BFA 3D Animation Class 13 12/07/2017

Head Turn Animation

Hello everyone!  

Topics cover in class:

One important point I wanted to impress upon you is to make sure and keep both eyes on the screen facing the camera.  The eyes are important for emotional connections.  If we lose an eye we might lose that connection.

For the demonstration, I blocked out key poses for a head turn animation, and added a change of emotion at the end.  You can see my key poses in the maya scene I have sent to you.  My poses are by no means an exact blue print.  I think it was sufficient to get my idea across.  You may need more or less depending on what you decide to do.  This is why using reference video will be very useful for this exercise.

I also made sure to take care when posing facial expressions.  I wanted to keep them interesting and asymmetrical.  This might mean opening one eye more than the other, offsetting the mouth from the center, or changing the eye brow shapes.

Here is Carlos Baena's article about eye brows.

Here is Carlos Baena's article about eye blinking.

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

________________________________________

**IF THERE IS ONE VIDEO I WANT YOU TO WATCH IT IS THIS ONE, WHERE AN ANIMATOR SHOWS YOU HOW HE BLOCKS OUT HIS HEAD TURN.**  Sorry for the caps lock and the yelling.  I just wanted to make sure you read this <3.

<3<3<3<3<3<3

____________________________________

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.  

Other videos we watched in class:

Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
Analysis of legendary animation director Chuck Jones and how he approached developing characters.  Because he set down rules and very defined personalities, he was able to effectively create vivid believable characters.  He has also mastered the art of communicating comedy and character through limited facial expression.

One More Beer! from pedro conti on Vimeo.

Great character animation that tells a story and shows you who the character is just by using the eyes.

Mother (2009) - Telephoto Profile Shots from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.

Analysis of a great Korean film director who broke the rules of showing both eyes in order for the audience to feel disconnected and helpless while watching the characters.

Since animation is acting, much of what Micheal Caine is talking about here is relevant to what we do as animators.

HOMEWORK

Based on what was shown in class, and the reference I provided in this blog post, please create your own head turn.  

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.

I forgot to mention this in class, but I would like to REQUIRE you to record yourself a  turning your head and looking.  Do it a few times and pick the best one.  Turn it in with your animation progress!

Think back to your assignment when you posed out the character to your drawings.  You are essentially doing the same thing, but with poses that are sequential.

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

BFA 3D Animation Class 12 11/30/2017

Hello Class!

Notes from today's demonstration:

-Splining the jump animation.

-It's ok to key every frame when you are finalizing your animation.

-Watch out for gimbal lock on the arms.  Keying every frame helps.

-When raising the shoulders, make sure you are using the clavicles as well.

-Use motion trails to view your character's movement, and arcs.  I demonstrated checking on my arm arcs, but you could also check for your feet as well.

-Many hold poses in stepped keframe no longer work when you spline.  Make sure you set extra keys so your poses hold.

-I sped up and slowed parts of my animation to make sure it moved and felt physically believable.  I did this by shifting keyframes to allow for more or less time in between.

-Try to angle the spine along the path that the character is flying.

Frame x Frame examples:
Slipping
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/112696403405/disneys-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/119442334001/studio-ghiblis-the-wind-rises-kaze-tachinu

Animations viewed in class:

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.
Making of:

Popeye Movie Test:

Homework!

Finish your run cycles!  Please playblast 3 different camera views for your animation.  Front, Side, and Persp.  Email them to me before the beginning of the next class!

BFA 3D Animation Class 11 11/15/2017

Hello,

Last night we covered jumping.

I also showed you how to jump from a higher level to a lower level, using reference from the Great Mouse Detective.

I used stepped keys.

Here is a great video about pose to pose animation:

Here is the jump example I showed in class:
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/118282198064/disneys-the-great-mouse-detective

Other drawings:

These are drawing examples from a pixar animator, for planning his animation.  This can be useful for planning your poses ahead of time without opening maya:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/victor_navone/collections/72157630141875812/





Here is the animation evolution reel I showed to you in class.  Use this as inspiration for how you will block out and time your poses.
Evolution Reel from jeff gabor on Vimeo.

