In which Digits talks about animation @animationbits - Tumblr Blog

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Hiya! I've followed for your animation stuff for a good while now, since your rigging is just absolute goals for me - I've been having some troubles trying to make a decent rig for my own animation, and was wondering how your process of rigging goes, as from what I've seen online, there's quite a few different ways people will make rigs (be it different deformers, or little to no deformers at all; junk like that :"D) Any tips or advice would be extremely appreciated! <3

I would say start small ! the first rig I let my students build when I was teaching was a little blob animal with eyes, a mouth and some ears or a tail ..something you could do more fluid animation with. It keeps it to simple shapes and limited details .

Work your way up to fuller characters , because the more you rig the more you realize what things are a pain in the arse haha, so you are able to design characters that are a little more forgiving to learn on rather then just designing something you love and running into road blocks on how to rig those details correctly .

Also keep in mind that the rig kind of depends on how -you- animate. For myself I dont need too many bells and whistles, i just need the parts to be seperated. I need to be able to do rotations , and if i just have one big chunk of hair i cant really show it turning perpsective wise, so i want the lil chunks WITHIN that chunk split up.

Breaking off details and splitting them up for me is where you want to start, so the more details you have the harder it is. The deformers and what else you want to add is up to you - some people love em, some people dont ! and actually my rigs would be a pain in the ass for a lot of people to animate with, but they work for me just fine.

in the end though its not the rig that makes the animation , its the animator. you can have a perfect rig but its going to be the traditional principles that makes the animation look good. A good rig is a good tool ,but the success of the animation does not lie soley within it.

#Anonymous

felixcolgrave

Process of the flag from the top of the Double King’s castle.

Step 1 was “animate the air” because I hate fun

animationbits

NEAT

#animation #2d #tips and tricks #tutorials #flag waving was always a pain in my arse #animating air is a cool way to start it

casualtoonboom

ok…im sorry this one turned out fuzzy and its hard to see the timeline. : / I dont know what messed up in my recording settings and at one point the screen shifts but this is my 3rd time trying to upload it and its getting late and I DONT CARE ANY MORE. ALSO MY MIC STILL CUTS OUT..I tried to edit around it but I may have to get a new mic for my next video because its annoying and makes editing so time consuming.

ITS SUPPOSE TO BE CASUAL SO ..WHO CARES IF ITS NOT PERFECT.

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)

HUFF HUFF

I get into animation with this one - if there is anything you want me to go more indepth on , or pick out to have its own video please let me know .

animationbits

might as well share this to my anim blog as well since I didnt reblog the other one her. for anyone whos interested I made a new account JUST for toonboom harmony. Im open to suggestions and questions !

#toonboom #2d animation #toonboom harmony

What are the processes a scene goes through and what are they for? I know that there is a certain order like storyboards > animatics > pencil test > cleanup > but that's about the limits of my knowledge

As far as animation goes , yep ! although every studio has its own work flow. For example some will have FX animation after clean up , some will have color if the animation is not colored already. Compositing is also an important part of the polish. And of course we cant forget the designs that go into it in order to make the scene full of visuals.

There are more stages that a scene can go through depending on the departments basically. In some studios overseas the animator would do their pencil test/clean up/ bgs AND fx all at once. The process is still one by one but their responsibilities are larger.

But i mean , in a nutshell you’re pretty right !

#Anonymous

gingercatsneeze

1. Ah Fai was a chief animator for McDull’s animated features. He’s super cool. Ultimate senpai.

2. Previous post on breakdowns right here

Some thoughts on acceleration and force

I presented this in the order of how I slowly understood the trick of delivering force - first an abstract concept of impact taught by Ah Fai, then a more complicated discovery on the acceleration pattern, last back to a more abstract concept of breakdowns.

Like I’ve previously stressed, 2D animation is everything but one single approach. There’s no one rule that rules them all, but interchangeable ideas with math, or physics, or music, etc. There’s no “perfect” animation either, but what is perceived as organic and dynamic. E.g., using the Fibonacci numbers to animate didn’t bring me a perfect animation! On the other hand, a tiny change in the pattern could already make the feeling of force so much more powerful.

Not so much of a tutorial than a personal experience. I hope you find this interesting hahaha

#animation #timing #tips and tricks #tutorial #great visuals !

tb-sj

#character design

piraticoctopus

For anyone who wants a free pose-able human reference for drawing

The other day I came across this awesome program by accident (I don’t even remember what I was actually searching for, but on the several times I’ve looked for a program like this I’ve had no luck). It’s cool enough that I wanted to share it.

It’s called DesignDoll (website here) and it’s a program that lets you shape and pose a human figure pretty much however you want.

There’s a trial version with no expiration date that can be downloaded for free, as well as the “pro license” version priced at $79. I’ve only had the free version for two days so far, so I’m not an expert and I haven’t figured out all of the features yet, but I’ve got the basics down. The website’s tutorials are actually pretty helpful for the basics, as well.

Here’s the page for download, which has a list of the features available in both versions.

