Character Animation

Step into the sandpit of character rigs, where you'll learn to use rig controls, explore various rig setups, and refine your skills in manipulating rigs to breathe life into your animation.

Rig controls

When you first reference a character into your scene, it will appear in its default pose, usually a T pose or relaxed T pose like the character rigs below.

Most basic character rigs generally have a similar-looking set of animation controls. Still, prepare to spend some time exploring each control, its range and channel options, and generally becoming familiar with the capabilities of each new rig you use.

Switching control visibility

You can switch the visibility of controls on and off within the Show menu.

You can also add the controls to a layer and switch visibility on and off at the Display tab at the bottom of the channels window under Layers (see Screenshot 2 below).

Using Move and Rotate controls

Select + to view three examples of rig control.

Reference Editor and rig loading

Using the Reference Editor

When you prepare a project file for animation, always use the Reference Editor to load rigs into your scene.

This action prevents accidental changes from being made to the character rig, which may lead to the rig breaking and becoming unusable.

You can find the Reference Editor in File > Reference Editor.

Loading a rig

You can then load a character rig into your shot by clicking on the Create Reference button and navigating to the character's location in your file

Rig exploration

Each time you use a new rig, take time to explore it.

Once you’re familiar with the basic controls and what they do, try posing the character in different ways to see what it can achieve.

Always remember to tumble around the Viewport when posing characters to look at each pose from different angles. What looks good from one angle does not always look good when viewed from a different angle!

Manipulating a character rig

Watch Geoff create character references, manipulate and pose a character rig, and create a playblast across four videos, located in the playlist below.

These videos help you complete Task 1 below.

Discover the fundamentals of animation workflow, from storyboards and layouts to posing characters, as you practise creating three essential poses.

Planning materials

When starting a new shot, a character animator is given a series of planning materials to help inform their work, guide a given shot, and ensure they can complete the scene within the project's requirements.

Planning materials include:

• storyboards
• animatics
• layouts and previsualisations.

Whether you're working in 2D or 3D production, these planning materials also give you a very good idea of the timing and sequence of events and actions in each shot.

Storyboards

A storyboard is a series of drawings that show a sequence of shots.

The storyboard drawings are often rough, with notations that detail the shot or scene's action, camera movement, and dialogue.

Once storyboards are completed and approved, they are often used to make the next type of planning material – the animatic.

Animatics

The animatic is a preliminary version of the final film, created using rough storyboard drawings with some added detail and basic movement.

The animatic gives a particularly good idea of the flow of the film's production from a pacing and story viewpoint. It helps inform the director and story team if the film is clear and flows well for the audience.

Watch this short video from Didier Animations, which shows an animatic for the ending credits from Despicable Me 2 (2:35m).

The animatic often goes through several revision stages, where the team work out problems with the story before moving on to the next stage.

Layout and previsualisation

Artists use the storyboards and animatic as a guide to creating layout and previsualisation versions for each shot or scene in a production.

In 2D productions, the layout drawings show where the action happens in each scene and detail precisely any camera movement and action that happens in the scene.

Background creation

The layout backgrounds are drawn at their final size and sent to the background department to be painted.

In the example below, the background has been drawn at full size over several pieces of paper:

The full-size background is then used to plot where the camera is positioned.

Camera movement

In the background example above, you can see that the camera:

• Starts at position A, focussing on the balcony
• Moves down the building to and across the street, moving through positions B and C
• Finishes at position D.

Character positions

The character positions and posing can then be worked out using the background and camera position information.

The layout materials for a shot can include several distinct positions that the character or characters need to hit to advance the story in the shot. In the background example above:

• A character starts on the balcony looking down on the street below,
• Several other characters are in the shot at various positions in the background.
• The background is revealed as the camera pans across the scene.

Shot blocking

In 3D production, each shot is blocked out using low-resolution proxy versions of the assets required to make up the shot.

Camera position and movement are finalised and then locked down, and the characters are given basic movement and posing based on the storyboards.

Want to see 3D planning materials in action? Watch this short video from 3D Animation Internships, which shows a layout and previsualisation reel for Despicable Me 2 (1:53m).

Here’s another short video from 3D Animation Internships, which shows a layout a reel for Monsters University (4:08m).

Poses

After reviewing the planning materials, the animator must create rough poses for the character(s) and start animating the shot.

The animator starts with the blocking poses for the shot.

Using reference

Look at reference material to start your initial pose ideas. You can find numerous reference materials online.

You can also take a photo or video of you acting out the required pose or performing the required action from the angle specified in the storyboards or layout material.

Analyse the reference

Once you have your reference materials, review the image or video and pay attention to the angles and shapes (including the negative shapes) created by the hips, shoulders, spine, torso, and limbs.

Observe the changes in these areas over time if you are examining video reference. For example:

• Does the angle of the hips or shoulders change at all?
• Where is the weight of the pose?

Identify key areas in reference

In the reference image below, three areas can be identified:

1. The line of action describes a nice fluid S-curve that runs down through the head, torso, pelvis, and into the weight-bearing leg.
2. The angle of the hips and shoulders is like a horizontal V.
3. The weight of the pose feels balanced and well-grounded, with the centre of the head and torso nicely over the feet.

Enhance poses from reference

It is never a good idea to use reference as is. Instead, try to enhance the reference and push it further. In the above example, to create a more dynamic-looking pose, the:

• S-curve is accentuated in the line of action
• V shape (that the hips and shoulders describe) is increased.

While pushing the pose this way, the pose does not feel off balance or lose the sense of connection with the weight transferring onto the ground.

Accentuate the silhouette

Another area you want to accentuate or make clearer is the silhouette. Doing a good job at this will help your poses and animation read better at a glance.

Posing

Using what you have learned from your reference, the first task as a character animator that you must complete is to manipulate the rigid default position of the freshly imported character rig into the pose or poses required for a given shot.

While doing this, you must also inject as much life and vitality into the character as possible!

When posing characters, you'll find that the principles you have applied and the skills you have practised during the previous Foundations module are equally relevant and transferrable to:

• your character's pose design
• the manipulation process of posing your character.

Posing workflow

When posing your character, it is good practice to start posing it from the root control and then move up through the character control hierarchy.

Follow this five-step workflow when posing your character:

1. Start with the main positioning and scale control (the root control).
2. Move on to the controls for the hips, spine, and shoulders.
3. Progress to the head controls, ignoring facial features for now. Focus on achieving the body pose.
4. Adjust the controls for the arms and legs.
5. Conclude by working on the controls for wrists, hands, fingers, and feet.

Facial expressions

Start working on the character's facial expressions using the facial controls – but only once you have the body posed and looking grounded and balanced, with a clear silhouette.

Many animators will only pose the expression to a basic extent during the blocking stage of animation, preferring to work on the character's facial animation in later animation stages.

The same principles apply to facial expressions as to the main pose of the character. Try to make the expression as clear as possible so you can tell what the expression is at a glance.

Look in a mirror and make the expression for yourself. Take note of the areas of your face that are moving when making an expression:

• Where are squash and stretch in the fleshy parts of your expression?
• How do your eyebrows move in relation to each other?

