Animating HUMAN : : Things to think about [Archive]

dynafx

25-10-2004, 01:18 PM

The important things to do, while animating a human (thanx to LISA MULLINS) 
 
<div id="2" style=": 1; left: 27px; vertical-align: middle; width: 748px; : ; top: 128px; height: 2208px;"><li>1. Animate from the inside out?.not the outside
in. 
a. The torso, how
the pelvis and spine are working together to move your body. b. Define the
relationship of feet to pelvis and torso i. Where is the weight? ii. Is
there balance? c. Arms, necks, fingers and toes come last
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2. Don?t get overwhelmed by all the limbs and
appendages?.it?s a bouncing ball.
a.
Arcs???everything organic moves in curves, robots move in
straight lines. i. Pick a point on the body, or a locator and track it?s
motion with an expo marker. See what shape arc you are making.
b.
Timing??what part starts moving first and what is the last
thing to get there? i. Give the eye enough time to see a pose, or an action.
If you have two Objects touching one another- 1 frame is not enough time to
see it. ii. Pauses are as important as the action. The contrast between them
is what Makes each work iii. Rhythm. Bad pop music is repetitive and
everything happens on the beat. Jazz music has melody but also has off-beats
and departures. 
c.
Spacing??determines your slow-ins and slow-outs and your
timing i. Favor a pose ii. How quickly do you want it to move from pose A
to pose B iii. Cartoony animation vs. Realistic animation. A lot is
determined by both timing and spacing. Snappy vs. flowing.
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3. Overlap and Follow-through. Flow from one pose to the
next. a. Each part of an arm, leg or torso doesn?t move at the same
time. b. Decide where the energy or need for the movement is coming from
? and move that part first. Follow the this flow of energy as it travels
through the body. c. Everything shouldn?t come to a dead stop. Except in
extreme cartoony cases, complete stillness is a killer. d. Flow. One part
of the body starts to move into the next pose as another part is still
 finishing it?s motion from the last pose. 
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4. Weight and Texture a. Within the human body,
the majority of the weight lies in the pelvis and lower torso area. On every
single pose, and throughout animation you must keep track of that weight.
There is a constant relationship between the 2 feet and that lower torso
area. If the lower part of the body is off balance ? it must counterbalance
using the rest of the weight it?s got. This could be arms, other legs, the
upper torso or an object or prop. b. Everything you touch or move
including yourself or your character has it?s own weight. Decide how much
each thing weighs. Show us how much by how it affects the body. Am I holding
a pillow, or am I holding a safe? What does my arm look like when holding
each? How I choose to hold it will show weight and how much the rest of my
body is affected by it will show weight.
c.
Tension or Effort. Sometimes you have to put in some random looking frames to
show tension, struggle, or effort. If you are trying to move something heavy-
it is not going to ?give? right away. Your arms may ?give? before the object
does. Try dragging something along a carpet- it will catch on the rug
fibers?this is quite different than dragging something along a cement floor-
or ice for that Matter. Things get rub, slow down or get stuck when in
contact with other things. d. Everything you touch, move or walk is made
up of different material. Keep this in mind when animating. Is it soft grass,
is the handrail metal or wood, will the object ?give? slightly, or is it
solid marble. Remember to show this visually?after all- we can?t go in there
an touch it ourselves.
 Other Passes You Can Do On Your
Animation?????
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1. Hips????. The hip is there to help ?take up? the
weight of the lower torso, pelvis area. Animate the majority of the pelvis
direction with the root. Save the hip control For another pass. It is there
to help your leg take the weight. It will go into action shortly after the
weight has moved over one leg ? and it will happen in a matter of a couple of
frames. If you were a giant dinosaur- this hip shift would take longer to
happen ? bigger bones have to rotate more to get the same effect.
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2. Clavicles or Shoulders??.. are very similar in
function to the hip rotation. Particularly If the hand is being used to rest
on or leaned on. The arm will try to take up as much weight as possible- then
the scapula be forced to take up the rest. 
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3. Breathing ?. Think about when your character is going
to take a breath. a. A breath can happen during an
anticipation. When swimming it literally happens before you dive in and swim
underwater. Perhaps you take a big gulp before a golf swing. Yoga is based
entirely on breath and motion. Pulling in the air before a posture
and pushing it out through the next posture. b. A
breath can determine the character?s mood or state of mind. Nervous
people breathe fast, shallow breaths. Someone who has just run may be out of
breath to the point where they literally can?t get it back to normal
breathing. Someone who is asleep may snore or ?saw logs? in a regular rhythm.
Or they may have sleep apnea which can cause them to gasp violently all of a
sudden. Have someone scare you- did you suck in air- or blow it
out?
c. Breathing doesn?t just happen with one bone rotation.
There is no breath control. The entire spine and shoulders, head and neck are
involved in breathing. If it is the out of breath runner- than maybe the
whole body. Again- here is your timing and overlap following the breath in
the abdomen, up through the diaphragm, into the lungs, up in the chest- up
the shoulders and neck into the nasal or mouth. The Human Body is a
large, intricate, complex machine made up of many working parts that all work
together and affect one another?.
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