Abhishek
08-02-2006, 08:06 AM
<P><!--StartFragment --><FONT color=#000066><FONT size=2><strong>Animation Mentor Tips & Tricks : Spotlight Your Expressions by Shawn Kelly </strong></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=#000066><FONT size=1><strong>[www.animationmentor.com]</strong></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><!--StartFragment --> Hello there! Welcome back to yet another Animation Tip. Hopefully you aren't bored out of your minds yet, but honestly? Even if you are, I'm still having fun writing these down, so tough luck - you'll have to just put up with me for now. <BR><BR>In December, we talked a lot about faces and facial animation - mostly focusing on the idea that the face is one cohesive unit that we use to communicate. We talked about how important it is that you don't let your facial performance end up looking like it's a mishmash of 100 different sliders and controls, and instead how we must always push towards the goal of having the face feel like it is a single communication device controlled by a single brain. It's so easy, when given those 100 different facial controls, to end up with sections of the face that looks disconnected, disjointed, and unrelated to each other. <BR><BR>And why do we fight so hard against that? Well, for one thing, it's going to look fake. It might *almost* look right, or maybe even 90% realistic, but it's that final 10% that makes all the difference between something truly feeling alive, or something feeling just slightly robotic or creepy. <BR><BR>The other reason we strive so hard towards creating a cohesive facial performance is for the sake of the audience. As with any aspect of animation, the overriding goal - at all times - is simply this: <BR><BR>Communicate the emotions, actions, and ideas of scene as clearly and truly as possible to the audience. <BR><BR>If you do a bunch of animation that is mechanically correct, has beautiful arcs, and some really nice timing, but it doesn't communicate the idea to the audience, what's the point? No one will care if our animation "looks pretty" if they miss the story point that they should have noticed, or can't identify with the character's emotion. <BR><BR>Along those same lines, this month I wanted to touch on the idea of ensuring your facial expressions are correctly placed in the scene so that they aren't missed by the audience. <BR><BR>With that said, here's <strong>Tip #4: Spotlight Your Expressions! <A href="http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0206/feature_geek.html#animationTip" target="_blank">READ</A></strong></P>
<P><FONT color=#000066><FONT size=1><strong>[www.animationmentor.com]</strong></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><!--StartFragment --> Hello there! Welcome back to yet another Animation Tip. Hopefully you aren't bored out of your minds yet, but honestly? Even if you are, I'm still having fun writing these down, so tough luck - you'll have to just put up with me for now. <BR><BR>In December, we talked a lot about faces and facial animation - mostly focusing on the idea that the face is one cohesive unit that we use to communicate. We talked about how important it is that you don't let your facial performance end up looking like it's a mishmash of 100 different sliders and controls, and instead how we must always push towards the goal of having the face feel like it is a single communication device controlled by a single brain. It's so easy, when given those 100 different facial controls, to end up with sections of the face that looks disconnected, disjointed, and unrelated to each other. <BR><BR>And why do we fight so hard against that? Well, for one thing, it's going to look fake. It might *almost* look right, or maybe even 90% realistic, but it's that final 10% that makes all the difference between something truly feeling alive, or something feeling just slightly robotic or creepy. <BR><BR>The other reason we strive so hard towards creating a cohesive facial performance is for the sake of the audience. As with any aspect of animation, the overriding goal - at all times - is simply this: <BR><BR>Communicate the emotions, actions, and ideas of scene as clearly and truly as possible to the audience. <BR><BR>If you do a bunch of animation that is mechanically correct, has beautiful arcs, and some really nice timing, but it doesn't communicate the idea to the audience, what's the point? No one will care if our animation "looks pretty" if they miss the story point that they should have noticed, or can't identify with the character's emotion. <BR><BR>Along those same lines, this month I wanted to touch on the idea of ensuring your facial expressions are correctly placed in the scene so that they aren't missed by the audience. <BR><BR>With that said, here's <strong>Tip #4: Spotlight Your Expressions! <A href="http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0206/feature_geek.html#animationTip" target="_blank">READ</A></strong></P>