essential resources for character animator

[CGmonkey]

two books, you must get..

"The Animator's Survival Kit" By Richard Williams!

"Disney's Illusion of Life"

Get jason schleifer's dvds if you have some money over, otherwise, wait with that untill you've become a bit more experienced.

If you want something good to start with, get Lost Pencil's "The Animator's Gym" ( http://www.lostpencil.com/animatorsgym.html )

This'll get you started.. If you want in depth, be SURE to check out Schleifer's "Creature Animation rig within a production pipline" and "Fast animation rig".

I got everything named above, and all of it is good material! :)

[zempher]

what about aliaswavefront's rigging book?

[flipnap]

you want to be a rigger or an animator?

[zempher]

I want to learn how to make my own kick ass animations first!

[feefunk]

Originally posted by zempher
I want to learn how to make my own kick ass animations first!


Get the free model called "IK joe" from Javier Solsona's web site free stuff (http://www.digital-dreams.net/)
Look for tutorials on the web, you'll find plenty for Maya.

Forget about rigging for now if what you want to do is animate. Get the Animator's Survival Kit (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0571202284/qid=1049471183/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-1614593-0327264?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Richard Williams to better understand the "how's" and "why's" of animation.

[keithlango]

I've written some articles/tutorials on my website that many folks have said they found helpful in getting their head around CG character animation. I know that the material has been used as a part of the curriculum in several schools & unis that teach animation (some instructors at Ringling & the SF Academy of Art have used them in their courses). Anyhow, here's the link...

www.keithlango.com

Click on the link for the tutorials section. There's 3 of them there. They're not much, but they're all I've got.
The good part? They're free.
The bad part? They're written by me and not somebody more famous and accomplished. ;)

Best of luck!
-k

[Anim8rJB]

Honestly, I've barely flipped through an animation instruction book in whole time as an animator. I've learned more from movies, observing real life, school (okay, some bookwork there), lectures, and above all - practice. Animating every day is really the only surefire way to get better. Over time, knocking out incredible animations will become second-nature (I'm still waiting for that day myself :) )

[bentllama]

Observing life is always free reference.

I like to watch people in the Mall, the mannerisms and demeanour...especially around holiday time...

Any place with public crowds of interesting personality variety is a great spot to observe.

Take what you can from those essential animation books and apply it with what you see with your own eyes...

good luck!
:beer:

[keithlango]

The distinction to be made is technique verses content.

Technique is best learned through practicing under a mentor. lacking that coveted situation, books and other more traditional learning materials can be useful as well. Technique covers things like What should your keys be like to achieve this look? How do you manage your curves? What's the best staging for this action? What are the structural elements of a good pose? How do you get smoother motion? How to you get snappy motion that isn't jerky? etc, etc. Then with practice one begins to learn how to master the techniques to achieve the desired results of motion.

But content must come from real life. (What would this character do? How would they say this line? How would they stand? How would they sit? What is their energy level when they're nervous? etc, etc.) No book can reasonably teach those kinds of solutions because those are different for every character under every changing circumstances. There you need to find what is true in life and in people and then apply it to your animation, using the techniques you've mastered to clearly tell that truth.

It's balancing the mastery of the craft of animation to bring to life the art of animation.

-k

[bouledpue]

For the animation, you can looking for the work of Eadweard Muybridge.

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