This subtopic guides you in optimising your animation workflow for seamless and effective character animation in Maya. It describes the initial shot setup and subsequent animation processes you go through each time you add a new scene for your shots.

Maximise your searching – use your Find function!

Take advantage of the Find function on your PC (Ctrl + F) or Mac (Command + F) device to quickly locate this topic’s main sections.

Use the following key words:

• Shot camera
• Workspace setup
• Basic render settings
• Adding key frames
• Graph Editor
• Plugins

Shot camera

A well-established shot setup in Maya is the foundation for a coherent and visually compelling character animation, helping you align it with the storyboard and layout. It’s important to lock your shot to allow you to concentrate on perfecting character poses and movements from a set camera angle.

Use the following information to set up and lock a shot camera.

Shot camera setup

To set up a shot camera:

1. Create a new camera in your scene (Create > Cameras > Camera).
2. Rename the camera 'ShotCam'.

You can then frame up the character as the storyboard and layout require.

Camera locking

Once you're happy with the composition of your shot, lock the camera so it does not accidentally move:

1. Select the translate fields in the channel box by right-clicking your mouse:
   
2. Select Lock Selected from the options:
   

Animation workspace setup

Setting up an animation workspace in Maya enhances your workflow by:

• providing specialised views,
• optimising your screen space
• ensuring consistency.

Your workspace contributes to a smoother animation process and helps you focus on refining character poses and movements.

Use the following information to optimise your animation workspace and manage the viewport.

Optimised workspace

When working on an animation shot, it’s advisable to include the Perspective Camera view in your workspace and a locked Shot camera.

1. Using Perspective Camera view

Use the Perspective Camera view to move around the character.

Use it to also select and manipulate:

• various controls
• the camera (i.e., ShotCam) that generates the final animation and any playblasts.

2. Default and custom workspaces

Maya has a default animation workspace. It includes the

• Outliner
• Perspective Camera
• Graph Editor.

Choose from the default workspaces and save your own layouts using the workspace dropdown menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen:

Viewport management

1. Changing camera view

To change the camera view in the viewport, middle-mouse click and drag the desired camera from the Outliner panel to the viewport.

Alternatively, select the desired camera from Panels > Perspective.

2. Creating multiple views

To have more than one camera display in your workspace setup, create copies of the viewport by going to Panels > Tear off Copy... from the menu in the main viewport.

This creates a new floating viewport that can be move around your screen or shifted to another screen in a multiscreen setup.

Note: The torn-off copy will be a copy of whichever camera you have displayed in the main viewport.

3. Switching camera views

Middle-mouse click and drag the camera you want to display from the Outliner panel to the torn-off copy.

Change the main viewport display back to the Perspective camera; you will make most of your character pose adjustments in this view.

4. Displaying resolution gate

It is advisable to have the shot camera view display the edges of the frames render area so you can see exactly what the rendered shot will look like.

In the torn-off copy viewport, select the resolution gate button  to show the edges of the frame render area. The button to the right of the resolution gate button turns the greyed-out area around the resolution gate on and off.

5. Adjusting ShotCam settings

Adjust the shape settings of the ShotCam, especially the camera's focal length, which simulates lens focal length just like in a real camera lens.

A low focal length provides a wider angle, allowing you to see more of the scene within the camera view. A high focal length will zoom in on the scene, allowing a more focused viewpoint.

The default focal length is 35mm, but you can customise it based on your scene requirements.

6. Saving workspace layout

Once satisfied with the layout, save it in the workspace dropdown menu at the top right of the screen.

1. Go to Workspace > Save Current Workspace As...
   
2. Give it a meaningful name (e.g., '2ViewportAnimation') for easy identification and future use.

Basic render settings

Before starting to animate your scene, it’s a good idea to set up your basic render settings. By carefully configuring basic render settings in Maya, you can:

• achieve the desired visual results
• streamline the rendering process
• ensure compatibility with downstream production tasks.

Your render settings contribute to the overall success of your character animation by providing a clear and high-quality representation of the animated sequence.

Use the following information to adjust the frame size, select your render settings, and select your image size.

Frame size adjustment

At this stage, the main setting to change is the frame size. This affects the size and shape of the camera view used to animate the shots.

To change the render settings for the scene, select the Render Settings button at the top of the screen. It resembles a film clapper board with a cog in front of it:

Render engine selection

The Render Settings window will open, providing access to different settings and rendering options.

Choose which render engine to use for your scene – select Maya Software from the dropdown list, next to the Render Using option near the top of the window.

File output

Select + to view information and screenshots for file ouput.

Frame range

Select + to view information and screenshots for frame range.

Renderable cameras

1. Choose renderable cameras

Use the Renderable cameras option to select the camera you want to render.

The dropdown menu lists all cameras currently in the scene.

2. Additional options

If needed, select the checkbox options to include the data for the Alpha channel or Depth channel included in render image files.

Image size

1. Select image size

Choose the image size and shape that suits your shot. Explore the range of preset options available in the Presets dropdown menu.

2. Use Diploma in Animation recommended preset

Select the preset named HD 1080.

Adding key frames

As you know by now, creating key frames empowers you to express creativity and bring your characters to life. Key frames are fundamental to character animation, controlling what a character’s pose looks like and how the character moves from pose to pose during the animation.

Maya provide you with the necessary tools for precise control of key frames within the animation sequence.

Use the following information to create key frames and use Maya keyboard shortcuts.

Key frame creation

1. Enable Select Curve Objects mode

Key frames in Maya should only be applied to the control handles of a character or object when animating the character or object.

Ensure only the control handles are selected by enabling the Select Curve Objects mode. All other selection modes should be disabled:

2. Create key frames

With all the control handle curves selected, right-mouse click in the channel box.

Select Key All Keyable from the menu. This creates a key frame on all the keyable attributes for each control handle you currently have selected.

3. Confirmation of successful key frame creation

Look for a red line appearing on the timeline.

Check for a red box next to the input values in the channel box, indicating associated keys.

Tip: While it's possible to key specific attributes and controls, for simplicity, it's advisable to key all controls and attributes on the same frame for each key pose. Otherwise, your animation shot will start to get complicated to control.

Keyboard functions

Keyboard shortcuts

Maya’s keyboard shortcuts for animation are:

Shortcut description	Key stroke
Set a key (All Attributes)	S
Play	Alt + V
Stop	Esc
Forward 1 Key frame	.
Backward 1 Key frame	,
Forward 1 Frame	Alt + .
Backward 1 Frame	Alt + ,
Set Move Translation Key	Shift + W
Set Rotation Key	Shift + E
Set Scale Translation Key	Shift + R

Auto key function

Find the Auto Key button at the bottom right side of the screen next to the timeline. When Auto Key is enables, the button will turn red:

If the button appears blue, it means Auto Key is currently turned off.

Graph Editor

The Graph Editor in Maya is a powerful tool, giving you control over animation curves, timing, and movement.

It enhances your ability to create expressive, lifelike character animations with precision and control over how your animation moves from one key frame to another.

Use the following information to learn about curve types, how to control curves, and how to configure your playback settings.

Curve types

A curve shape is the line that links two or more key frames. There are three main types of curve shape:

• Spline
• Linear
• Stepped.

Spline curves

Spline curves automatically interpolate between key frames, providing default ease in and out between the key frames.