HOMEWORK

-Begin blocking out your jump animations.  Please bring in quicktimes showing the side view and any kind of persp view you would like to set up.

-Above, I've posted examples of running and jumping animation.  This is different from what I demonstrated in class.  However, if you would like to try this, please feel free.

When doing pose to pose animation, please keep in mind to make as many keys and poses as you need to sell the idea.  There is no limit.  The more you lay down, the easier it might be to spline the animation.

BFA 3D Animation Class 10 11/8/2017

Hi Gang, 

Today I:

-Critiqued your run cycles.

-Showed how to move your character through the world.

-Showed how to move your animation away from the Master Control using the lattice tool in the graph editor.  You mainly need to worry about the Z channel with your IK feet and your COG control.

-Tried to demonstrate an older way I was taught how to do a walk cycle.  It did not go well!

-Demonstrated overlapping animation in the head of the character.  This seemed to be a struggle for a lot of people in the class.

Glenn Keane's Duet

Homework

Finish your run cycles and send me quicktimes in 3 views!

BFA 3D Animation Class 9 11/1/2017

This class we took a look at your walk cycles and then I demonstrated a run cycle.

Items covered in class

-With run cycles, the feet both leave the ground.

-Elbows usually stay bent.

-Posed out the run cycle.

   -While in stepped keyframes, I determined my animation timing.

-Splined the run cycle.

-Altered timing of the run cycle so that the character holds in the air longer, and moves faster when the feet are on the ground.

Run Cycles

Here are some references for your run cycles.

This video shows something that is interesting to note.  This girl is shown landing on the balls of her feet instead of her heel, which is what I showed you in class.  That's ok!  That's very realistic, since jogging this way is better for your knees.

In fact the last two videos come from a very useful youtube channel.  It is full of great video reference for animators.

Chiari Porri

I recently found this animator's vimeo page from a friend.  She has great tutorials on how she does and walk and run cycle.  Please watch these so you can supplement what you already know.  

BTW I know this eleven rig seems appealing, but as you can see from her walk cycle video starting in Maya 2015, the rig starts to break.

Female Walk Cycle - Workflow Tutorial from Chiara Porri on Vimeo.
Run Cycle - Tutorial from Chiara Porri on Vimeo.

HOMEWORK

Next do a first pass run cycle!  
-Please playblast 3 quicktimes, one for each camera angle.  Those angles are front, side, and RenderCam.  Please email them before class begins.  We will critique them at the beginning of class.

BFA 3D Animation Class 7 10/18/2017

Hello everyone.  Today we looked at how to create a walk cycle.

Topics covered in class:

-Creating a RenderCam
In one of your viewports you can create a new persp cam and rename it to RenderCam.  Use this as the camera that you playblast from, while you use the default persp as your work camera.

-Animating a walk cycle in place.

-Posing key poses for walk cycle using the animators survival guide as reference.
 Adding break down poses in between the key poses.
Spacing the key frames of the poses so that the timing works right.

-Mechanics
 Feet alternate opposite the arms. Example is when right foot is forward, left foot is back
 Hips and shoulders have opposing rotations.
 Torso moves up and down.
 When animating feet, use heel and ball roll channels to move foot on appropriate pivots.
 Animate torso, chest and head to feel the weight of the body moving up and down.

-Setting timeline so that your last frame isn't rendered when playblasting.  The last and first frame will be the same and you dont want that frame playing twice when you are looping.

-Cycling Animation in Graph Editor.
Have infinity turned on to preview the curve.

-Tweening and mirroring in aTools

Atools for maya at home (click to save)

Tutorial Video on aTools:

Walk cycle images:

This man here is an inspiration.  This person was not an animator before, but he decided he wanted to try it.  Everyday for 100 days, he tried to animate a walk cycle.  You can see him getting better and better with each try.

Youtube Channel with Film Reference for Animators.

Other Walk Cycles:

Other Tutorials:

Felix Sputnick's animation videos, which are very insightful

Eadweard Muybridge, the photographer who studied motion.

