IDS 252: Topics for February 24/26, Spring 2014

• Lab:

  • Discuss and begin Lab 6: Collaboration, Character, and Sound See evaluation sheet.
  • Note: Wed (Feb 26), we will meet with MUSC 121 at 9pm in Ford 122 (Theater) to review work from both Lab 4: Creating an Animation Loop and Lab 5: Creating an Animation Loop with Sound, Consider Music/Anim Crit Questions.

• Suggested Reading:

  • Chapter 8: Continuity
    • Want to create seamless sequences. Cuts and transitions should make sense to the audience.
    • Do not want to cross Line of Action.
    • Using the Camera to Tell the Story
  • Chapter 5: Composition

• Using the Render Farm.

• Maya File References and Proxies. We won't be using proxies but they are good to know about.

• Shots:

  • What is a Shot?
  • Shot transitions
  • Yale Film Analysis, See sections on Cinematography->Movement as well as Editing.

• Gesture and Animation

  • A gesture is defined as "a movement or position of the hand, arm, body, head, or face that is expressive of an idea, opinion, emotion, etc.
  • Garfield
  • Drawing examples
  • Caravaggio
  • In animation
  • Animator's Survival Kit
  • Books by Ed Hooks, e.g. Acting for Animators Also see Various Ways to Use Gesture (scroll down page to see this).

• Animating Pose-to-Pose

  • What is pose-to-pose vs straight ahead animating? Also see 3 Ways to Animate E.g. see Basic Walk.
  • Setup: Know what your camera sees: Lock down your renderCam and turn on Resolution Gate.
  • Blocking - Creating a Pop-thru:
    • Sketch out your key poses *before* beginning to animate. Act it out if you aren't sure! Be sure to consider the principles of animation!
    • You may prefer to set tangents to linear (in) and stepped (out) so you can better see the key frames).
    • At each key frame, pose character using sketches as guide, and then key all controls
  • Inbetweening (tweening): Select all keys (in graph editor) and change tangents to Auto. Play animation. Make corrections as needed.
  • Break-down poses: Add additional poses in between the key poses as needed.