book

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

Name: Character Animation: 2D Skills for Better 3D, 2nd Edition
Author: Steve Roberts
ISBN: 9781136140938

by Steve Roberts

August 2012

Beginner

304 pages

9h 13m

English

Focal Press

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Front Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
foreword
preface
acknowledgements
chapter 1
introduction to 2D-animation working practicehow animation works thebasicsframes per secondwhat you need for your studioanimation paperpeg barlight boxx-sheetsline testerpencilslet’s get animatingkey to key animationanimating straight aheadflipping, flicking and rollingflippingflickingrollinghow to use a line tester to help your animationhow this book works
chapter 2
matter and the animation of inanimate objectsinanimate objectsweightenvironmentsolidityforceconstructionhow to animate inanimate objectsthe animation of solidsa bowling balla soccer balla balloona water-filled balloonthe animation of liquidsa dripa splashobject falling into water

chapter 3
the construction of a simple character, its articulation and balancebasic human anatomythe spinethe rib cagethe pelvic girdlethe skullthe shouldersjointsplane jointspivot jointshinge jointsball-and-socket jointssaddle jointscondyloid jointsmoving in arcshow to design a basic human charactercomplexitythe graphic nature of charactersstrong silhouettesweight and balancehow to design a 3D characterplanning a sceneanimating your charactershow to build and rig a simple 3D characterskin and boneschild of the jointfirst get your body partsputting bones in your mansetting up eye controlssetting up the legs
chapter 4
timing, anticipation, overshoot, follow-through and overlapping action with an animated charactertiminganticipationhow much anticipationforceacting and anticipationdouble takes!speed and surpriseanticipation during a movevarying the amount of anticipationother ways of using anticipationfollow-throughfollow-through of inanimate objectsfollow-through of animate (living) objectsoverlapping action or overshootvibration
chapter 5
human walks and runswalk cycles!walkingpacewalking mechanicsthe four basic positions of a walkthe stride positionsthe cross over positionsshoulder movementarm movementup and down movement of the bodywalk cycles displaying different moodsexternal influencestwo people walking togetherrunning
chapter 6
animal walks and runsthe four types of animal locomotionconstruction of an animalpantomime horsecartoon four-legged walkscorrect four-legged animal constructionanimal leg and foot constructionanimals with pawsa dog walka cat walkanimals with cloven feetanimals with hoovesflat feetanimal runstrottingcanteringgallopingtransverse or rotary gallops and canters
chapter 7
animation of fish and snakesfishhow they swimdragtwo swimming types of fishschooling (shoaling)swimming mammals and flatfishraysfinssnakesbasic movementconcertina movementcrotaline (sidewinder) movement
chapter 8
animation of birdsflyingwings – insects and humming bird
chapter 9
animation of acting – body languageactingmethod actingtheatrical actingconsequenceemotionsintroduction to laban movement theorykinespherespace, time, weight and flow continuumseight basic effortspressingflickingwringingdabbingslashingglidingthrustingfloatinggeneral body languagebasic body posturesopen body posturesclosed body posturesforward body posturesback body posturesresponsivereflectivefugitivecombativepalm, hand, arm and leg gesturespalm gestureshand gesturesarm crossingleg crossingacting out a scene in animationthe use of video footage to help your animationthe seven questions of characterthe different sorts of animation actinganimated radiopose-to-pose animation actingfull animation actingmimeanalysis of a characterbuilding a more sophisticated character
chapter 10
animation of acting – facial expressionsemotionsthe eyesfacial expressionshappinessa smilesadnesssurprisefearangerdisgust and contemptinterestpain and distresscombination of facial expressionshead anglehand-to-face gesturesevaluationdeceitstressextreme close-upshow to animate a piece of facial actinghow to add a simple mouth and eyebrows to your basic 3D characterthe eyebrowsthe mouth
chapter 11
animation of acting – two or more characterstwo characters on screen togetherthe use of ‘beats’ to break up a sceneobjectiveobstacleactionpersonal spacemirroringhow characters look at each othertwo characters acting with each other while talkingtwo characters alternating from one shot to anothera large group of characters on screen at the same time
chapter 12
lip-syncrecording and breaking down a dialogue trackhow we speakacting with dialoguequick from pose to poseslow from pose to poseerratically from pose to posemouth shapesmouth shut consonantsthe vowelsthe quieter vowels and consonantsteethanimating the mouth shapes earlycreating a more sophisticated character’s face and expressionseyebrow movementsmouth and jaw movementscheek movementsnose movements
index

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

preface

This book is the culmination of almost 10 years of teaching drawn animation techniques to 3D computer animators.

You may think, ‘why on earth does a 3D computer animator need to learn how to do drawn animation?’ The answer to this question is that the basics of animation are all the same and often you can get an idea of the movement far more quickly using pencil and paper. A computer can take a lot of the drudgery out of animating, but you can end up doing a piece of animation without quite understanding how it happened and whether it works or not.

One of the most valuable things I have learnt over the past 25 years of animating is to keep things simple!

The main value of an animation teacher is somebody who can cut to the chase and ...

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

by Steve Roberts

preface

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.