For the animators
polycounter lvl 9
Hello fellow Polycounters.
My name is Rob (sounds like an Alcoholics anonymous meeting already), I am currently in my last year of university in the UK and have a research report to write.
My subject is "[FONT="]Animation, making the jump into the 3rD dimension."
[/FONT][FONT="]I know there are not many on Polycount who are animators however I would really love some statements from a few people who are in industry as animators and are willing to be quoted in my report so it comes from the people who actually do it rather than a theorist. I am interested in the workflows you all have, from your first pencil sketch to your final animation in 3D (or 2D as the case may be) I would love as many people as possible to participate. If you wish to help out please can you post the following:
Name
In Industry or as a hobby?
How many years experience?
Briefly describe your workflow.
Do you do sketches first or go straight into 3D?
Do you prefer 2D or 3D animation?
Are you willing to be named and quoted in an academic report?
I will get the ball rolling by answering a few of those myself. As mentioned I am still at University and honestly am still in the baby stages of animation trying to nail the basic principles. Obviously I am not in industry however do want to aim for game animation. Since I do animation more in my spare time I prefer to work on a try and tweak basis, so I jump straight into 3D, try something if it doesn't look right tweak while using principles from what I learn from 2D (Thank you "The animators survival kit". This is due to my terrible drawing/sketching skills I can much better show what I am aiming for in a really rough block out rather than well drawn sketches. I know in industry this will not cut it, each animation needs to be planned so you waste no time and get right down to what needs to be done.
Thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully participate and I will answer most questions you may have within 24 hours if not less and look forward to some interesting discussion.
[/FONT]
My name is Rob (sounds like an Alcoholics anonymous meeting already), I am currently in my last year of university in the UK and have a research report to write.
My subject is "[FONT="]Animation, making the jump into the 3rD dimension."
[/FONT][FONT="]I know there are not many on Polycount who are animators however I would really love some statements from a few people who are in industry as animators and are willing to be quoted in my report so it comes from the people who actually do it rather than a theorist. I am interested in the workflows you all have, from your first pencil sketch to your final animation in 3D (or 2D as the case may be) I would love as many people as possible to participate. If you wish to help out please can you post the following:
Name
In Industry or as a hobby?
How many years experience?
Briefly describe your workflow.
Do you do sketches first or go straight into 3D?
Do you prefer 2D or 3D animation?
Are you willing to be named and quoted in an academic report?
I will get the ball rolling by answering a few of those myself. As mentioned I am still at University and honestly am still in the baby stages of animation trying to nail the basic principles. Obviously I am not in industry however do want to aim for game animation. Since I do animation more in my spare time I prefer to work on a try and tweak basis, so I jump straight into 3D, try something if it doesn't look right tweak while using principles from what I learn from 2D (Thank you "The animators survival kit". This is due to my terrible drawing/sketching skills I can much better show what I am aiming for in a really rough block out rather than well drawn sketches. I know in industry this will not cut it, each animation needs to be planned so you waste no time and get right down to what needs to be done.
Thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully participate and I will answer most questions you may have within 24 hours if not less and look forward to some interesting discussion.
[/FONT]
Replies
-Stefan Lipsius
-Industry - 3d Animator in games
-3 years of college for game development, 4mo of training at iAnimate.net (still enrolled), 1yr 9mo in the industry
-I dont sketch, but I get reference, whether it be finding a video online, or filming it myself, then go straight to 3d
-prefer 3d. It has more personality than 2d, I find
workflow - I get reference, I block out all the golden poses in stepped mode(the major movements, change in direction and what not, keying every control on each frame I do), then I see how it feels, play with the timing a little, then go in and add the breakdowns (add keys to where it needs them. define the turns and what not), When im done with the blocking out, the animation should look "done" with a really bad frame rate. Then I go into spline mode and adjust the curves. Most of the time is spent in blocking.
Quote me if you want. *Shrug*
Thank you for your help Stefan.
Juan Martinez
In Industry or as a hobby?
Game Industry
How many years experience?
11 years of professorial experience. 3 years of mod making before that.
Briefly describe your workflow.
Think about the reference I need. Talk to another animator about reference. Gather and study reference. Sometimes I film myself or a friend doing the action. Open a blank file and ponder if I'm actually an animator, or if I've just been fooling everyone around me for years. Finally, use pose to pose method setting keyframes for every object at every keyframe, the adjust the timing. No time for breakdowns, gotta start collecting reference for my next animation.
Do you do sketches first or go straight into 3D?
No sketches, just lots and lots of reference.
Do you prefer 2D or 3D animation?
I work mostly in 3D, but I love watching 2D stuff other people make.
Are you willing to be named and quoted in an academic report?
Sure.