Where to start to be animator?

[wwswimming]

the most helpful tutorials i've found were at Lynda.com, they have Max
http://www.lynda.com/home/ViewCourses.aspx?lpk0=127

& Maya tutorials.
http://www.lynda.com/home/ViewCourses.aspx?lpk0=112

then over to Louis Marcoux video tutorials at Area.Autodesk
http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/tutorials/louis_marcoux_tutorial_list/P36/

also, Max 7 has the best Max tutorials i've seen that come bundled with the program. very thorough on Particles & Reactor.

[MolemanSD7]

if you want to be an animator... study animation. Richard Williams, "The Animator's Survival Kit" and Preston Blair's book which you can find free online. You can find free rigs online in a number of locations. That will get you started. Then, as you learn how to bring a character to life, you can study the technical side of things...such as rigging. But again, only if it interests you.

[Micah-H]

About 5 months ago I was where you are at. And after about 4 months of being frustrated I told myself stop being scared and just do it. I found a great tutorial in Digital tutors beginning animation dvd. I watched it all first one time through, then went back and watched it again while I goofed around. I am now on the body mechanics dvd, at the just watching stage. so depending on how quickly I can watch, maybe I can block out a cool lift or whatever in a few weeks.

I don't want to assume but you sound tense, just relax and take your time and thoroughly watch the dvds, I know for me they will be a great investment. One day a switch will flip and you will figure out how to start, it sounds like everyone does one way or another if they really want to animate

good luck if you get going soon lets work on some stuff together. I am going to try this maybe. CGS FORUM (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=5744411#post5744411)

micah

[thedaemon]

if you want to be an animator... study animation. Richard Williams, "The Animator's Survival Kit" and Preston Blair's book which you can find free online. You can find free rigs online in a number of locations. That will get you started. Then, as you learn how to bring a character to life, you can study the technical side of things...such as rigging. But again, only if it interests you.

Do this! And watch lots and lots of movies and old cartoons. Study them frame by frame.

[MolemanSD7]

From what I've seen, this rig is pretty nice if you're using Maya.

Blake Rig (http://highend3d.com/maya/downloads/character_rigs/Blake-5644.html)

If not, find something online that seems good. Look for Space switching, stretchiness, bendiness and IkFk matching and joint pinning (or elbow/knee locking). If a rig has them all, its really solid and will work for nearly any situation. If not, use anything you can find and just make it move.

[eathquaketry]

Thanx all for the extremely helpful advices and actually i had character animation , rigging for lynda, i am working to get animators survival kit , i got Preston Blair's book and others books and i soon i will try to get other rigging Dvds like CG academy and 3dquakers
Actually the big problem here is where to start i begained with
1- Rigging
2- and after that i think character animation
3- then i will learn the basics of Maxscript
4- i will learn animation survival kit
5- i will look at the books.
I have been working with max from 8 months as arch modeler and actually i thought about being animator from just one month and don't want to lose any time ,,
It will be so nice if you just told me .... is my order is right in learning?
I always believe that order in learning is more important than the learning itself
Thanks very much for your advices again and i am waiting ........

[indipops]

If you want to get into animation skip straight to the animation, i woulnd't tackle riggigng until you feel somewhat confident with animation (to a degree), it's useful to know, as you can appreciate other peoples jobs. But Animation is a touch discipline, so get into it as soon as possible.... if you can afford it the "Animation Survival Kit" is in a set of DVD lectures too, but thats pretty costly. I think if you foolow the tasks through the book, that would be a good start, just don't get stuck in following the book strictly after a while, because this will help you deveop your own way of working too. Some practice in 2D aniamtion will def help too

hope you get on well

I

[paulmcg1]

indipops is right...If you want to learn animation, skip straight to the animation.

I'm suprised no one has mentioned Animation Mentor!

Check out http://www.animationmentor.com (http://www.animationmentor.com/)

It's the worlds greatest animation school ever. I'm a student at AM and highly recommend it as the avenue to take if you want to learn animation. Infact, I'm a big enthusiast for AM so I'll be bold enough to say that it's the only avenue someone should take if they want to learn animation!

Take care!
Paul Mcgrade

[AlienMonsterRobot]

As a traditional/2D animator making the transition back to 3D, I feel your frustration. Staying focused and making headway in small increments has been the main factor keeping me going.
Offhand, I can't recommend any tuts or links (sorry); whatever you do, don't give up!

There's always a light at the end of the tunnel (it isn't a train). :thumbsup:

[Groovedog]

I also recently started with animation and found the techniques of Jason Ryan went a loooong way in understanding alot of the basic concepts of animation.
http://www.jasonryananimation.com (http://www.jasonryananimation.com/) is the site.

He combines very simple 2d animation for planning and 3d animation with Maya. I found the flipbook examples really drilled the timing and spacing concepts into my head.

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