Homework!

Please put together a first pass of your walk cycles.  Don't forget to use aTools to save time. Use the images provided if you need references for which poses you would like to have in your walk cycle.  Please work on your poses and timing until you feel like they look like good walk cycles.  For assistance please use the material I have provided.  It is useful to see how other people work on walk cycles.  Perhaps their method is better for you than what I showed!

For next class I would like to see a quicktime of your walk cycles and your references if you have them.  Please playblast them and email them to me before class begins.  We will then take those and I will show you how to take them a step further and refine them.

If you need help or advice, please send me an email!

BFA 3D Animation Class 6 10/12/2017

Topics covered in the last class.

I opened up the Bonnie rig file so I could re-connect the texture paths.  

-Open Hypershade, and click the file tab

-select the first file and correct the file path so it points to the file inside the sourceimages folder that came with the rig.

-for the next few textures, you can just click once on the sample thumbnail at the top of the file attribute editor.  Maya will figure out the real path for everything else with each click.

Because the hair use .PSD files and transparencies, it cause some issues with the display in viewport 2.0.  Instead I made a new Lambert Shader and applied it to the hair.  I have done this to the rig and have emailed this new version to you.

Once the file textures are reconnected, save the file.

When I was ready to pose, I created a new file, and referenced the Bonnie rig.

I then went through how the rig works

-COG control is near the hips and is used to move the body around.

-IK/FK Arms and legs.  Use IK if you want the arm or leg to stick somewhere.  Use FK for more direct control of the rotations.

-For this exercise, leave the feet on IK and leave the arms on FK.

-Pole Vector objects are used to point the elbows or knees while in IK.  Usually I set it's parent space to the IK ctrl.  That means if you move the foot, the pole vector will follow it.

-The shoulders and head have this option for align.  By default it is set to 1, which means "on".  When align is on, it maintains it's rotational position as you move the body around.

-Ribbon controls for arms and legs help you define more curvy shapes.

-For the eye control, I like to have it parented to the head, so when I move the character around, I don't have to worry about losing it, or having the eyes roll back into the head.

I showed you how I would like you to key each pose on different frames.

If you have trouble with any of these topics just google search them or ask me for clarification.

Homework:

Take your drawings that you did at the beginning of the semester, and create poses with the Bonnie rig.  I want to see 10 poses total.

Playblast these 10 frames into a quicktime and send them to me before class next week.

One thing I forgot to mention last class is to pay attention to how you pose to your camera.  When you playblast make sure your pose is at the best angle to the camera.  If you need to rotate your character for one frame, use the root, and key it.  Posing the face is optional.

BFA 3D Animation Class 4 9/28/2017

Topics covered in class:

Creating a maya project
-Where to save you animation files.
Maya Help

Animating a Pendulum swing
-Began by moving the UFO back and forth.  Demonstrated arcs, and anticipation.
-Animated the top of the chain first.
-Copied animation keys from the top of the chain on the next 2 segments.
-Offset those keys, and used that as a starting point to refine the animation.

Showed various ways to move keyframes for retiming animation.
-Select and drag keys in the graph editor.  Make sure to hold shift so you can lock the values as you are sliding the mouse
-Use the dope sheet to only view the timing of keyframes
-Use the timeline by shift selecting one or many keyframes, and using the middle mouse to drag it back and forth to wherever you need it.

Graph Editor
-Hold Shift+Alt along with Middle+Left Mouse button to scale your view in the graph editor.

Motion Trails
-If your motion trails don't update, it's a glitch.  Delete and create a new one.

Auto Key
-When activate, will automatically set a keyframe whenever you change anything in the animation scene.

Tutorials and Reference Videos:

Videos I showed in Class:

Full ANL from Aardman Nathan Love on Vimeo.


HOMEWORK
Complete one pendulum swinging animation using the rig I sent you.  You can do back and forth, just as I demonstrated in class, or you can try something else.  The point is, I want to see you all work on you overlapping animation.  Please email your quicktimes to me before class begins. 

