Thank you so much Victor. I'm taking the Pixar 3 class with Scott and Andrew and I was in a bit of a limbo state not knowing exactly what to do after i laid my blocking keys down. During these last couple years I've built animations in so many ways but this, I think, is definitely the way that makes you think about all the things you need to lay down, like antics, breakdowns, overshoots, settles, squetch... basically all the principles. I use to jump into the spline editor pretty quickly and that worked but I didn't really feel like I knew what I wanted until it crawled out from under that web of splines. That's a pretty depressing way to think about animation. But now, I've gained a new confidence in my workflow. Thanks again for taking the time to do this. I know they're working you like dogs down there and from what I've seen, you guys have a real hit on your hands with Ratatouille. Keep up the good work.
Victor I have to say this is such a clear and informative tutorial. I think going from stepped blocking to smoothing things can be such a nightmare sometimes. This really makes it alot less painful, and quicker I too. Thanks for taking the time to do this!
Thanks again for taking the time to share. I love that theses tutorials are so principle based and easy to undestand. Just seeing the imgames of the graphs with the animations is extremely helpfull.
Thanks for all the nice comments! I'm glad to hear this is useful. Ricardo, "copied pairs" is a style of blocking where you duplicate every pose to make it hold and only allow a few frames in between for transitions. This keeps some of the snappiness in the timing when you're in spline mode. I don't have time to elaborate here, but maybe you can find some more info on line. I know Keith Lango used to have a tutorial about this, but it might not be free anymore.
Hey Victor! Thank you soooo much for taking the time to help us out. Great tutorial, very well explained. I know you are a busy person, but I hope to see more like this. ~Peace Out! Ilan
Yeah I agree this is very very helpful! I am new to computer animation, having animated with clay and pencil before, so it's nice to have splines, etc. explained so wonderfully! I really look forward to starting AnimationMentor in April--- I am very excited!
Great Blog! Thanks for all this totally awesome animation material. I can't imagine myself animating outside the viewport (unless I'm forced by greasy monsters with loaded greasy weapons), but your way of working is impressive.
Simply awesome...Thanks for the tut, I have found out a lot of tuts which would give info a lot on posing & timings and general aspects of animation etc... not a single one "Splines"... this is the area where i faced the most problems... hopefully which i wont now... Thanks once again. U r too cool.
This is spline gold! I'm in my first year in a degree and was scared of splines, not any more. Great tutorial. Quick question if u have the time: When you block, do u get the timing in there first, or do u block the poses then shift the pose keys to get the timing. Just wondering what the Pro's do. Great work Victor, thanks :D
I'm currently in Class 3 at Animation Mentor and I was struggling until I read this tutorial. It was also you that made me join AM when I saw you link to it way back in February 2006. So I owe you a big thanks...I'm loving it!
By-the-way what happend to that other short you were working on...you know...the one with the big yellow baby alien thingy sat on the planet and the flying saucer?
Wayne, I tend to block my poses on successive frames, then drag them around in time to find the timing. I don't use exposure sheets anymore. That's how one Pro does it, but everyone works differently.
Oliver, my short "Big Bang" has been on the back burner for a while. I've been retooling the story, and frankly with 2 kids, a job and AnimationMentor, I don't have much free time for side projects.
A great melScript to use when changing from stepped to splines is autoTangent by Micheal Comet (www.comet-cartoons.com). What it does is point the tangents in the direction of the next key frame, and flatten start and end tangents in a curve so you don't get the spliney loops. There is also a slider that you can use to soften the tangents between keyframes afterwards. It saves me tons of time cleaning up curves, and if you work in the stepped keyframe blocking method like Victor, it is easier to tell where your keyframes are messing up, instead of the splines.
Don't get me wrong, autoTangent does not mean auto-animate. There's still a lot of work to be done after that, but it's a great tool that helps to clean some of the dirt out before you wax the floor ;)
It's done at last. Hope you like it. I'm gonna sleep now.
This is soooooooo GREAT!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. Very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteMuch deserved sleep.
Dennis
OMG!! how long did that take??? its awesome!!! i'm really impressed with the effort u have put into this.thanx a lot.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Victor. I'm taking the Pixar 3 class with Scott and Andrew and I was in a bit of a limbo state not knowing exactly what to do after i laid my blocking keys down. During these last couple years I've built animations in so many ways but this, I think, is definitely the way that makes you think about all the things you need to lay down, like antics, breakdowns, overshoots, settles, squetch... basically all the principles. I use to jump into the spline editor pretty quickly and that worked but I didn't really feel like I knew what I wanted until it crawled out from under that web of splines. That's a pretty depressing way to think about animation. But now, I've gained a new confidence in my workflow. Thanks again for taking the time to do this. I know they're working you like dogs down there and from what I've seen, you guys have a real hit on your hands with Ratatouille. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Victor, this is extremely extremely helpful! I appreciate so much! Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteVictor I have to say this is such a clear and informative tutorial. I think going from stepped blocking to smoothing things can be such a nightmare sometimes. This really makes it alot less painful, and quicker I too. Thanks for taking the time to do this!
