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View Full Version : Quick advice for general animation needed

shadowedge
08-30-2006, 07:37 AM
Hi everyone,

animation isn't one of my strong points, I only understand the basics of traditional animation(anticipation, secondary action, follow through etc.)

In the past, I've used rotoscoped guides, to make animation. But right now Im going to animate (non human biped) without guides, without mocap.

So I need advice, see I have a well working rig, a biped with a center of gravity (COG), and a customized control page that lets me key and unkey all animatable controls at the same time.

Based on traditional animation, we make keyposes and draw the inbetweens right? In 3d, the computer makes those IB's for us.

So what would be a better way to do "mano mano" animation?

Is it better to manually key parts of the rig? Or should i animate them the same way in traditional animation by making straightforward keyposes?

So in essence, what Im trying to ask is, how would you go about animating a biped without guides, without mocap?

I just need general advice, nothing application specific http://www.threedy.com/site/forum/images/smilies/laugh.gif

My appreciation goes out in advance. Thanks.
TheGhostOfEdo
08-30-2006, 06:30 PM
Hey there,

I am no expert but animation is what I focused on in college so maybe this will help you. In my opinion when I am animating I will use both straightforward and key framing. It all depends on what you’re going for and what you feel comfortable with. If you are going for smoother animation sometime straight forward will work great and you will have to do very little tweaking. If your going for a snappy animation then key framing may be your best bet. That’s what I feel works for me, try it out if you want.


Also if you don’t have any reference footage is a big help. If you need to see what someone looks like running and jumping go find the footage online or you can grab a camera and go film yourself running and jumping. Just my 2 cents hope it helps you a bit.
NeilMarriott
08-30-2006, 07:45 PM
If you want to key every pose and every control in a more traditional fashion then go for it! Others prefer a more layered method, where some parts may be keyed every frame, whereas some areas may be left for computer to fill in.

There's not hard or fast method, every animator has their own little tricks of the trade, as will you over time.

As an overall rule, computers are pretty rubbish inbetweeners. Every key frame is yours!

Dive in and have fun!

Good luck!
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