Release. Pressure. Animate.

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Instead of drawing the arc yourself an automated tracking visualization of the arc is useful as well, which is another side of the aniCharts module. It allows you to choose an object or any point on it and track its position. It will create the curve automatically with a point on it for each frame. Also, since this is based on the actual 3D positional data of the objects the arc can quickly update when you adjust one of the timings or spacings. This way you‟ll automatically see how changes influence the full curve of the object‟s motion. Visualizing the arc is a useful method to focus on the actual curve of the motion. Nevertheless noticing that something is off is still a step away from knowing how to fix it or knowing what the better arc would be. Thus, improving the arc can only be efficiently done when you know what the better arc is. For defining the better arc the simplest way is sketching/drawing it out quickly. This allows you to experiment what curve looks best, again creating some sort of plan and setting a goal to focus on. The problem with allowing the computer to visualize the arc is that you‟re not intuitively experimenting with the arc. This can make it hard to find the right arc, especially if you‟re not an experienced animator. Therefore it‟s recommended to use this freedom where possible. Nevertheless the automated arc tracking visuals are a great way to keep a clear organized focus on the curve‟s motion while adjusting the animation to your needs. Autodesk is developing technology for Maya making it possible to track an arc and adjust its curve by manipulating the point of the curve itself 28 , which brings a little bit of both worlds. Nevertheless I recommend the experimenting and testing with the arc by drawing our the curve yourself. There‟s also much to change in Maya‟s way of key management and the functionalities it contains to control it, like better controlling of tangents to tweak animation curves. A module that helps managing the flow of the curve is the Quick Tangents module. Controlling the curves ins and out forms – like stepped, linear, spline and so forth – can be a tedious task. Especially with the coming of more complex rigs which introduced an increasing amount of keys and 28 This is listed as one of the Autodesk Maya 2012 new features at the official product release website. 4. Developing a toolset 1 1 6
data to handle through the years selecting the right keys or finding the right moment in time becomes a troublesome job. The graph editor is a great place to edit the curves, but looking through and selecting the right keys can still become quite a task if you‟ll have to go in, select and adjust accordingly. This system provides a way of altering this part of the keys data without the need to select any keys in the graph editor and/or even without the need to select a time range at all which is exactly what you need if you want to adjust all ins and outs for the current frame. But it can also be applied by highlighting a time range and applying the change accordingly for the indicated time range; it is selection based. A picture of the small yet convenient Quick Tangents module The system is designed to be familiar (looks like the graph editor buttons) and is conveniently small so it can be placed anywhere without capturing too much screen space. Even more it provides a direct sight on the currently set default tangent which is used for each new key that gets created; it‟s the most right icon in the module. By clicking the button it turns into a red question mark to let you know you can then choose a new default setting. You can do this by clicking on one of the others icons that represent the tangent in and out you want. This way you always have the direct control you need over the tangents and have a constant clear sight on what is currently set as default. The animator often „plays‟ with the timing by making small time adjustments of a couple of frames and checks the results quickly to see how it feels with the different timing. This animator‟s technique has been used in the core of the beat timer and is also the main reason why the Quick Retime module is so extremely effective for animators as well. This module is again one with an extremely small design and has only a few buttons to adjust the timing of the keys by moving them quickly respectively -3,-2,- 1,+1,+2 or +3 frames. A picture of the Quick Retime module This is one of the simplest additions designed, but it creates a great and simple interface towards controlling and checking the overall timing. Even more, it pushes you to experiment more with timing as it becomes much easier and quicker to alter it. Like the previously described module it is selection sensitive. It will adjust all keys after the current frame if no time range or keys are selected. If a time range is selected it will move that range by the chosen amount. When a single or multiple keys selected it will 4. Developing a toolset 1 1 7
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PRESSURE. RELEASE. ANIMATE. How to
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“Art challenges technology. Techn
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Table of Contents Table of Contents
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Introduction Not a very long time a
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This is all evolving around the mai
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There are two difficulties in discu
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1.2 How can a flow be maintained or
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this piece of art - posing the char
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You know that feeling when you watc
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without any reference or sketching.
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2.1 Animating like a puppeteer. (St
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ond with the character often create
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everything done smoothly at the mom
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same, hence a „tick‟ of the lig
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This paragraph is about what in gen
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“Too much action spoils the actin
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working clean and keeping your head
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think in the ways of those strong p
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the motion and action of the charac
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this can be a reliable way for „i
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It‟s hard to have a clear distinc
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the background. Any distraction at
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or the mixed approach as described
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customizing and tweaking the whole
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as the character parts don‟t actu
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As with traditional animation and m
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example you could divide the pipeli
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ecognizable style on its own, but f
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issue. “While early production mo
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There‟s a need for a strict goal
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Simplicity is what animators seem t
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Simple thinking Complex effects Ful
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creating a thorough plan that doesn
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Because using the early computer sy
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work you‟re looking at, regardles
Page 71 and 72: we‟ll see. According to a job des
Page 73 and 74: day polishing splines, arcs and spa
Page 75 and 76: It‟s important to allow supervisi
Page 77 and 78: doesn‟t. For him they were mainly
Page 79 and 80: - Discuss with supervisor. - Animat
Page 81 and 82: the animator (like reviews by the s
Page 83 and 84: By now I‟ve presented the importa
Page 85 and 86: the final movie too. They might see
Page 87 and 88: progression of the shot before star
Page 89 and 90: In management I‟ve noticed while
Page 91 and 92: already know exactly what pose happ
Page 93 and 94: (Autodesk Whitepaper - The New Art
Page 95 and 96: with a limited amount of informatio
Page 97 and 98: information to be (possibly) presen
Page 99 and 100: for. Sometimes it is necessary to a
Page 101 and 102: pop out is simplicity. For every ta
Page 103 and 104: goals (based off of storyboard and
Page 105 and 106: up and shut it down instead of a co
Page 107 and 108: development 22 . Since the tracking
Page 109 and 110: The same accounts for playing the a
Page 111 and 112: animation studios, and if it were u
Page 113 and 114: on it, as well as use it automatica
Page 115 and 116: offer functionality for this in a r
Page 117 and 118: guessing right away what the best t
Page 119 and 120: to focus on only these parts and ma
Page 121: een developed through the years for
Page 125 and 126: applying it to your objects animati
Page 127 and 128: allows you to quickly sculpt tweaks
Page 129 and 130: quickly and easily check your anima
Page 131 and 132: without worrying about what and whe
Page 133 and 134: viewing and commenting accordingly
Page 135 and 136: stimulation might interfere with ac
Page 137 and 138: A picture depicting an overview of
Page 139 and 140: of the animating) could need this t
Page 141 and 142: tools that really helped with the c
Page 143 and 144: never really ended up using it as f
Page 145 and 146: But looking at the character from t
Page 147 and 148: otate around his head took me at mo
Page 149 and 150: As stated we worked faster and were
Page 151 and 152: Conclusion The main focus of my res
Page 153 and 154: management, start using it and twea
Page 155 and 156: Reference Sources Animation Mentor
Page 157 and 158: Hoffman, Hans; T. Weeks, Sara; H. H
Page 159 and 160: 1. Workflow and Pipeline clarificat
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Release. Pressure. Animate.

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