Tuesday, July 1, 2008

K.I.S.S.

Ran across a solid workflow vid tut from Ryan Hobbiebrunken

Threw a spotlight on the fact that while I may theoretically have all the knowledge I need to how to animate and workflow and everything, theory and practice are very different things and I can't walk the walk that I can talk. So I'm going to try and do more super quick animation excercises, short like his 30 frames, and get over the akwardness I have in hopes of getting my skill level up to where I can work on the subtle stuff. Because currently I have the same problem I had while I was in AM, that basically I can't build a strong foundation to work upon, so there's really no point in putting on the crown molding if the walls not straight yet. Frustrating, but only way to the other side is through it.

4 comments:

Ratul Sarna said...

This might sound stupid but, I didn't get exactly what you meant by not having a strong foundation. Does it mean that your phase of blocking the golden poses isn't strong enough or the phase where we start to add the antics and breakdowns (like in Ryan Hobbie's video) or both?
I'm asking this coz I think I can relate to it in some way.
Thanx

Alonso said...

Hey Ratul,
So personally I think I should have the body performance nailed down before I start on the face, so that the facial performance can add to the message the body is getting out, and the facial performance can be tuned to the camera.
But I frequently find that I can never get to the facial performance because the body performance is not good enough. I can get in good Golden's and breakdown's but I can't get it polished and looking right, the motion doesn't feel believable and natural.
After doing a few quick excercises (which I'm continuing) I realized one of the causes is that I am trying to do pretty subtle body stuff. When I do something big like Ryan's example I don't have problems, it's when I try and do a still and quiet emotional piece. Which makes me feel better because of course the subtler stuff is harder. Watching the Incredibles recently I realized that they really just do some drift in the curves to keep their characters alive when they are not making major move changes. So we'll see, maybe I'm getting closer, hope you are too.

Ratul Sarna said...

Thanx Alonso for answering my question. I get it now. I've been doing basic exercises till now and some physical animation to understand the mechanics better. I was going to do some subtle animation after a couple more exercises (like a weight exercise and/or character walk) and you're comment has made me reluctant to try my hand at it, coz I'm also nowhere good to do the hard stuff. So a little query again, when would you know that you're ready to attempt something subtle? I know it can't be spelled out but still if you could give the answer from your experience, it'd be great.
Thanx again :)

Alonso said...

Hey Ratul,

it's not bad to try to do things that are above your skill level, trying is what helps pull you up to that level. But at the same time if it's way out of your reach it can be frustrating, so it's good to know that so you don't get down on yourself if you try and miss. And then after that I'd guess you're ready to do more subtle stuff when broader stuff isn't a terrible struggle, it can still be work but it shouldn't have you scratching your head for weeks. But you know, all just my thoughts on it.