I don't know anything about animation, other than what I've seen in hundreds of movies and short films over the years. When I started using Anime Studio I figured that it would do all the hard work for me, it would be the expert animator and I could just say "Hey, here's a shape and some bones, make it walk!"
Well, no.
Whenever anybody in this forum asks for animation advice, somebody invariably tells them to get Richard Williams' book "The Animator's Survival Kit." I did, and I'm working my way through it, and I can't recommend it enough.
To begin with it's a beautiful book. Most of it is hand-lettered, with hundreds upon hundreds of clear illustrations. You can just enjoy looking at the pictures...there's enough variety, clarity, and humour in them to make it a great read even if you DON'T care about animation.
The animation anecdotes are priceless as well. Williams learned from key animators from the '30s and '40s -- Ken Harris, Milt Kahl, Chuck Jones -- so the book is full of their anecdotes, quirks, innovations, and insights. Want to know WHY a certain technique was developed (or later discarded)? This book tells you all about it.
But then there's all the information about space and timing, weight and arcs, and a wealth of little tricks that animators have been using for years: breaking joints for dynamic effect, adding punch to movement with a single "contact" frame, and -- literally -- 111 pages devoted to every detail of walk cycles, run cycles, sneaks, jumps...how do you start? What do you draw first? How long should the cycle be? How do you make the movement distinctive? Pleasing? Clear to the viewer?
My point is that this is a really cool book and it's actually USEFUL. After struggling for a week on animating a running fox, this book taught me how to make a passable run cycle in a DAY, and it barely even touches on animals...this is because it breaks movement down in a sensible way that you can apply to anything, with a bit of work and thought.
I can't compare it to other books on animation because it's the only one I own, but I CAN say that if somebody tells you it will help you with a problem, they're probably right...AND you'll enjoy reading it (or simply looking at it) as an added bonus.
Cheers,
Muffy.
The Animator's Survival Kit
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toonertime
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walk cycle resources
Last edited by toonertime on Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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toonertime
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one more time
last post didn't go to the right place.
go to the bottom of this page to find the walk cycle links:
http://animations4you.blogspot.com/[/url]
go to the bottom of this page to find the walk cycle links:
http://animations4you.blogspot.com/[/url]
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toonertime
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konnerbelly
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Paul Mesken
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Re: The Animator's Survival Kit
Yeah, it's a pretty good book and a "must have". I'd also like to point out two other books which are mentioned in the Animator's Survival Kit. They are the books of Muybridge ("The Human Figure in Motion" and "Animals in Motion"). These books are a great resource showing photos taken in quick succession of a human or an animal performing some action. They show side, frontal, back and 3/4 views of the action. I'm amazed that these books never got an updated version by other authors/photographers (the books are a century old). A grid is used as background making it easy to see how things bounce.
I'd also like to recommend DVDs (because they can be viewed one frame at a time) of musicals of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Not only do these musicals show great movements, they are also filmed in such a way that these movements can be studied well. No shallow DoF but focus all the way. No moody lights but full flood lights. Always showing the full body and no cutting every 2 seconds, movements are shown completely from beginning to end. And, of course, these dancers move great. They're not sloppy, they show movement the way it's supposed to be.
I'd also like to recommend DVDs (because they can be viewed one frame at a time) of musicals of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Not only do these musicals show great movements, they are also filmed in such a way that these movements can be studied well. No shallow DoF but focus all the way. No moody lights but full flood lights. Always showing the full body and no cutting every 2 seconds, movements are shown completely from beginning to end. And, of course, these dancers move great. They're not sloppy, they show movement the way it's supposed to be.
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neeters_guy
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While working through the material, I built a rigged stick figure in AS similar to the one in the Williams book. Here's the file if anyone wants to try it out (I'm sure most of you could build one without a problem).
In the file, there is simple walk cycle on frames 6 to 30, ie., 24-frame walk cycle. You need only change the passing frames, 12 and 24, to create a basic, but unique walk.
Anyway, here's a video of how it might work (basically corresponds to p. 111-113).
Walk Cycles in Anime Studio
Of course your final animation will require locking the feet properly, tweaking the hips and shoulders, and so forth. (In my final file, I ended up keyframing every frame.) But all in all, as mentioned by muffysb, you can construct a decent walk by following the simple explanations in this book.
In the file, there is simple walk cycle on frames 6 to 30, ie., 24-frame walk cycle. You need only change the passing frames, 12 and 24, to create a basic, but unique walk.
Anyway, here's a video of how it might work (basically corresponds to p. 111-113).
Walk Cycles in Anime Studio
Of course your final animation will require locking the feet properly, tweaking the hips and shoulders, and so forth. (In my final file, I ended up keyframing every frame.) But all in all, as mentioned by muffysb, you can construct a decent walk by following the simple explanations in this book.
Couldn't agree more. Got this book with my already meager college student funds but it's a great investment. My edition came with a DVD in the back advertising a DVD collection about his lectures. Which I kind of want to get some day, but the book is already an invaluable resource.
L'exactitude n'est pas la vérité.