the landing. Just study ALL that stuff about how a real jump works.
Once you know how a real jump works, now you're ready to animate your exaggerated jump. Just take what you've observed and apply your knowledge of the principles of animation to it (including and especially exaggeration, in this case) and you'll be fine! Keep that overall squash and stretch for at least the launch and landing as anchors, for example, and be sure to have a frame where at least one toe is still on the ground with a very straight leg so the character feels like he's pushing himself upward. Maybe get his arms involved, as people do, etc.
With those anchors in there, you will successfully communicate the idea of a jump, no matter what other craziness you now add to the mix. Give him a longer hang time, for example, but try to hang onto those anchors as well. Keeping him on a nice arc would probably be another good anchor, to keep things somewhat rooted in the way the audience understands how our gravity works, but that doesn't mean you can't elongate that arc and keep him in the air for as long as you possibly want to!
Hope that helps! Have fun, and keep animating!
- Shawn Kelly.
Co-founder of AnimationMentor.com and ILM animator.
Friday, October 10, 2008
:: Graduation Campaign Updates ::
T-Shirt design submission is open !~ Do design some nice T-shirt (monotone or 2 / 3 colors) for our T-shirt sales , and submit it to Beng / Jared by Sunday~
Theme is based on Love Bomb
T-shirt Template - get from Beng / Jared.
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Monday- If you have any 2nd hand stuffs u wanna sell of, do bring them on monday and pass them to Ji Yan =)
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Theme is based on Love Bomb
T-shirt Template - get from Beng / Jared.
-------
Monday- If you have any 2nd hand stuffs u wanna sell of, do bring them on monday and pass them to Ji Yan =)
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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