There are three features the free version doesn’t have:

Can’t save OBJ files for export

Can’t download models and poses from Doll Atelier (a sharing site for users; note that the site is in Japanese, though)

It can’t load saved files

The third one means that if you make a pose, save it, and close the program, you can’t load that pose/modified model later. You have to start with the default model. I found that out when I tried to load a file from the day before (this is why reading is important…). Whether saving your modifications (and downloading models and poses) is worth $80 is up to you.

But, the default model is pretty nice and honestly if all you’re looking for is a basic pose reference it should work fairly well as it is. Here’s what it looks like:

There’s a pose tag that lets you drag each joint into place and rotate body parts. The torso and waist can be twisted separately, and it seems like everything pretty much follows the range of movement it would have on an actual human.

Even the entire shoulder area is actually movable along with the joint! See, like how the scapular area of the back raises with the arm:

The morphing tag is one of the coolest features, in my opinion. It lets you pick and choose from a library of pre-set forms for the head, chest, arms, legs, etc. It has some more realistic body shapes in addition to more anime-like ones. Don’t like the options there? Mix a few to get what you want! Each option has a slider that lets you blend as much or as little as you want into the design.

So you, too, can create beautiful things like kawaii Muscle-chan!!

The scale tag lets you mess with the proportions and connection points of different joints. This feature combined with the morphing feature not only allows more body shape variations, but it also means that you can do things like make a more digitigrade model if you want. (The feet only have an ankle joint, but for regular human poses that’s all that you really need, so whatever.)

Or you can make a weird chubby alien-like thing with giant hands and balloon tiddies if that’s more your thing.

The ability to pose hands to the extent it allows is far more than I could have hoped for from a free program. Seriously, you can change the position of each finger joint individually, as well as how spread out the fingers are from each other. Each crease on the diagram below is a point of movement, and the circles are for spread between fingers.

And to make it a bit more convenient, there’s a library of pre-set hand poses you can pick from as well, and then change the pose from that if you like.

In both versions, you can also import OBJ files from other places for the model to hold, like if you wanted to have them hold a sword or something.

Basically, this program is awesome and free and you should totally check it out if you want a good program for creating pose references.

thebookskeeper

I just wanted to add a little more to this. If you have trouble figuring out how light sources work in your drawings this also allows you to choose where to have a light source.

That shaded ball on the left is your light source. You can see how moving the point changed the shadow cast.

Oh and all those other nifty looking things in that bottom bar there, yeah it’s what you think. You can change the model color to one of these presets or even customize your own palette.

Plus for all you lovely people who want something a little more simplified to use as a pose reference

You can turn your model into the classic wire frame.

kendallhaleart

I’m tired of getting these stupid offers to work on people’s “passion projects” for free, usually with the promise of compensation when/if the project takes off. Guess what? I don’t care that you’re passionate about it, I care if you’re competent. When you knock on my door asking for free work, its a clear sign that you aren’t. You might have hopes that your project hits it big and that you’ll eventually get rich off of it, but if you REALLY believed in it, I feel like you’d be more willing to put your own livelihood on the line instead of asking an artist to do it for you. If I do a bunch of free work hoping it’ll pay off, I’m not doing other work that could actually feed me and pay my bills. And what happens when the project doesn’t get funded or some important factor blows up or everyone decides to quit out early? I get screwed. So, no. I don’t want to work on your passion project. Not unless I get paid up front.

giancarlovolpe

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

#truth

pocketpicasso-blog-deactivated2

MERRY CHRISTMAS, YOU GUYS! so stinkin’ excited to share my 2nd year film with y'all! much MUCH love to my beautiful CalArts family; I couldn’t have done any of this without you!

Merry’s my love letter to home. Enjoy!

#animation #short flim #student flim #calarts #pocketpicasso #2d animation

pierrevanderweerd

I’ve been planning on doing an animation test of the character I did in my online course last autumn (which can be found here). I tried animating something a bit more detailed than what I usually do, which, of course, required a little more time. I’ve been working on this periodically over the last month-and-a-half or so and learned a good chunk of things from it. I animated this in TVPaint: love that software!

Of course, I couldn’t resist adding in a slight multiplane pan :)

#2d animation #pencil test #tv paint #beautiful work pierre !

Such a great concept and so well executed ! crazy charming.

#animation #3d #music video #beautiful #Ma’agalim #Uri Lotan #Jane Bordeaux'

wannabeanimator

#model sheets #wander over yonder #i miss these model sheets they're so great

stringbing-deactivated20210318

Timing Charts and Inbetweening Demo

Hey guys! So I recently finished up an inbetweening and timing charts demo and edited into an hour-ish video! A handful of folks asked me things like how to utilize a timing chart in your work, how to in between to those charts, and basic (I say basic because there are other more advanced ways - but thats another time) to keep your drawings consistent! I also talk about smears!

The program I’m using is TVPaint, but any program can do really.

The character I’m using is created by Patrick Stannard! He’s a kickass animator!

#tutorials #tips and tricks #2d animation #amazing demo

cartoonbrew

Animator Tim Rudder shares some great insight and research on how to break up movements to avoid “stiff” animation. Head over to his site for more! Link here: http://www.timrudder.com/animationme…/breaking-up-movements/

tombancroft1

Too in is by animator Rob Corley and the bottoms one is mine.

