Class 07 10/05/2016

Head Turn Animation

Hello everyone!  

Here are some helpful references on the topic of head turning.  Hopefully these will reiterate what I went over in class, and you can use these as helpful reference for when you are doing your homework assignment.

Jack Jack's head turn

Pocahontas

Please take note, there are many different ways to do a head turn.  A neutral head turn is completely valid, but whatever the emotion of the character might be would also affect how the turn is happening.  For instance, my animation that i worked on in class the other day was of a scared man.  He turned his head quickly, looking around to make sure nothing will hurt him.  If someone is relaxed, they might turn their head more slowly.  

aTools

I used the tween function of aTools quite a bit.  I hope you guys will continue to use it and become familiar with powerful a tool it can be.  As a reminder, here is the youtube video demonstrating aTools and how you can use it:

Review of Morpheus Face Rig

Please watch this video if you need any reviewing for the face rig on Morpheus.  Start at 14:30 to begin right at the face.

Morpheus Rig 101 - "The Rig As Is" from Josh Burton on Vimeo.

Other videos we watched in class:

Satoshi Kon - Editing Space & Time from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.


Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.

HOMEWORK

Based on what was shown in class, and the reference I provided in this blog post, please create your own head turn.  This is your chance to get creative.  Don't just rotate the head and blink the eyes.  Make me feel the turn in the body and the shoulders.  Create an expressive face that might communicate what your character might be feeling on the inside.  Please feel free to explore and experiment.  Remember you are creating art.  Let's see some emotion!

Don't forget to create a new perspective camera to view our animation with.  I usually rename it "RenderCam" which is what many studios do.  Find a good place for this camera, and lock it in place by locking attributes, or just keyframe it.  Make sure this camera view is the best angle for viewing your work.  Remember what I said about the eyes.  Our animations will work much better when we see both eyes in the shot.  Use your RenderCam to figure that out.

Please record yourself a few times turning your head and looking.  This is required!  Turn it in with your animation progress!

So in summary I want to see:
1 blocked animation of a head turn.
1 video of your filmed reference.