Timing for Animation, 40th Anniversary Edition, 3rd Edition

Digital Crowds (Massive)

Modern 3D programs like Massive have given us the ability to move large numbers of characters in a relatively easy way (Fig. 42). The pre-programmed behavior of characters can be multiplied endless times and placed either close up or far in the distance. Like a choreographer, the animator has to be as much in control of the overall sweep of the action as in the minute poses of the individual figures. For instance, a swarm of cavalry led by a war chief waving his sword, rides up from the distance, and sweeps around behind a line of enemy war elephants. The animator may create four or more individual cycle actions and place them at differing speeds, to create enough variance in the motion to make the actions seem random. ...