Spline curves may also include overshooting, where the movement moves past a key position before settling back, to smooth the movement between keys.

Note: Most of the time, this overshooting is undesirable in your animation.

Linear curves

Linear curves create a flat curve between the key frames, which creates a constant speed with no ease in or out of a key frame.

Stepped curves

Stepped curves create a plateau effect where the curve stays flat from one Key position until it gets to the next key, where the curve suddenly steps up to the next key position.

When viewed in the Viewport, your animation will appear to jump from one key to the next without interpolation or in-between positions to smooth the movement.

Stepped curves are great to view the movement of the keys without having the automatic interpolation between keys:

• distracting your focus
• giving you a false sense of how smooth your key frame movement is.

Choosing curve types when starting out

A new animator should focus on getting the keys of a movement right without worrying about the interpolation between the keys from getting in the way.

So, when starting out as an animator, it’s advisable to animate using stepped curves.

Only switch to one of the other curve types once the keys for your action work well enough on their own without the need for interpolation to make the animation look smooth.

Curve control and preferences

Maya can automatically apply a curve of your choice to all keys as you create them.

1. Open Maya and navigate to Windows > Settings and Preferences > Preferences.
2. In the Preferences window, select Animation from the left-hand list.
3. Under the Tangents options, choose Stepped from the dropdown menu for Default out tangent.

Playback configuration

You will want to change the default playback settings so that you see an accurate representation of your animation's timing.

By default, Maya will play the animation back as fast as it can, depending on your system's specifications. If you have a high-spec system, the animation playback may look extremely fast; if you have a slower system, it may look slow and sluggish.

So, you need to change the default playback settings so that Maya plays the timeline at your set frame rate. Ideally, you want to see every animation frame with no dropped frames.

Adjust default playback settings and set frame rate

1. Set the frame rate to 25 fps in the Preferences window under the Time Slider category.
2. Within the playback section, adjust the maximum playback speed to 25 fps x 1. This setting ensures real-time playback at 25 frames per second. Optionally, choose x 0.5 for half speed or x 2 for double speed.
3. Save the changes by selecting Save to apply your playback setting changes and close the Preferences window.

Helpful animation plugins

The learning tasks in the next subtopic – Body Mechanics – mention additional plugin tools or scripts:

• ZV Parent Master
• Arc Tracker
• Pose to Shelf.

These plugins are optional to your workflow but can be helpful.

Select + to view information about the three plugins.

Explore body mechanics in animation, where you'll apply your knowledge of character rigs and animation workflow and use your Maya skills to create various dynamic shots. Increase your experience with human movement, from subtle gestures to powerful actions, and bring Bonnie 2 to life!

Maximise your searching– use your Find function!

Take advantage of the Find function on your PC (Ctrl + F) or Mac (Command + F) device to quickly locate this topic’s main sections.

Key words for shots	Key words for workflow
Ball toss Walk cycle Stand from seated Walk through doorway Fence vault Run cycle Fall backwards Heavy object	Shot setup Animation planning Starting pose Main positions Workflow basics Blocking Splining Polish

1. Ball toss

Ball toss: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. Frame your shot composition as medium shot of the character from the waist up, ensuring headroom above the character.
4. Shift the character to either the left or right of the frame based on their facing direction.
5. Allow ample space for the ball toss action within the frame.
6. Once satisfied with your composition and camera position, lock the camera attributes to prevent further movement.

Ball toss: Animation planning – thumbnails

Now that you’ve completed the shot setup, it might be tempting to go ahead and start creating poses for the character. Before you do this, it's important to have a plan to help guide you through blocking out your first shot.

Start planning out your animation on a sheet of paper or on a new digital canvas, starting with the main starting pose.

Think about the action's main positions. What are the main key positions of the action? What do these main positions require?

Keys both control your animation and set out the extreme parameters of a movement.

Select + to find out which keys you’ll need to plan for.

Ball toss: Starting pose

Create the starting pose for the character.

Play this clip to get an idea of a ball toss animation. Focus on the pose design.

Use a polygon sphere to represent the ball, ensuring it is sized appropriately to fit nicely in the character's palm.

Ball toss: Workflow basics

Tossing and catching a ball requires carefully animating two different things - the character and the ball - as they interact:

• They must appear connected naturally and convincingly during their interaction, i.e. when the character touches and holds the ball.
• When the ball is tossed into the air, it will gain its own momentum and often require different timing than your character (until the ball is caught again).

You can manage this type of animated interaction in three different ways:

• Key-frame animation control: Control all key-frame animation to synchronize the movement of the two objects. Although not actually connected, they give the illusion of being so.
• Use of constraints: Apply a constraint in Maya to attach the ball to the hand. This constraint may be keyed to switch ON or OFF at the points where the ball must attach and detach.
• Dual ball technique: Use two balls:
  1. One ball is permanently attached to the hand, with its visibility keyed ON and OFF so that it’s visible when the hand holds the ball.
  2. Another detached ball has its visibility keyed ON and OFF at the exact same frames to come into view as the other ball becomes invisible.

Using a Parent Constraint to attach the ball to the hand

Select + to find out how to use a Parent Constraint to attach the ball to the hand.

Ball toss: Blocking

Block as much of your action as possible into the main key positions using your planning thumbnails to help create your poses.

For the moment:

• Don’t worry too much about the timing of the poses on your timeline, as you can easily move them around to get your timing working better later.
• Focus on getting nice, strong poses that move smoothly from one pose to the next as per your initial planning poses.

Tip: Use the <> keys to tab through your keyed movement.

Using Maya’s ghosting options to check for problems

To help you check your animation for problems, you can create a ghosting effect that shows you the positions of an object on the frames surrounding the current timeline positions.

Select + to find out how to use ghosting.

Continue your blocking

Select + to find out how to continue blocking your shot.

Ball toss: Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

In the initial tossing action, your curves should not have any slow-out if you want to show the correct energy.

Similarly, when the ball falls, you should avoid any slow-in. A slow-out or slow-in used in the wrong place will make your ball appear to drift or 'float'.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

Ball toss: Polish

1. Re-check all curves.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes.
3. Enhance small details, such as keyed movements on secondary features like the fingers during the ball release and catch. Squash surfaces into each other to add weight.

Planning and animating a ball toss

Watch Geoff plan and animate a ball toss across a series of short videos located in the two playlists below:

1. Ball toss: Planning and Blocking - 12 videos
2. Ball toss: Splining and Polishing - 10 videos

These videos help you complete Task 3 below and prepare you to practise the subsequent learning tasks in this subtopic.

2. Walk cycle

Animation cycles

An animation cycle is a repeatable series of frames you can play in an endless loop. Repeatable character actions like running and riding a bike are great candidates for animating as cycles.

Play these two clips to see the front and side views of a repeatable character action you’ll be animating – the basic walk cycle.

Animated cycles give you a lot of value from a few frames because you can loop the frames any number of times.

Repeating cycles

Another type of animation cycle is a repeating cycle, where the frames are repeated in reverse order to return to the cycle's first frame before the cycle begins again.

An example of a repeating cycle is the movement of a pendulum on a clock.

