Animation Mentor's Tips and Tricks Blog - Latest Comments in http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2008/10/what-should-be-main-goal-in-scene.html

Re: http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2008/10/what-should-be-main-goal-in-scene.html

Aaron — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:34:00 -0000

Thanks Jess! I appreciate the positive feedback. I have a handful of much longer articles coming soon, but I wanted to keep this one short and sweet.

Cheers!

Re: http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2008/10/what-should-be-main-goal-in-scene.html

Jess Morris — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:58:00 -0000

Hi Aaron!

Thanks for insight, this was a nice reminder for how important planning is to animation! And not only just thumbnails and acting it out, but really understanding the intention and meaning behind the shot.

Great post, thanks!

Jess

Re: http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2008/10/what-should-be-main-goal-in-scene.html

Aaron — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:10:00 -0000

HI there Copper. Thanks for the feedback. Obviously one great way to define the critical narrative moments in your animation is to act the performance out using a stop watch. Forcing yourself to compress time into the bare essentials so you can squeeze in all the required elements in the limited frames of your shot is extremely helpful. Video taping your performance also adds to your critical eye as you can watch it over and over again and even show it to others to see if the narrative registers strongly with them. If acting isnt your thing, try directing. Get a friend or relative to do the performance on camera for you and direct them as best you can. If that still doesnt work, sketch the key poses. Never sketch anything ambigous when doing this exercise. The pose, all by itself, should register the critical moments in the narrative. They are like self-contained stories. Notice how none of these examples have anything to do with actually sitting down and animating. Not locking these concepts down before sitting down to animate is the worst thing you can do. I call these guys "arm chair animators". Get out of your chair and make sure the blueprints of your narrative have been layed out before even keying a single pose in maya. Good luck!

Re: http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2008/10/what-should-be-main-goal-in-scene.html

Copper — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:54:00 -0000

To be honest, my narrative skills are one of the main things I question.

When I start animating (after I finish learning Maya, and by "finish learning" I mean "know enough to operate") I'm curious to see how clear I communicate the ideas I need to in order to get the story across in a believable and entertaining way.

But this was a good post - thanks for your insight!