Character animation : 2D skills for better 3D / Steve Roberts.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roberts, Steve, 1941-

Contributor:

Roberts, Steve, 1941-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Animation (Cinematography)--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Animation (Cinematography).

Figure drawing--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Figure drawing.

Computer animation--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Computer animation.

Genre:

Handbooks and manuals.

Physical Description:

xvi, 281 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm + 1 CD-ROM (4 3/4 in.)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; Burlington, MA : Focal Press, 2007.

Summary:

Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... "20 fully built and rigged models to animate with; 50+ tutorials on how to build and animate these models in each of the major animation packages including 3ds Mas, LightWave, Maya, and XSI Softimage; 140 2D and 3D animated movies as examples; 22 live action movies as guidance and a free demo copy of DigiCel FlipBook line text software."--P. [4] of cover.

Contents:

How animation works the 2

Frames per second 2

What you need for your studio 3

Animation paper 3

Peg bar 3

Light box 4

X-sheets 4

Line tester 9

Pencils 11

Let's get animating 11

Key to key animation 11

Animating straight ahead 13

Flipping, flicking and rolling 13

Flipping 13

Flicking 14

Rolling 17

How to use a line tester to help your animation 18

Chapter 2 Matter and the animation of inanimate objects 28

Inanimate objects 29

Weight 29

Environment 30

Solidity 30

Force 30

Construction 30

How to animate inanimate objects 30

The animation of solids 31

A bowling ball 31

A soccer ball 32

A balloon 33

A water-filled balloon 33

The animation of liquids 35

A drip 35

A splash 36

Object falling into water 36

Chapter 3 The construction of a simple character, its articulation and balance 48

Basic human anatomy 49

The spine 50

The rib cage 50

The pelvic girdle 51

The skull 51

The shoulders 51

Joints 52

Plane joints 52

Pivot joints 53

Hinge joints 53

Ball-and-socket joints 53

Saddle joints 53

Condyloid joints 54

Moving in arcs 54

How to design a basic human character 55

Complexity 56

The graphic nature of characters 56

Strong silhouettes 57

Weight and balance 57

How to design a 3D character 59

Planning a scene 61

Animating your characters 62

How to build and rig a simple 3D character 80

Skin and bones 81

Child of the joint 81

First get your body parts 83

Putting bones in your man 83

Setting up eye controls 85

Setting up the legs 85

Chapter 4 Timing, anticipation, overshoot, follow-through and overlapping action with an animated character 87

Timing 88

Anticipation 90

How much anticipation 91

Force 92

Acting and anticipation 93

Double takes! 93

Speed and surprise 94

Anticipation during a move 94

Varying the amount of anticipation 95

Other ways of using anticipation 96

Follow-through 96

Follow-through of inanimate objects 97

Follow-through of animate (living) objects 98

Overlapping action or overshoot 101

Vibration 103

Chapter 5 Human walks and runs 113

Walk cycles! 114

Walking 115

Pace 115

Walking mechanics 116

The four basic positions of a walk 116

The stride positions 116

The cross over positions 117

Shoulder movement 118

Arm movement 120

Up and down movement of the body 120

Walk cycles displaying different moods 121

External influences 128

Two people walking together 129

Running 129

Chapter 6 Animal walks and runs 136

The four types of animal locomotion 137

Construction of an animal 137

Pantomime horse 137

Cartoon four-legged walks 139

Correct four-legged animal construction 140

Animal leg and foot construction 140

Animals with paws 140

A dog walk 141

A cat walk 145

Animals with cloven feet 146

Animals with hooves 146

Flat feet 147

Animal runs 148

Trotting 148

Cantering 149

Galloping 150

Transverse or rotary gallops and canters 151

Chapter 7 Animation of fish and snakes 158

Fish 158

How they swim 159

Drag 159

Two swimming types of fish 160

Schooling (shoaling) 160

Swimming mammals and flatfish 161

Rays 161

Fins 161

Snakes 162

Basic movement 162

Concertina movement 163

Crotaline (sidewinder) movement 163

Chapter 8 Animation of birds 170

Flying 170

Wings - insects and humming bird 172

Chapter 9 Animation of acting - body language 178

Acting 179

Method acting 180

Theatrical acting 180

Consequence 180

Emotions 181

Kinesphere 182

Space, time, weight and flow continuums 183

Eight basic efforts 183

Pressing 183

Flicking 183

Wringing 184

Dabbing 184

Slashing 184

Gliding 184

Thrusting 184

Floating 184

General body language 185

Basic body postures 186

Open body postures 186

Closed body postures 187

Forward body postures 187

Back body postures 187

Responsive 187

Reflective 189

Fugitive 190

Combative 191

Palm, hand, arm and leg gestures 192

Palm gestures 192

Hand gestures 192

Arm crossing 193

Leg crossing 194

Acting out a scene in animation 195

The use of video footage to help your animation 198

The seven questions of character 199

The different sorts of animation acting 200

Animated radio 200

Pose-to-pose animation acting 201

Full animation acting 201

Mime 202

Analysis of a character 203

Building a more sophisticated character 208

Chapter 10 Animation of acting - facial expressions 214

Emotions 215

The eyes 217

Facial expressions 219

Happiness 219

A smile 219

Sadness 220

Surprise 221

Fear 222

Anger 222

Disgust and contempt 223

Interest 223

Pain and distress 224

Combination of facial expressions 225

Head angle 226

Hand-to-face gestures 226

Evaluation 227

Deceit 227

Stress 228

Extreme close-ups 228

How to animate a piece of facial acting 228

How to add a simple mouth and eyebrows to your basic 3D character 238

The eyebrows 239

The mouth 239

Chapter 11 Animation of acting - two or more characters 241

Two characters on screen together 241

The use of 'beats' to break up a scene 242

Obstacle 242

Action 242

Personal space 243

Mirroring 244

How characters look at each other 245

Two characters acting with each other while talking 246

Two characters alternating from one shot to another 247

A large group of characters on screen at the same time 248

Chapter 12 Lip-sync 255

Recording and breaking down a dialogue track 256

How we speak 257

Acting with dialogue 259

Quick from pose to pose 260

Slow from pose to pose 260

Erratically from pose to pose 260

Mouth shapes 261

Mouth shut consonants 261

The vowels 263

The quieter vowels and consonants 264

Teeth 264

Animating the mouth shapes early 265

Creating a more sophisticated character's face and expressions 269

Eyebrow movements 270

Mouth and jaw movements 271

Cheek movements 273

Nose movements 273.

Notes:

Previous ed.: published as Character animation in 3D. 2004.

Includes index.

Related Work:

Roberts, Steve, 1941- Character animation in 3D.

ISBN:

0240520548

9780240520544

OCLC:

81452887