BFA 3D Animation Class 3 9/20/2017

Listed below are the topics I covered during the third class.  Please use this and the last blog post to get information about ball bounces.  Watch the tutorial videos, and seek out more to supplement the your knowledge of animating a ball bounce.

Render Globals
This is where you set the resolution of your animation.  I also touched on the use of your resolution gate, which displays the area you are rendering from.  Each viewport has a resolution gate button that you can toggle on and off.

Playblasting
Make sure to set your playblast settings to qt (quicktime) and h.264 (compression).

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya-lt/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/MayaLT/files/GUID-2D865271-2873-4EDB-82C4-7FB9D7B311E7-htm.html

Referencing
We reference our assets into the scene, so we can use them without breaking or deleting their parts.  Also Referencing is useful in case we want to update out asset separately without affecting the animation file.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-685DE9F6-0C38-46C2-A20B-63BCD17DE492-htm.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-B17150CB-3EF1-49FD-947D-278582F00C8D-htm.html

Copy and Pasting Animation
First I showed you how to copy your animation from the old ball, to the new ball with a tail.

Your original ball bounces had forward (positive) movement on Translate Z.  We need to change that movement to Translate X.  I showed you how to right click on the channel control and then copy/paste keys from Z to X.  Once you do that you can delete the Keys on Z, or you can just 0 out the curve in the graph editor.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-44139924-FB4F-45AC-BD7A-DB6BABA5B968-htm.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-03369332-484B-4930-B8C5-FBC1A455F7F3-htm.html

Squash and Stretch
I showed you how to take your existing animation and to add squash and stretch to it.

Tail and Overlapping animation

I briefly showed you I would animate the tail with the ball bounce animation we have.  At this point you should use your artistic eye to determine how the tail should move, instead of relying on the graph editor.  Use the motion trail to help you figure out where to point the tail

HOMEWORK

Please animate your ball bounce with squash and stretch added.  Please also try animating the tail offsetting.  I would like you to email a quicktime to me, at either 1920x1080, or 960x540.  Make sure to have your resolution gate turned off.

BFA 3D Animation Class 2 9/13/2017

Hello!

During our second class, we took a quick look at your drawings, and will save them for later when we pose a 3D character in Maya.

I continued to talk about maya animation tools while also demonstrating my approach to animating a ball bounce.  First I animated the ball bouncing up and down, and than added some forward movement.  I was not able to get to squash and stretch, but we can cover that during the next class.

When animating the ball, the main controls you will be using is the move (blue), and rotate (red).  Remember that the Master (yellow) control is only used to place the ball.

Other topics covered:

1. Explained how curves are used in Maya, more specifically, for animation.  We always set keyframes on curves.  Not geometry.
2. Describe the nature of Maya assets, or "rigs".
3. Explained how to reference a rig into maya and why we do it.  Because animators are dumb and can break things.
4. Holding "i" and middle mouse release to add keyframes in the graph editor.
5. Values in Maya can be adjusted with some scripting math.  If you want translate y to be twice as high you can write in the box:                                                                         *=2 which means multiply by 2.                                                                                Other operations can be done using + (plus), - (minus) and / (divide).
6. Demonstrating weighted tangents in the graph editor.
7. How to render, or playblast your animation.  Playblasting as a quicktime (qt) with H.264 compression is great for emailing.

Ball Bounce reference:

Here are some materials to help you in your ball bouncing exercises.  They range from images to youtube tutorials.  If you seek more information that I provide, please feel free to search google or youtube for more resources.  There is plenty out there to assist you!  Ignore the squash and stretch for now.

Supplemental tutorials:

Setting Key Frames

Graph Editor

Ball Bounce

Ball Bounce

Home Work!

Please do bounce animations similar to what I demonstrated in class, without squash and stretch.

Please playblast a quicktime for each animation.  Please be mindful of where you place your camera when playblasting.  Try to think of the most interesting angle and compositon that best shows off your animation.

Email me your quicktimes movie files before class begins please!

BFA 3D Animation Class 1 9/6/2017

Hey guys! Welcome to the class blog. This entry covers what we talked about during the first class. I have the principles of animation here, and then below some resources on maya animating and the graph editor. This is here for you to review. The assignment is at the very bottom.

