Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
As animators, we have the ability to push characters past the bounds of reality, and this is often what makes animation so appealing to watch. Though it can be very helpful to reference real life when animating, exaggerating and caricaturing those references can result in something with more life and appeal – especially when posing the face. Caricaturing the face can lead to cleaner mouth shapes and eye shapes, which make the expressions easier to read, and can help introduce some more personality into the face.
Character expression sheets for animated movies provide some great examples of how shapes can be simplified and pushed to create appealing expressions. Translating those into 3D comes with its own restrictions, but it’s not uncommon for animators to “cheat” the facial controls into unrealistic positions to achieve the looks they want.
To help illustrate this concept, take a look at this clip of Hans Dastrup, an instructor for our Facial Performance class. He shows us how to push a normal facial expression from a reference into something more appealing and suited to stylized characters, and talks about some tips for posing the face in 3D.
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
When creating idle animation cycles for games, there is more to keep in mind than just keeping the character moving. It is important to make sure that the animation is not only mechanically sound, but immersive enough to keep the player focused on the game. The key is to make the animation feel as natural and balanced as possible, while allowing for personality to show within the subtleties of the animation. Here are some good points to keep in mind:
In this clip from our Introduction to Game Animation class, instructor Jarrod Showers outlines the basic rubric of a good idle animation cycle, and shows his creative process from video reference to character animation.
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
Anyone who is interested in game animation may have wondered at some point how to prepare to be a game animator, and how game animation differs from feature film animation. Our Introduction to Game Animation instructor, Jarrod Showers, gave us some great insight on what it takes to be a great game animator.
Today we have an interview with AnimSchool student, Nina Tarasova.
Welcome Nina, could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your education and which class you’re currently in? And also if you are in an animation or modeling program or track?
I
come from Belarus, but currently live in the London area, UK. My path to 3D was
not straightforward. It took me a while to figure out what I want to do in life
and also gain confidence to pursue a career in the animation industry. So I
can’t say my dream has always been to become an artist.
When
I was a kid I loved drawing and my best friend at that time encouraged me to start
taking classes with her at an artist’s studio, where I learned drawing and
painting. At high school the subjects became more difficult and homework more
time-consuming so I didn’t have much time left to practice art and quit. I
chose to study literature and languages at university because it is my family’s
tradition and it was a good education to get a secure job in my home country. When I was in my third year I was lucky to win
a scolarship from the German Academic Exchange Service and went to study to
Germany. This was the turnover point in my life. I was far away from home in
the new culture, met a lot of new people. My boyfriend who was completely on the tech
side introduced me to 3D. I installed the student version of Maya and started
learning it in my free time, first just watching videos on youtube and following
some book tutorials. It was not an efficient way of learning, I wouldn’t do it
again and wouldn’t recommend it to people who don’t have prior experience at
all!
After
the graduation I moved to the UK, where I’m currently working as an office administrator
assistant. I think moving to London motivated me to start pursuing a career in
the animation industry. I finally realized how close the studios are, you just
need to get your foot in the door. I remember I saw once the amazing entries
for the Autodesk student award competition and was so impressed by the
students’ work! It inspired me to work harder to achieve their level one day. I
signed up to digital-tutors and noticed how quickly I started to progress! In
my opinion it’s extremely important to have well-structured lessons and good
explanation when you start learning something completely new!
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
Your work is really amazing. How do you prepare yourself for a modeling assignment? Where do you find your artwork?
Unfortunately
no secret recipe! I just model hour after hour! I spend most of my free time
working on the modeling projects. I like to take challenging concepts and most
of the time when I choose a concept, I have no idea how I’m going to do it. It’s
always difficult to start, but later if you keep pushing yourself something
nice will come out for sure. I also don’t stop when things start to look good
but keep working on the model… maybe I can make it look even better? There are
a lot of places where you can find beautiful artwork, I found the concepts for
my projects at DeviantArt and ArtStation, but Pinterest is also great.
Besides working on your AnimSchool assignments, you also participated twice in the Pixar’s RenderMan contest challenge. First time you ended up 3d place, which is fantastic, but the last time you even became 2nd! Incredible! Can you tell us about the RenderMan challenge itself and if you have had any advantage from classes here at AnimSchool?(tips, tricks, workflow etc)
Did these challenges help you with your assignments at AnimSchool?
In January 2018 your work got published in 3D Artist magazine, congratulations! How did they find you?
The sky seems to be the limit Nina, what more surprises can we expect from you in 2018?
What would you like to do once you’ve finished AnimSchool? What are your ambitions?
King’s Tailor |
What advice can I give to those who just start learning 3D?
And one other super important advice: try to surround yourself with people who believe in you and encourage you on your way!
Thank you so much, Nina and good luck!
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
In this last installment of instructor Tony Mecca’s 3D Animation VFX workshop, Tony goes over the basics of camera shake in Maya and answers some questions from students about VFX workflow and industry.
To view the blocking and posing parts of the demo, follow these links:
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
This is the second phase of instructor Tony Mecca’s VFX Workflow demo, where Tony takes his initial rough blocking pass and adds in more detailed poses and some overlap in the limbs. He also covers other 3D animation principles such as offset and posing to the camera, which can be especially important in VFX shots. This part of the demo has been split into two videos. Watch here:
This covers the posing and overlap phase of the demo. To view Part 1, which covers the layout and planning phase, follow this link.
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com
In AnimSchool’s Material and Texturing class, Arvin Villapando, the instructor, discusses how material and light interact with each other in the software Substance Designer.
With the rise in popularity of fantasy and sci-fi films comes a huge surge in demand for VFX. AnimSchool instructor Tony Mecca has worked in the forefront of the VFX industry for several years, animating for films like Snow White and the Huntsman, RIPD, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Tony has a particular workflow for VFX, which centers around a “splocking” method that is designed to produce smooth, realistic animation as quickly as possible in VFX shots, which are typically too heavy to have real-time playback. This workflow starts out in spline/auto tangents right away, and can be used for full-CG shots as well. In this demo, Tony utilizes his “splocking” workflow to animate a shot of a monster running and jumping off of a ledge, using AnimSchool’s Hellhound rig.
Part 1 covers the layout and planning phase, and Part 2 will cover the posing and overlap phase of the demo. (View Part 2 here)
Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com