Walk cycle: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. When working on a walk or run cycle:
   1. Start by working from the side and front orthographic views.
   2. Move into the shot or perspective camera view when refining your animation.
4. Use the front and side views with background reference grids for planning your animation poses.
5. Use the background reference grids to ensure consistent spacing of the feet and accurate head and waist heights for both right and left steps.
   
6. Once satisfied with your composition and camera position, lock the camera attributes to prevent further movement.

Walk cycle: Animation planning - thumbnails

Start planning out your animation on a sheet of paper or on a new digital canvas, starting with the main starting pose.

Think about the action's main positions. What are the main key positions of the action? What do these main positions require?

Walk cycle: Main positions

Select + to read about the four main positions of a basic walk cycle.

Walk cycle: Blocking

Block as much of your action as possible into the four main key positions:

1. Contact
2. Extreme Down
3. Passing
4. Extreme Up.

Using these four positions will:

• Set a good foundation for your animation – if these positions work well, the rest of your work becomes much easier.
• Make it much easier for a director to give feedback and for you to complete any necessary changes.

Blocking tips

• Keep your animation workflow consistent.
• Set keys for all character controls and all attributes in each main position's key frame.
• Work only with stepped tangents to begin with so that you can focus on the movement of the keys alone. Again, if your keys work well together, your work will be much easier later.

Adding breakdowns

Next, add breakdowns to your work to:

• help smooth out the movement
• further define and improve the arcs
• manage any drag, etc.

Tip: Use the <> keys to tab through your keyed movement. Don’t scrub through every frame in the timeline. This ensures that what is working is a part of your keys, and your animation does not require in-between frames to make sense visually.

Walk cycle: Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

Extra tip: In a cycle, make sure that all curves work smoothly from the last frame of the cycle to the first frame.

Walk cycle: Polish

1. Re-check all curves.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes.
3. Enhance small details, such as:
   1. Keyed movements on secondary features like a hat or a belly wobble
   2. Adjustments to existing keys or curves to fix small pops, add extra little bounces, or squash surfaces into each other to add weight.

Planning and animating a walk cycle

Watch Geoff plan and animate a walk cycle in six videos, located in the playlist below.

These videos help you complete Task 4 below.

3. Stand from seated

Stand from seated: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character and environment (i.e. chair) into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. Compose the shot to fully capture the character with adequate headroom.
4. Create a slight three-quarter front angle of the character with the camera at approximately eye level.
5. Depending on the character's facing direction, ensure a spacious area in front of them.
6. Set up the shot to accommodate the stand-up action within this space.
7. Once satisfied with your composition and camera position, lock the camera attributes to prevent further movement.

Stand from seated: Animation planning - thumbnails

Start planning out your animation on a sheet of paper or on a new digital canvas, starting with the main starting pose.

Think about the action's main positions. What do these main positions require? What is the overall attitude of the scene?

Stand from seated: Starting pose

Take time to create a comfortable seated pose for the character. When posing characters in a seated position, there is a tendency to have them sitting too stiff and unnaturally, so try to relax the character into the chair.

Your starting pose can also convey a little of the character’s attitude. Ask yourself:

• Are they tired after a long day at work?
• Are they watching something exciting on TV?

The answers to these questions will inform your initial posing and approach to your animation.

Take time to also consider and plan how your character will begin to move. This planning will help you better understand where to position your character's feet and hands, so as to avoid too many unnecessary movements to reposition the feet and hands once the character begins to move.

Stand from seated: Workflow basics

Use these steps as a basic workflow guide when animating a character standing from a seated position:

1. Starting pose: Craft a solid and natural initial pose for the character.
2. Main positions: Determine the final pose, focusing on hand and foot placement.
3. Blocking:
   1. Block out the key positions.
   2. Refine poses to convey weight transfer.
   3. Manage poses involving IK-FK switching.
4. Splining: Introduce breakdowns and enhance curves using the Graph Editor.
5. Polishing:
   1. Review curves, timing, and spacing.
   2. Fine-tune hand placements, fingers during contacts, and overall weight and balance.

Stand from seated: Blocking

When blocking the main key positions, try to:

• Put the characters' weight over the feet.
• Ensure that the character does not appear off-balance or look like some unknown force or energy is hoisting them up.
• Make them appear to be in a grounded position and capable of pushing themselves up off the chair.

Getting your blocking poses correct will:

• Set a good foundation for your animation – if these positions work well, the rest of your work becomes much easier.
• Make it much easier for a director to give feedback and for you to complete any necessary changes.

Blocking tips

Plan first where the character’s feet will begin in the scene and where they will end up after they stand up. How many steps will they take? How big are the steps?

Take your time and resist the urge to rush your blocking. In this type of scene, blocking all your poses first without looking at the interpolation frames is easier.

Adding breakdowns

Next, add breakdowns to your work to:

• help smooth out the movement
• further define and improve the arcs
• manage any drag, etc.

Tip: Use the <> keys to tab through your keyed movement. Don’t scrub through every frame in the timeline. This ensures that what is working is a part of your keys, and your animation does not require in-between frames to make sense visually.

IK-FK Switching

Follow these steps to switch between hand controls:

1. Evaluate initial hand position: Depending on the starting pose, decide whether to use IK or FK for the hands.
2. No need to switch from IK to FK: If the hands are already in IK and positioned for the push-off, no initial switch is required.
   1. Example: Left hand in IK: The left hand shown below can start in IK, ready for the push-off without switching.
      
3. Consider variation for interest: Optionally, introduce variety by starting one hand in FK to enhance overall movement.
4. Transition from FK to IK: As the hands move onto the chair arm, transition from FK to IK for the desired effect.
5. Match IK hand to last FK position: Reposition the IK hand close to the last FK position for continuity.
6. Ensure smooth transition: Work on spacing and poses to maintain a smooth switch without pops or interruptions.
7. Examine and tweak entire movement: Review and refine the entire animation, ensuring a cohesive and smooth appearance.

Contact points

When blocking, take some time to pose the hands during the contact points. Don't be too fussy about avoiding minor geometry pass-throughs, but aim to position the hands to feel 'connected.'

If you don't position the hands well during the blocking, you may need to adjust them a lot later in your animation as you struggle to reposition the body by even a small amount without the hands shifting too far away from the chair.

Swipe through the two images below, labelled ‘FK’ and ‘IK’. They show the basic blocked positions of the hand before and after the IK-FK switch.

• The IK hand is keyed to FK over a single frame.
• The FK hand will need to be posed to match the last position of the IK hand.

Stand from seated: Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

In this type of animation, it pays to keep checking that your animation is working from various angles. For example, sometimes what appears to look right from the side will look off balance from the front or back.

Stand from seated: Polish

1. Re-check all curves.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes.
3. Enhance small details, such as:
   1. Small finger flexes when the hands grip the arms of the chair.
   2. Adjustments to existing keys or curves to fix small pops, add extra little bounces, or squash surfaces into each other to add weight.
   3. Adding expressions changes and blinks, especially when the character is stationary, i.e., at the start and end of the scene.

Planning and animating a stand from seated position

Watch Geoff plan and animate a stand from seated position in seven videos, located in the playlist below.

These videos help you complete Task 5 below.