1) Principles of Animation

1. SQUASH AND STRETCH

This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating dialogue and doing facial expressions. How extreme the use of squash and stretch is, depends on what is required in animating the scene. Usually it's broader in a short style of picture and subtler in a feature. It is used in all forms of character animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person walking. This is the most important element you will be required to master and will be used often.

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/69173621355/disneys-the-fox-and-the-hound

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/60752307391/turner-entertainments-cats-dont-dance

2. ANTICIPATION

This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform, such as, starting to run, jump or change expression. A dancer does not just leap off the floor. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. The backward motion is the anticipation. A comic effect can be done by not using anticipation after a series of gags that used anticipation. Almost all real action has major or minor anticipation such as a pitcher's wind-up or a golfers' back swing. Feature animation is often less broad than short animation unless a scene requires it to develop a characters personality.

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/113164333745/pixars-the-incredibles

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/63555568003/samurai-champloo-by-manglobe

3. STAGING

A pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience the attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character as it relates to the story and continuity of the story line. The effective use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles also helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of time in a film, so each sequence, scene and frame of film must relate to the overall story. Do not confuse the audience with too many actions at once. Use one action clearly stated to get the idea across, unless you are animating a scene that is to depict clutter and confusion. Staging directs the audience's attention to the story or idea being told. Care must be taken in background design so it isn't obscuring the animation or competing with it due to excess detail behind the animation. Background and animation should work together as a pictorial unit in a scene.

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/109394431893/studio-ghiblis-ponyo

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/90556132484/studio-la-cachettes-kairos-promo

4. STRAIGHT AHEAD AND POSE TO POSE ANIMATION

Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to drawing to the end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and proportions with this method, but it does have spontaneity and freshness. Fast, wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to Pose is more planned out and charted with key drawings done at intervals throughout the scene. Size, volumes, and proportions are controlled better this way, as is the action. The lead animator will turn charting and keys over to his assistant. An assistant can be better used with this method so that the animator doesn't have to draw every drawing in a scene. An animator can do more scenes this way and concentrate on the planning of the animation. Many scenes use a bit of both methods of animation.

5. FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION

When the main body of the character stops all other parts continue to catch up to the main mass of the character, such as arms, long hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress, floppy ears or a long tail (these follow the path of action). Nothing stops all at once. This is follow through. Overlapping action is when the character changes direction while his clothes or hair continues forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new direction. "DRAG," in animation, for example, would be when Goofy starts to run, but his head, ears, upper body, and clothes do not keep up with his legs. In features, this type of action is done more subtly. Example: When Snow White starts to dance, her dress does not begin to move with her immediately but catches up a few frames later. Long hair and animal tail will also be handled in the same manner. Timing becomes critical to the effectiveness of drag and the overlapping action.

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/97887609908/disneys-the-little-mermaid

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/93308181161/disneys-the-jungle-book

6. SLOW-OUT AND SLOW-IN

As action starts, we have more drawings near the starting pose, one or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower. Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action, making it more life-like. For a gag action, we may omit some slow-out or slow-ins for shock appeal or the surprise element. This will give more snap to the scene. 

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/85913460915/cartoon-networks-tales-of-metropolis

7. ARCS

All actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a mechanical device), follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true of the human figure and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns and even eye movements are executed on an arcs.

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/112696403405/disneys-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/98306981210/disneys-hercules

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/14309621514/blue-sky-studios-rio

8. SECONDARY ACTION

This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful, aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk. Also, the possibility of dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk action. All of these actions should work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as the primary action and arm swings, head bounce and all other actions of the body as secondary or supporting action.

9. TIMING

Expertise in timing comes best with experience and personal experimentation, using the trial and error method in refining technique. The basics are: more drawings between poses slow and smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper. A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the movement. Most animation is done on twos (one drawing photographed on two frames of film) or on ones (one drawing photographed on each frame of film). Twos are used most of the time, and ones are used during camera moves such as trucks, pans and occasionally for subtle and quick dialogue animation. Also, there is timing in the acting of a character to establish mood, emotion, and reaction to another character or to a situation. Studying movement of actors and performers on stage and in films is useful when animating human or animal characters. This frame by frame examination of film footage will aid you in understanding timing for animation. This is a great way to learn from the others.