#animation #tips and tricks #great visual notes and break down.

littledigits

Remember

You dont need a job to be called an animator , all you need to do is animate.

joethejohnston

Animation is in a really fantastic place right now isn’t it!

Shows like Steven Universe and Wander over Yonder are creator driven and given ample support from their parent studios to help them be as successful as they can be. While Steven Universe may seem trapped in an endless hiatus while Teen Titans Go airs non-stop, the Steven bombs are planned and promoted events that the studio counts on to be successful because they trust the show.

‘Adult’ animation has become the home for some of the best jokes with the age of Mcfarlen-style humor on the decline and the rise of great shows like Rick and Morty, Bob’s Burger and Archer. With “Sausage Party” we’re getting our first rated R mainstream feature animated film. Critique it all you want but this is opening the gates to more adult oriented animated content which is great because animation is not a genre, its a medium.

Established properties like Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack are being given a new treatment with a new generation of talented artists. People who love the old shows and are excited about continuing them and trying something new with them.

Shows like Spongebob and Fairly Odd Parents soldier on and continue to be popular well beyond their expected lifetime. Established long running properties bring home the bacon for a studio and help to pay for those shows that the studio is willing to take a chance risk like Avatar the last Airbender. There are shows that are made with an ending in mind like Gravity Falls that are given the creative freedom to tell the story they want to tell.

Storytelling is healthier now than it ever has been. It is becoming the selling point as series like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead continue to out perform traditional television. New and exciting opportunities for cross platform storytelling are coming with shows like OK KO which started as a show and became an awesome game! The people making animated content now grew up with great shows like Batman, Gargoyles, X-Men, The Simpsons, the list goes on and on!

It feels like everyone is just sort of…getting started :)

I’m an animation professional and I get frustrated when I see stuff like this.

evelmiina

This. Good post. I got some bitter anonymous comments regarding my animation post indicating I’m not even trying or I’ve given up when it comes to fighting for progression in animation. It’s not true. Those who give up don’t do animation industry. There are so many fights on one field that are also visible to the audience, to name a few: gender equality and variety in both characters and creators, storytelling complexity/maturity, animation style and quality…it’s not like you can win at everything at once.

Imagine an industry full of talented people, each with their own passion trying to collaborate for the best within the limits of budget and time…most of the artists genuinely want to aim for the best, but everyone’s means are also bit different! Usually it’s very difficult to excel at everything in one project, but isn’t there value in seeing the progress even in one aspect? Like with the examples joethejohnston explained.

#discussion

littledigits

animation rant time

Theres something thats been bugging me and I really just want to get it off my chest a little.

There was a post going around that was re blogged by some mutuals and I didnt want to jump start my own opinions onto that post because honestly theres nothing wrong with liking the post and I dont want to tie anyone into a convo they’d rather not be in. The post in question was talking about a scenario of someone looking up to animation and being inspired..watching ghibli movies , creating their own characters..working hard to learn animation and - oh guess what they now animate on talking crude talking food movies. Thats so unfortunate.

The post could be meant as a just a joke but if it was sincere its one of the things that really bugs me sometimes about how people view this industry. this COMMERCIAL industry. This industry where guess what the projects are what you make of it , and the projects may not be something that inspires you but you may get some great experience out of it and some amazing people to learn from. There are lots of projects I’ve worked on personally that have been bashed , been called cash grabs , have been forgotten , and honestly as an animator i’ve always learned something and moved forward by it. Not every thing i’ve worked on has been something that I -personally- would watch but that doesnt mean it wasnt a good experience.

Am i saying there arent any people on this movie going ‘ oh man..wtf happened with my career path ‘ well no but .. you could say that for ANYTHING. You could have people saying that for television shows or for movies that arent as blockbuster hits. To me its the same argument of ‘ oh man you’re drawing fanart ? what are you doing with your skills ‘ . I know a lot of people who do art and animation thats personally not to my tastes , but that doesnt mean they cant love what they do. Not everyone has to be inspired by ghibli movies or glen keane….some people can like crude humor and have a blast.

Now im not saying people cant think the movie is dumb , but what im saying is dont weep over any possible wasted potential - because what does is it sums up potential by someones job and thats the one thing I always want to drive home about the animation industry. YOU.ARE.NOT.YOUR.JOB . Dont weigh someones worth or potential or artistic skills purely by the job that they have - you have no idea what they do in their off time. Not every project i’ve been on inspires me ..but thats ok , because its my job. I tell everyone to save some energy for themselves for their own projects , their own art , for this reason - to REMAIN inspired and create what they love from their own sources. That way it doesnt matter what you’re hired to do , wether its a pre-school show , a television show with crazy tight deadines that doesnt allow you to do your best work , or a crude comedy about talking food , you’re still doing something in your spare time that keeps your original love alive. Projects that you can get crazy passionate about that are in your wheelhouse and line up with your tastes are few and far between so lets not make people feel like they’re wasting their potential and their dreams if they happen to be on something thats not, geeze.

And i mean personally I saw the trailer and I laughed at all the swearing because dammit animation is a medium not a genre and it can be used for whatever.

#discussion

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