4. Walk through doorway

Walk through doorway: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character and environment into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. Compose the shot to fully capture the character, door, and door frame.
4. Set up the shot to accommodate the walk-through action within this space.
5. Once satisfied with your composition and camera position, lock the camera attributes to prevent further movement.

Walk through doorway: Animation planning - thumbnails

You must carefully plan this scene around the door and door handle:

1. Assess character’s dimensions: Assess the character's reach and proportions to ensure a smooth action, avoiding issues like unreachable door handles or not fitting through the door comfortably.
2. Explore poses: Begin with thumbnail poses, considering the character's silhouette during the door-opening action. Ask yourself:
   • Which hand will the character use?
   • Is this the best choice to keep the action visible to the audience?
   • Where should the character start and finish?
3. Capture reference footage: Act out the action for yourself, capturing reference footage from a similar angle to your animation.
4. Observe movements: Take note of your movements as you open a door:
   • Identify the anticipation.
   • Simplify complex movements for clarity in the animation.

Walk through doorway: Starting pose

Using your thumbnail planning as a starting point, pose the character already at the door with their hand on the handle in preparation to open the door. Then, once you have this pose, work backwards and forwards, fleshing out the movement.

For the moment:

• Don’t worry too much about the timing of the poses on your timeline, as you can easily move them around to get your timing working better later.
• Focus on getting nice, strong poses that move smoothly from one pose to the next as per your initial planning poses.

Walk through doorway: Workflow basics

This scene requires careful working of the body and hand positions to appear natural during the door's opening.

Ideally, the character should look balanced throughout the scene and not too stretched to maintain hold of the door handle as they move through the doorway.

Careful consideration of the placement of the feet, stride length, and the position of each step will be integral in achieving a natural-looking movement in your animation.

Walk through doorway: Blocking

When blocking the main key positions, try to:

• Put the characters' weight over the feet.
• Ensure that the character does not stretch too much to either reach or hold the door handle.

Getting your blocking poses correct will:

• Set a good foundation for your animation – if these positions work well, the rest of your work becomes much easier.
• Make it much easier for a director to give feedback and for you to complete any necessary changes.

Blocking tips

Plan first where the character’s feet will begin in the scene and where they will end up after passing through. How many steps will they take? How big are the steps?

Adding breakdowns

Next, add breakdowns to your work to:

• help smooth out the movement
• further define and improve the arcs
• manage any drag, etc.

Tip: Don’t scrub through every frame in the timeline. This ensures that what is working is a part of your keys, and your animation does not require in-between frames to make sense visually.

Back and forth

You need to work back and forth by:

• placing the body and feet
• adjusting the hand positions
• moving the door
• adjusting the body
• going back to the hands, and so on.

Take your time and resist the urge to rush your blocking. In this type of scene, blocking all your poses first without looking at the interpolation frames is easier.

Tip: Use the <> keys to tab through your keyed movement.

Walk through doorway: Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

In this type of animation, it pays to keep checking that your animation is working from various angles. For example, sometimes what appears to look right from the side will look off balance from the front or back.

If the character is large, carefully move their body through the doorframe. Moreover, repeatedly checking your blocking poses from various angles will help avoid major geometry pass-throughs.

Walk through doorway: Polish

1. Re-check all curves.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes.
3. Enhance small details, such as details of the fingers as the character grips the door handle.

Polishing tips

Select + to view four tips that help you ensure that your walk-through doorway animation is lifelike and polished.

Planning and animating a walk through a doorway

Watch Geoff plan and animate another walk, this time through a doorway. This video will help you complete Task 6 below.

5. Fence vault

Fence vault: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character and environment into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. Position the character and fence rails within a three-quarter composition, slightly to one side of the fence, in a long shot frame.
4. Set your camera position at roughly eye level with the character.
5. Once satisfied with your composition and camera position, lock the camera attributes to prevent further movement.

Fence vault: Animation planning - thumbnails

Follow these steps to plan your fence vault animation:

1. Shoot reference footage:
   1. Film a fence vault from an angle and composition similar to your shot setup.
   2. Capture multiple variations of the action to chose the best performance.
2. Plan key positions using reference:
   1. Review the reference footage to understand weight and timing.
   2. Use notes and thumbnail sketches to plan key positions, focusing on paths/arcs, silhouettes, and poses.
   3. Experiment with different variations before finalising the action.
3. Consider IK-FK integration and transitions:
   1. Determine how IK and FK will be used during the shot.
   2. Plan transitions between IK and FK if required.

Fence vault: Starting pose

Choosing which pose you will start with is up to you as an animator:

• Maybe start with the main vaulting pose with the character gripping the fence halfway through the action, then work backwards and forwards from there?
• Or could it be better to start with the vault's first position, where the character grips the fence?
• Or the landing position after the vault?

This initial blocking sets the tone and establishes the parameters of the animation sequence, so it is well worth spending as much time as needed to establish a good framework for your animation.

Fence vault: Workflow basics

Decide whether your character's arms will start on either:

• IK to hold on to the fence easily or
• FK and then switch when the character grips the fence.

Ensure to also key elbow and knee pole vector controls (for elbow and knee direction).

Fence vault: Blocking

Blocking key poses

• Block in key poses, making sure the character is well-positioned to reach the fence.
• Use your reference video to help with the posing and timing of the action.
• Think about where the weight is, the flow of the movement, the arcs of the main body, and the hands and feet positions.
• Look at the drag on the arms and hands.

Workflow maintenance

• Regularly save your shot to avoid lost work in a program crash.
• Check basic posing and timing, adjust poses, and shift keys on the timeline to adjust timing.

Playback and version control

• Playblast often to ensure you view your animation at full speed rather than just what the computer preview speed can handle in Maya.
• Save your scene as a new version before making major changes to the animation. This way, if your changes do not work as expected, returning to an earlier version of your shot is easier without starting over.

Fence vault: Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

In this type of animation, it pays to keep checking that your animation is working from various angles. For example, sometimes what appears to look right from the side will look off balance from the front or back.

Fence vault: Polish

1. Re-check all curves.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes.

Planning and animating a fence vault

Watch Geoff plan and animate a fence vault in this video, which will help you complete Task 7 below.

6. Run cycle

Run cycle: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. When working on a walk or run cycle:
   1. Start by working from the side and front orthographic views.
   2. Move into the shot or perspective camera view when refining your animation.
4. Use the front and side views with background reference grids for planning your animation poses.
5. Use the background reference grids to ensure consistent spacing of the feet and accurate head and waist heights for both right and left steps.

Run cycle: Animation planning - thumbnails

Planning a run cycle will resemble the process you followed when you planned the walk cycle. The main difference with the run cycle is that there will be at least one frame (or more) where both the character’s feet are off the ground.

Think about the character’s body position. Should the character be upright? Should they lean forward? Or maybe lean backwards? How much arm movement will they be using?

Sometimes, it's better to reduce the amount of arm movement so that the running action - with less rapid limb movement - is clearer for the audience. The leg movement should be the main focus of the run action.

Run cycle: Starting position

Your first pose will establish the run's attitude, so take your time when posing the character.

Check the character's line of action, balance, and weight to get the best possible starting point for your animation to build around.