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/80574428877/disneys-peter-pan
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/122765817105/wit-studios-rolling-girls

10. EXAGGERATION

Exaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all the time. Its like a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and mechanical. In feature animation, a character must move more broadly to look natural. The same is true of facial expressions, but the action should not be as broad as in a short cartoon style. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head turn will give your film more appeal. Use good taste and common sense to keep from becoming too theatrical and excessively animated.

http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/52626303785/disneys-peter-pan

11. SOLID DRAWING

The basic principles of drawing form, weight, volume solidity and the illusion of three dimension apply to animation as it does to academic drawing. The way you draw cartoons, you draw in the classical sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for reproduction of life. You transform these into color and movement giving the characters the illusion of three-and four-dimensional life. Three dimensional is movement in space. The fourth dimension is movement in time.

12. APPEAL

A live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal. Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the audience's interest. Early cartoons were basically a series of gags strung together on a main theme. Over the years, the artists have learned that to produce a feature there was a need for story continuity, character development and a higher quality of artwork throughout the entire production. Like all forms of story telling, the feature has to appeal to the mind as well as to the eye.

(This can be the major theme of this class)

2) Maya Animation

Below I will add some maya hotkeys and a link to info about the Graph Editor.  I will also list the topics I talked about in class.  I won't go into to detail, but I will list them so you can google them or research them on youtube to gain more information.

Maya

  Alt Left Mouse rotates view

  Alt Middle Mouse pans the view

  Alt Left + Middle Mouse zooms in and out

  Create Shape (Sphere, Box, Plane, etc)

  X Y Z 

  Translate Rotate Scale

    - and + to change manipulator size

  Channel editor and their values

  Perp and orthographic window view

    Space bar switches between them

Shading

  Right Click, assign new material

  Shaders (Lambert, Blinn, Phong, etc)

  Change Color in shader attribute editor

Maya Windows we will use

  Graph Editor

    Shows animation curve

  Outliner

  Attribute Editor

    Ctrl+A

Animation

  S for setting KeyFrames

  Time slider

  Range Slider

  Moving Keyframes to change timing

  Keyframe tangents

    Spline, Flat, Linear, Stepped

    Unified and broken tangents

Maya 2016 Hot Keys:  Some of these I did not show in class, but will talk about later on.

Animation Operations s Animate > Set Key i Insert Keys Tool (for Graph Editor) (press and release) Shift S With left mouse button for Keyframe marking menu Shift S With middle mouse button for Tangent marking menu Shift E Set key for Rotate Shift R Set key for Scale Shift W Set key for Translate Alt j Toggle Multicolor Feedback Playback Control Alt . Move forward one frame in time Alt , Move backward one frame in time . Go to Next key , Go to Previous key Alt v Turn Playback on or off Alt+Shift V Go to Min Frame k With middle mouse button for virtual Time Slider mode (press and hold and scrub timeline)

LINK:Maya Graph Editor Reference



3) Youtube Tutorials

Please please I urge you to watch these videos when you can.  I realize they are long, but if you can sit through these, they will benefit you greatly for this class.  

Youtube Tutorial Playlists

Maya for Beginners : Animation Mechanics and tips In Maya

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLozD5GE_BHsmsiEbi834XS1giyBdJlg6j

Maya for Beginners: Principles of Animation

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLozD5GE_BHsk0OyIEjPME4wcUVNO_909v

**ASSIGNMENT!!**

-Pick a video from the link below and draw 10 poses from the life drawing videos

LIFE DRAWING VIDEOS (NUDE)

LIFE DRAWING VIDEOS (NON-NUDE)

Inspirational Quote:

“Every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out.”

― Chuck Jones

-Read “Time to Draw” in The Animators Survival Kit.  pg. 23