Forum: Animation


Subject: What software is best for learning animation for the human figure?

3dGordon opened this issue on Feb 24, 2010 · 12 posts


CaptainJack1 posted Wed, 24 February 2010 at 6:27 AM

I don't know any good tutorial sites for this (I'm sure there are lots, though), but I would really recommend the book "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams. It's been around for a long time, and it's geared for traditional 2D animation, but it's a good resource for learning animation techniques in general that you can use anywhere. Weight, anticipation, follow-through, squash and stretch, all sorts of good things. I know at least one animation school, that mostly teaches 3D animation with Maya, that uses that book as a text. Another book I've found useful is "Timing For Animation" (again, a 2D book).

For human animation, a great tool is to study human motion. If you have a video camera, make a short clip of yourself walking across the room, or hunt around the web and see if you can find some short video to download (there are sites that will let you download from YouTube, for example). I don't know about DAZ Studio, but in Carrara you can import a video as a texture for a flat plane, so that every frame of the video matches each frame of your animation. From there, you can match the general timing of your figure to what's in the video, then tweak it make it smooth and match what you want to happen in the scene.

Convincing human animation can be a challenge, but I think it's pretty rewarding. I love to make animations, and I've been making an effort to do a little work on an animation every day. I'm hoping that they're right when they say, "practice makes perfect."

As you make stuff, please post your video and share a link back here, too. Lots of folks here who love animation, and if you feel like you're ever stuck on something, lots of people with experience who'll be happy to pass along suggestions.

😄