Run cycle: Main positions

The four main positions for the run cycle resemble those of a basic walk cycle. These main positions will be repeated for the opposite leg before the cycle starts again on frame 1.

Select + to read about the four main positions of a run cycle.

The next main position is the Contact position.

Run cycle: Blocking

Block the main poses first:

1. Contact
2. Extreme Down
3. Passing (both feet off the ground)
4. Extreme Up.

Repeat for the opposite run step.

Blocking tips

You need to work back and forth, checking the keys are the same from one side of the body to the other.

Take your time and resist the urge to rush your blocking. In this type of scene, blocking all your poses first without looking at the interpolation frames is easier.

Adding breakdowns

Add breakdowns to your work to:

• help smooth out the movement
• further define and improve the arcs
• manage any drag, etc.

Run cycle: Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

Playblast often to ensure you view your animation at full speed rather than just what the computer preview speed can handle in Maya.

Save your scene as a new version before making major changes to the animation. This way, if your changes do not work as expected, returning to an earlier version of your shot is easier without starting over.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

Run cycle: Polish

1. Re-check all curves.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes.

Planning and animating a run cycle

Watch Geoff plan and animate a run cycle in this video, which will help you complete Task 8 below.

7. Blast then fall backwards

Blast then fall backwards: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. Create a ground plane for the character to stand on. Ensure the ground plane is sized appropriately for the action.
4. Frame the shot composition as a long shot with the character framed in a full body shot.
5. Set your camera position at eye level with the character.
6. Once satisfied with your composition and camera position, lock the camera attributes to prevent further movement.

Blast then fall backwards: Animation planning - thumbnails

You've probably seen a shot in a movie shot where a character realises what’s about to happen a split-second before they're blasted off their feet by the blast of a shotgun or explosion.

This shot - 'Blast then fall backwards' - can get that same slight character reaction the moment before the blast throws them back. You can infuse your shot with:

• a realistic sense of weight and force as the character falls
• an impactful secondary action and settling after the character impacts the ground before coming to a complete rest.

Break down the shot into four stages to plan your animation. Select the four cards to identify these stages.

When thumbnailing, try to create at least one strong pose for each of the four stages and then build the rest of the posing around these main positions.

Blast then fall backwards Starting pose

Choosing which pose you will start with is up to you as an animator. Pick the pose that speaks to you and work backwards and forwards from there.

This initial blocking sets the tone and establishes the parameters of the animation sequence, so it is well worth spending as much time as needed to establish a solid framework for your animation.

Blast then fall backwards Blocking

Blocking key poses

• Block in key poses; the hit of the blast happens at frame 15.
• Use your planning and thumbnails to help with character posing and spacing.

Animation considerations

• Think about where the weight of the character is, the flow of the movement, arcs of the main body, hands and feet.
• Look at the drag on the arms, head and legs.
• Delay keys on limbs and head at the end; they will settle slightly after the body.

Playback and version control

Playblast to check your progress, check basic posing and timing, adjust poses, and shift keys to change timing.

Save your scene as a new version before making major changes to the animation. This way, if your changes do not work as expected, returning to an earlier version of your shot is easier without starting over.

Playblast often to ensure you view your animation at full speed rather than just what the computer preview speed can handle in Maya.

Adding expressions

When the main action of the body looks good, add a change of expression near the beginning of the shot as the character realises they are about to get blasted.

Blast then fall backwards Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

In this type of animation, it pays to keep checking that your animation is working from various angles. For example, sometimes what appears to look right from the side will look off balance from the front or back.

Blast then fall backwards Polish

1. Re-check all curves. Start with the torso, then move out to the limbs.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes. Smooth out any kinks and pops, and add finger detail.

Planning and animating a blast then fall backwards shot

Watch Geoff plan and animate a blast then fall backwards shot in this video, which will help you complete Task 9 below.

8. Lifting a heavy object

Weight transferral

Animating a convincing scene in which a character lifts a heavy object (like an atlas ball) is a difficult thing to do. But thinking about weight transferral – as the character pits their energy and strength against gravity – is useful when practising this type of animation.

Lifting a heavy object: Shot setup

Follow these steps to establish a well-framed shot featuring your character:

1. Reference in the character and environment into your scene.
2. Create a shot camera for the scene.
3. Frame the shot composition as a long shot with the character framed in a full body shot.
4. Set your camera position at roughly eye level with the character.
5. Once satisfied with your composition and camera position, lock the camera attributes to prevent further movement.

Lifting heavy object: Animation planning - thumbnails

The posing of the character can indicate to the audience how heavy an object is. Think about your character's posing and how you can best use the spine’s curvature and the strain on the limbs to show the audience the weight of the atlas ball.

Swipe the two sets of sketches below to get an idea of how posing can indicate weight.

Spine curvature and limb strain

Think of the spine as a fishing pole with a heavy fish on the end of it.

In an attempt to pull the weight, the pole pivots from the base, and the weight pulls down on the pole's upper end; as this happens, the pole (i.e. spine) curves and flexes.

The arms will always be straight if they take the ball's weight. You may even want to stretch the arms slightly, which is easier when drawing your poses but may not be possible with a character rig.

If the arms bend, then the illusion of weight will be lost.

Ball grip

The ball itself will want to fall back to the ground at any opportunity, so it will try to rotate towards the ground from the point at which the character is holding it.

Where the character grips the ball will also say something about how heavy the object is.

Lifting heavy object: Starting pose

Choosing which pose you will start with is up to you as an animator.

This initial blocking sets the tone and establishes the parameters of the animation sequence, so it is well worth spending as much time as needed to establish a solid framework for your animation.

Lifting heavy object: Blocking

With a heavy weight, body energy must begin much sooner than the ball begins to move.

• The body energy will begin moving noticeably before the ball (the shape of the back, the straightening of the arms, the extension in the neck).
• The ball does not move with the body's energy. It stays still, actually dropping slightly during the moment of weight transfer. It takes longer before the body energy begins to move/lift the ball.

Useful tool: ZV Parent Master

This shot requires the character to maintain a grip/point of contact with the ball in enough areas to appear to be holding it. The shot should avoid sliding hands or grip points.

You can use various methods – such as manually applying parent constraints, as well as frame-by-frame adjustments – to help manage these aspects of the animation, A useful tool to help you animate objects in mutual contact is the ZV Parent Master script.

Select + to read more about ZV Parent Master (ZV).

Lifting heavy object: Splining

1. Ensure all keys and breakdowns are functioning effectively.
2. Commence work on the curves in the Graph Editor.
3. Check for irregular curves, overshoots, and other anomalies.

Tip: At a glance, you can often see curves that are not working because they are not smooth. Most often, curves should be slow in (arc), slow out(arc), slow in/slow out (S curve), or even (straight).

In this type of animation, it pays to keep checking that your animation is working from various angles. For example, sometimes what appears to look right from the side will look off balance from the front or back.

Lifting heavy object: Polish

1. Re-check all curves.
2. Perform a final sweep for bumps and mistakes.
3. Enhance small details, such as the details of the hands and fingers as they grip the ball.

Planning and animating lifting a heavy object

Watch Geoff plan and animate lifting a heavy object in this video, which will help you complete Task 10 below.

