Character Animation: 2D Skills for Better 3D, 2nd Edition

Table of contents

1. Front Cover
2. Half Title
3. Title Page
4. Copyright
5. Contents
6. foreword
7. preface
8. acknowledgements
9. chapter 1
   1. introduction to 2D-animation working practice
   2. how animation works the
   3. basics
   4. frames per second
      1. what you need for your studio
      2. animation paper
      3. peg bar
      4. light box
      5. x-sheets
      6. line tester
      7. pencils
   5. let’s get animating
      1. key to key animation
      2. animating straight ahead
   6. flipping, flicking and rolling
      1. flipping
      2. flicking
      3. rolling
   7. how to use a line tester to help your animation
   8. how this book works
10. chapter 2
    1. matter and the animation of inanimate objects
    2. inanimate objects
       1. weight
       2. environment
       3. solidity
       4. force
       5. construction
    3. how to animate inanimate objects
    4. the animation of solids
       1. a bowling ball
       2. a soccer ball
       3. a balloon
       4. a water-filled balloon
    5. the animation of liquids
       1. a drip
       2. a splash
       3. object falling into water
11. chapter 3
    1. the construction of a simple character, its articulation and balance
    2. basic human anatomy
       1. the spine
       2. the rib cage
       3. the pelvic girdle
       4. the skull
       5. the shoulders
    3. joints
       1. plane joints
       2. pivot joints
       3. hinge joints
       4. ball-and-socket joints
       5. saddle joints
       6. condyloid joints
    4. moving in arcs
    5. how to design a basic human character
       1. complexity
       2. the graphic nature of characters
       3. strong silhouettes
       4. weight and balance
    6. how to design a 3D character
    7. planning a scene
    8. animating your characters
    9. how to build and rig a simple 3D character
       1. skin and bones
       2. child of the joint
       3. first get your body parts
       4. putting bones in your man
       5. setting up eye controls
       6. setting up the legs
12. chapter 4
    1. timing, anticipation, overshoot, follow-through and overlapping action with an animated character
    2. timing
    3. anticipation
       1. how much anticipation
       2. force
       3. acting and anticipation
       4. double takes!
       5. speed and surprise
       6. anticipation during a move
       7. varying the amount of anticipation
       8. other ways of using anticipation
    4. follow-through
       1. follow-through of inanimate objects
       2. follow-through of animate (living) objects
    5. overlapping action or overshoot
    6. vibration
13. chapter 5
    1. human walks and runs
    2. walk cycles!
    3. walking
       1. pace
    4. walking mechanics
       1. the four basic positions of a walk
       2. the stride positions
       3. the cross over positions
       4. shoulder movement
       5. arm movement
       6. up and down movement of the body
    5. walk cycles displaying different moods
    6. external influences
    7. two people walking together
    8. running
14. chapter 6
    1. animal walks and runs
    2. the four types of animal locomotion
    3. construction of an animal
       1. pantomime horse
       2. cartoon four-legged walks
       3. correct four-legged animal construction
    4. animal leg and foot construction
    5. animals with paws
    6. a dog walk
    7. a cat walk
    8. animals with cloven feet
    9. animals with hooves
    10. flat feet
    11. animal runs
        1. trotting
        2. cantering
        3. galloping
        4. transverse or rotary gallops and canters
15. chapter 7
    1. animation of fish and snakes
    2. fish
       1. how they swim
       2. drag
       3. two swimming types of fish
       4. schooling (shoaling)
       5. swimming mammals and flatfish
       6. rays
       7. fins
    3. snakes
       1. basic movement
       2. concertina movement
       3. crotaline (sidewinder) movement
16. chapter 8
    1. animation of birds
    2. flying
    3. wings – insects and humming bird
17. chapter 9
    1. animation of acting – body language
    2. acting
       1. method acting
       2. theatrical acting
    3. consequence
    4. emotions
    5. introduction to laban movement theory
    6. kinesphere
    7. space, time, weight and flow continuums
    8. eight basic efforts
       1. pressing
       2. flicking
       3. wringing
       4. dabbing
       5. slashing
       6. gliding
       7. thrusting
       8. floating
    9. general body language
    10. basic body postures
        1. open body postures
        2. closed body postures
        3. forward body postures
        4. back body postures
    11. responsive
    12. reflective
    13. fugitive
    14. combative
    15. palm, hand, arm and leg gestures
        1. palm gestures
        2. hand gestures
        3. arm crossing
        4. leg crossing
    16. acting out a scene in animation
    17. the use of video footage to help your animation
    18. the seven questions of character
    19. the different sorts of animation acting
        1. animated radio
        2. pose-to-pose animation acting
        3. full animation acting
        4. mime
    20. analysis of a character
    21. building a more sophisticated character
18. chapter 10
    1. animation of acting – facial expressions
    2. emotions
    3. the eyes
    4. facial expressions
       1. happiness
       2. a smile
       3. sadness
       4. surprise
       5. fear
       6. anger
       7. disgust and contempt
       8. interest
       9. pain and distress
       10. combination of facial expressions
    5. head angle
    6. hand-to-face gestures
       1. evaluation
       2. deceit
       3. stress
    7. extreme close-ups
    8. how to animate a piece of facial acting
    9. how to add a simple mouth and eyebrows to your basic 3D character
       1. the eyebrows
       2. the mouth
19. chapter 11
    1. animation of acting – two or more characters
    2. two characters on screen together
    3. the use of ‘beats’ to break up a scene
       1. objective
       2. obstacle
       3. action
    4. personal space
    5. mirroring
    6. how characters look at each other
    7. two characters acting with each other while talking
    8. two characters alternating from one shot to another
    9. a large group of characters on screen at the same time
20. chapter 12
    1. lip-sync
    2. recording and breaking down a dialogue track
    3. how we speak
    4. acting with dialogue
    5. quick from pose to pose
    6. slow from pose to pose
    7. erratically from pose to pose
    8. mouth shapes
       1. mouth shut consonants
       2. the vowels
       3. the quieter vowels and consonants
    9. teeth
       1. animating the mouth shapes early
    10. creating a more sophisticated character’s face and expressions
        1. eyebrow movements
        2. mouth and jaw movements
        3. cheek movements
        4. nose movements
21. index