ReplyDeleteI have a question.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by "copied pairs" ?
thanks.
Thanks again for taking the time to share. I love that theses tutorials are so principle based and easy to undestand. Just seeing the imgames of the graphs with the animations is extremely helpfull.
ReplyDeleteFantastic tutorial, Victor. Thanks for the taking the the time to share your knowledge! (The rollover Yes/No feature is a great idea)
ReplyDeleteHey Victor-
ReplyDeleteThanks for the awesome tutorial again. I posted a reply on the AM forums regarding a question about moving holds. Anyways, thanks agaiN!
Thanks for all the nice comments! I'm glad to hear this is useful. Ricardo, "copied pairs" is a style of blocking where you duplicate every pose to make it hold and only allow a few frames in between for transitions. This keeps some of the snappiness in the timing when you're in spline mode. I don't have time to elaborate here, but maybe you can find some more info on line. I know Keith Lango used to have a tutorial about this, but it might not be free anymore.
ReplyDeleteGreat tutorial Victor, Thanks very much :D
ReplyDeleteRedundant
ReplyDelete"Awsome tutorial'
comment here.
Thanks Victor, this really
puts alot of my spline woes
to rest.
Thanks for sharing, Victor. Great info for both me and my students!:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Victor! This is really great...:)
ReplyDelete-A
everything that comes outta u is must read! thanx man, u r tooo coool.
ReplyDeleteHey Victor!
ReplyDeleteThank you soooo much for taking the time to help us out. Great tutorial, very well explained.
I know you are a busy person, but I hope to see more like this.
~Peace Out!
Ilan
Yeah I agree this is very very helpful! I am new to computer animation, having animated with clay and pencil before, so it's nice to have splines, etc. explained so wonderfully!
ReplyDeleteI really look forward to starting AnimationMentor in April--- I am very excited!
Great Blog! Thanks for all this totally awesome animation material. I can't imagine myself animating outside the viewport (unless I'm forced by greasy monsters with loaded greasy weapons), but your way of working is impressive.
ReplyDeleteSimply awesome...Thanks for the tut, I have found out a lot of tuts which would give info a lot on posing & timings and general aspects of animation etc... not a single one "Splines"... this is the area where i faced the most problems... hopefully which i wont now... Thanks once again. U r too cool.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Chintan
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is spline gold! I'm in my first year in a degree and was scared of splines, not any more. Great tutorial. Quick question if u have the time: When you block, do u get the timing in there first, or do u block the poses then shift the pose keys to get the timing. Just wondering what the Pro's do. Great work Victor, thanks :D
ReplyDeleteThanks Victor!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently in Class 3 at Animation Mentor and I was struggling until I read this tutorial. It was also you that made me join AM when I saw you link to it way back in February 2006. So I owe you a big thanks...I'm loving it!
By-the-way what happend to that other short you were working on...you know...the one with the big yellow baby alien thingy sat on the planet and the flying saucer?
Kind Regards
Oly Scott
Wayne, I tend to block my poses on successive frames, then drag them around in time to find the timing. I don't use exposure sheets anymore. That's how one Pro does it, but everyone works differently.
ReplyDeleteOliver, my short "Big Bang" has been on the back burner for a while. I've been retooling the story, and frankly with 2 kids, a job and AnimationMentor, I don't have much free time for side projects.
ReplyDeleteA great melScript to use when changing from stepped to splines is autoTangent by Micheal Comet (www.comet-cartoons.com). What it does is point the tangents in the direction of the next key frame, and flatten start and end tangents in a curve so you don't get the spliney loops. There is also a slider that you can use to soften the tangents between keyframes afterwards. It saves me tons of time cleaning up curves, and if you work in the stepped keyframe blocking method like Victor, it is easier to tell where your keyframes are messing up, instead of the splines.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, autoTangent does not mean auto-animate. There's still a lot of work to be done after that, but it's a great tool that helps to clean some of the dirt out before you wax the floor ;)
Thanks for the tip, Kyle. I'll have to check out that script!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to answer, Victor. I appreciate it. And congrats on the new addition :)
ReplyDelete