Learn how to integrate a character’s emotions, expressions, and thought processes with animation techniques, focusing on applying acting-based mechanics to help you animate Bonnie 2 sighing.

Basic mechanics of a sigh

A sigh animation can be challenging as it demands more subtle movements, which, if not handled with care and attention, can look disjointed. So, what are the basics mechanics of a sigh?

Select + to read about a sigh’s three main poses.

Acting choices for a sigh

Important acting choices when animating a sighing scene includes how to create a feeling that the character is thinking for themselves.

A character will not just suddenly sigh out of nowhere. There must be a lead-up to the action and visible signs that an internal monologue is going on in the moments just before the character sighs.

Lead-up to the sigh

In the lead-up to the sigh, you need to create time for the character to think.

Swipe the two key frames below to see key frames 1 and 2 a sigh shot, in which the character thinks.

But what can the character do while thinking?

• You can't just hold the character in a static pose; otherwise, the character will look dead and uninteresting.
• Conversely, you can’t make the character can't move around too much because that wouldn't work well with the overall mood and feeling around the sigh action.

So what can you do?

Build a backstory

The movement in the moments before that sign will entirely depend on the story elements of the scene you are animating.

If you don't have any information about what has happened to the character to make them sigh, you must make up something to help inform your acting choices.

You need to listen to the audio of the sigh and decide what kind of sigh it is. Is it:

• an angry sigh or a sad sigh?
• a sigh of utter exasperation because a child asks the same question for the 100th time?
• a sigh of a character thinking about:
  • events in the past?
  • everything they must do to prepare for an event in the future?

Swipe the five key frames below to see key frames 3-7 of the sigh shot, in which the character then sadly sighs.

Decide on a short backstory similar to these possibilities and use it as a starting point to help you build a short sequence leading into the sigh action.

Actions and movements for expressing thought

If used with restraint and subtlety, you can use actions and movements to help you show a character thinking.

Head turns and head movement

In the context of a sigh, a slight, partial head turn works well. An up/down head movement means the character can look at or focus their attention on something, for example:

• their hands
• a part of the environment on or off-screen,
• another character on or off-screen.

Example: A character expressing thought

1. Swipe through this example (two images) of a typical head turn with a start position and an end position for the action.

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2. Swipe again (three images) to identify the anticipation pose for the head turn. It’s built into the movement – the head comes down to establish an arcing movement with the eyes closed in a blink.

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   To make the anticipation pose more appealing, it should slightly favour one side or the other of the head turn; in this case, the position slightly favours the start position.
3. Swipe again (four images) to view the addition of an accent into a head turn by creating another key favouring the end position.

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   The character will move into this accent position quickly during the turn, hitting on the accent and settling into the final position as the character eases into the final key
4. Swipe again (four images). Any head movement should incorporate arcs, whether a broad movement like this example or a more subtle movement.
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Moving holds

A moving hold is where you create two almost identical poses so that a small amount of interpolation happens between the two poses. This interpolation helps to keep the character alive while appearing almost static.

When you move into the Splining phase of animation, the slight difference between the poses creates the interpolation you need to keep the character alive.

To create a moving hold, follow these two steps:

1. Create a key pose where you want your hold to be.
2. Duplicate the pose and slightly push that pose a little further to create a slight movement or change between the two.

The good thing about this creation method is you’ve built the moving hold into your animation's initial Blocking phase – so it's much clearer from the very early stages of your animation what you intend for the timing of your scene, both for you while animating and anyone that you show your animation to.

Blinks

Adding blinks can be a simple but very effective method to keep a character alive during the still sections of an animation.

Blink timing

Different types of meaning can be given by simply adjusting the timing used to open and close the eye.

• A fast or ‘alert’ blink will perhaps only need one breakdown between open and close.
• A slow ‘sleepy’ blink will require many more in-between frames.

A standard blink has one in-between either side of the breakdown.

Swipe the two images below to compare the blink timing chart with the eye closing key drawings and in-betweens.

Eye saccades

Saccades are quick darting eye movements that move around the character's current eyeline or eye direction.

In the following clip, you can see a graphic version of an eye with:

1. eye direction changes, then
2. a series of saccades to imply that the eye is scrutinising something closely, then
3. another change of eye direction and another series of saccades.

Look at the clip’s timeline below:

• The eye direction changes are made over six or seven frames with easing and a central key to establish an arc.
• The saccade movements are made from one frame to the next without interpolation between the eye positions.
• The saccade movements are held for four frames at the shortest to 12 frames at the longest.

When creating your saccades, experiment with the movement between each saccade and the number of frames you hold the movement for. The composition of your shot and the size of the character's eyes in the frame will determine how well the saccades will read to the audience.

Cohesive expressions

When creating expressions, remember two key points:

• The face is quite fleshy, and a few areas will squash and deform.
• If one part of the face moves, then it will also affect the other parts of the face around it.

Eyebrows

Think of eyebrows as if they connect to each other with an elastic string. If one eyebrow moves up, it will pull on the other eyebrow, appearing to flow from one into another.

Cheeks and mouth

The cheeks will move in response to any movement of the mouth.

Example 1: A smile

To make a character smile, you move the corners of the mouth up. But just moving the corners of the mouth is not quite enough; the cheeks must also move up in response as the mouth movement squashes them.

Example 2: A sneer

You need to consider which part of a mouth moves to form an expression or mouth shape for dialogue.

In a sneer, for example, the mouth on either side of the nose moves up towards the eyes, which will, in turn, squash the cheeks more in that area and less on the outer edges.

Eyes

The eyes will be affected by the character's eyebrows and cheeks.

Think of the eyes as being stuck in the middle between two opposing forces. If one or the other moves, then the eye shape will be squashed or stretched in response.

For example, if the brow or cheek moves away from the eye, then the eye will widen and stretch in response to the movement.

Animation workflow for a sigh

Select + to view each of the seven workflow steps for planning and animating a sigh.

Planning and animating a sigh

Watch Geoff plan and animate a sigh in eight videos, located in the playlist below.

These videos helps you complete Task 11 below.

Explore the intricacies of lip sync animation and how to integrate dialogue with character expressions and poses, culminating in animating a dialogue scene.

Lip sync animation

As a character animator, you'll often animate character acting sequences that include characters talking with each other in dialogue or in solo monologue performances.

The principles developed for acting and lip sync animation used in hand-drawn cartoons are identical to those used in 3D animation, so applying those principles will prepare you to animate character acting and lip sync in any animation medium.

Key differences with lip sync animation

Essentially, lip sync for 3D animation is the same as that for standard character animation, with one essential difference: in 3D animation, lip sync must be synchronised to a specific timing, as pre-determined by the voice track.

So, as an animator you need to deliver character acting performances while also synchronising the action with mouth movements.

Planning the character acting performance

You also need to plan the character acting performance precisely to the last frame to match the timing of the voice recording due to a fixed and non-flexible scene duration.

Voice

During a character animation that involves voice performance, you plan your character performance around the voice track. This process begins by identifying the accents in the voice track and designing poses to suit the character and situation.

Poses

The poses must accentuate the voice acting and be believable – it's important to synchronise the movement so the accents are ‘felt’ during the performance.

You approach this by:

• using animation principles
• anticipating each accent
• using clear arcs to move between poses
• effectively cushioning your movements.

You can also use varied spacing, squash and stretch, overlapping action, and drag to enhance the animation.

Planning steps

A basic lip sync workflow includes three essential planning steps:

1. Identify the accents
2. Plan strong poses
3. Plan how poses move into each other

Follow these five steps when you start to plan your lip sync animation scene.

1. Listen to your voice recording.
2. Say the words aloud multiple times.
3. If available, check the WAV format for peaks or spikes
4. Identify accents in the voice performance.
5. Write down the words, underlining the accented vowels.

2. Plan strong poses

When working in an animation studio, you often base your character animation on:

• poses already described in a storyboard, or
• more detailed poses provided by the animation director.

If you’re working on your own animation scene and have the freedom to plan any actions you choose, plan simple poses that clearly show the character's gestures and expressions.

Facial expressions do not need to be detailed, but body, pose, and gesture should convey a clear attitude. Strong gestural poses are the key to a good character performance, so develop these thoroughly before animating.

3. Plan how poses move into each other

Once you’ve drawn your best attitude poses, plan how one pose moves into the next.

Often, you'll begin planning around the clearest storytelling poses and actions (usually the biggest accents in the dialogue). So, you could plan in and out of a pose in the middle of your acting scene rather than starting with your first pose and always working forward.

Other times, you may just plan from the start of a scene to its finish.

Mouth shapes and phrasing

Look in the mirror. Slowly mouth different sounds and letters of the alphabet. Observe your mouth and the shapes it makes.

Some mouth shapes are useful for understanding how the mouth can describe different sounds – or phonemes – in a character’s performance.

Mouth charts

In any animated production, a mouth chart is developed for each main character, which includes an image of each of the basic phonemes.

Hand-drawn animation: Traditional mouth charts

Hand-drawn animation studios circulated a generic mouth chart for main characters in a cartoon animation, which provided animators with the basic mouth shape for each phoneme.

Swipe the nine images below to view the basic mouth shapes.

Stylised consistency: Generic mouth charts

These are not the only mouth shapes you can use. Still, they commonly comprise the generic mouth chart - used for hand-drawn animated TV productions and a development of the hand-drawn animation pipeline.

Usually, a generic mouth chart is produced for each main character, and animators use these to plan mouth shapes for each frame, keeping the design and model of the character consistent during lip sync.

In this way, the generic mouth chart ensures the stylised look of an animated production, as all animators will be sure to draw the same shapes as those created by the character designers.

Also, using the generic mouth chart, animators can plan and indicate all mouth shapes for a scene on their exposure sheet without needing to complete all their drawings - the assistant animators and clean-up artists follow the mouth shapes indicated on the exposure sheet to complete the drawings.

Emotion and design variations in mouth shapes

Emotion

Basic mouth shapes look different depending on the character's emotions.

Swipe the nine images below to view the basic mouth shapes for a sad expression. The shapes look different from the happier expressions shown above, even though the phonemes are the same

Design

Mouth shapes also vary based on a character’s design features and face shape.

Below is an example showing generic mouths designed for a specific character with a distinctive squared, angular mouth.

Despite the unusual mouth design, the design of each phoneme must still read clearly and relate to the other mouth shapes correctly.

Simplifying mouth movements with phrasing

When animating lip sync in an acting scene, it’s important not to describe every letter or sound with a different mouth shape. If you used a different mouth shape for each sound, the animation will be too jerky and erratic.

Instead, look for ways to describe groups of sounds by simplifying mouth movements. One way is to simplify smaller lip shapes by making them ‘blurred’ or blended into broader jaw movements as the mouth transitions from open to closed.

Example: “Everybody knows!”

For example, read out loud the line: “Everybody knows!”. If you count the syllables, you’ll find the line has five to six syllables.

Select the five cards below to see the ten shapes you need to use if you were to animate all the different sounds.

As you can see, the mouth opens five times.

But you can simplify it to just three main movements if you observe the basic, broad shapes made with the mouth as it opens and closes:

This time, the mouth opens three times.

In this way, the “Everybody knows!” phrase will be more appealing and simplified. It stops the phrase from distracting the audience due to any excessive mouth movement.

Principles of character acting

Select + to view each of the five principles to follow when animating a character acting and dialogue scene.

You should apply these principles for any type of character acting animation, including hand-drawn, 3D and digital 2D - they provide a simple workflow and a solid platform from which your creative ideas can grow.

Importing audio into Maya

To import audio into your scene on Maya, select any of the four options below:

• Right-mouse click the volume icon in the Playback Options and select Import Audio. A file browser lets you select the name of the sound file(s) to import. If an audio offset is embedded with the file, it will appear in the File Type Specific Options. You can also specify an offset in this field as well.
• Select Audio > Import Audio... from the Animation menu set (F4).
• Select File > Import from the main menu bar. A file browser lets you select the name of the sound file(s) to import. If an audio offset is embedded with the file, it will appear in the File Type Specific Options. You can also specify an offset in this field as well.
• Drag the file(s) from a file browser into one of the Maya viewports or onto the Time Slider. The audio waveform fills the Time Slider. Right-mouse click the waveform on the Time Slider and select Sounds from the Animation controls menu.

Select + to view five additional guidelines for audio import and configuration in Maya.

Animation workflow for a dialogue scene

Select + to view each of the six workflow steps for planning and animating a dialogue scene.

Planning and animating a dialogue scene

Watch Geoff plan and animate a dialogue scene in seven videos, located in the playlist below.

These videos helps you complete Task 12 below.

In this Character Animation topic, you’ve equipped yourself with new skills that will help you infuse your characters with dynamic and expressive movement. You’ve:

• manipulated character rigs, exploring various setups to bring your characters to life on screen
• created essential poses by using animation workflow elements, from planning to posing characters
• optimised your animation workflow in Maya, learning the ins and outs of shot setup and animation processes
• applied your knowledge of body mechanics to capture the essence of human movement by creating various action and gesture shots
• integrated acting-based mechanics and dialogue to convey emotion and thought, culminating in nuanced and complex character animation.

Remember, nothing beats experience gained through practice, experimentation, and trial and error. Embrace challenges, learn from your mistakes, and keep refining your skills. With each animation, your characters will become even more captivating and expressive. Keep pushing your boundaries, and never stop learning!

Reflect on what you’ve learnt, practised, and achieved

As you wrap up this topic, take a moment to reflect on what you've learnt, practised, and achieved by completing the various learning tasks in this topic.

Consider how you've grown as an animator and the challenges you've overcome. Think about how you'll apply your emerging character animation skills and insights to your coursework and future projects. And remember to celebrate your progress!

#	Learning Task Name	Duration (Hours)
1	Manipulate a character rig	1
2	Create 3 poses	3
3	Plan and animate a ball toss	8
4	Plan and animate a walk cycle	8
5	Plan and animate a stand from a seated position	10
6	Plan and animate a walk through a doorway	12
7	Plan and animate a fence vault	12
8	Plan and animate a run cycle	8
9	Plan and animate a blast then fall backwards	12
10	Plan and animate lifting a heavy object	12
11	Plan and animate a sigh	12
12	Plan and animate a dialogue scene	16