20.11.2023 – Animation
Week 8 – Animation in Maya
12 Principles of Animation
The animation process in Maya involves the mastery of fundamental principles that bring life and believability to animations. Widely known as the “12 Principles of Animation,” written by Disney animators, serve as a basement for creating compelling animations. Manos referred a clip from ‘Puss In Boots: The Last Wish’, so I tried to find each principle in the movie.
- 01. Timing and Spacing:
- Timing dictates the number of frames between poses, influencing the speed of an action.
- Spacing determines how frames are arranged, impacting the perception of motion.
- 02. Squash and Stretch:
- This principle imparts flexibility to objects, simulating real-world distortions during movement.
- Exaggeration of squash and stretch adds a lifelike quality to animations.
- 03. Anticipation:
- Anticipation prepares the audience for an upcoming action.
- It ensures that movements are believable by incorporating necessary preparatory actions.
- 04. Ease In, Ease Out (Slow-In, Slow-Out):
- This mimics acceleration and deceleration, contributing to natural and non-robotic movements.
- 05. Follow Through and Overlapping Action:
- Follow through involves the continuation of body parts’ movement after a character comes to a stop.
- Overlapping action encompasses different body parts moving at varying times.
- 06. Arcs:
- Natural movements follow circular paths or arcs, contributing to a realistic animation.
- Avoiding linear motions enhances the authenticity of animations.
- 07. Exaggeration:
- Exaggeration involves presenting features and actions in an extreme form for dramatic or comedic effect.
- It adds appeal and a sense of fun to animations while maintaining a connection to reality.
- 08. Solid Drawing:
- Solid drawing ensures that animated forms appear three-dimensional, considering balance and anatomy in poses.
- Even in 3D animation, the concept of solid drawing remains crucial.
- 09. Appeal:
- Creating memorable characters with engaging designs enhances audience connection and relatability.
- Striking a balance in character design is essential for appeal.
- 10. Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose:
- Straight Ahead is a spontaneous, frame-by-frame approach to animation.
- Pose-to-Pose is a planned and methodical technique that involves using key poses.
- 11. Secondary Action:
- Secondary actions emphasize or support the main action, adding depth and complexity to animations.
- Subtle and subconscious, secondary actions enhance the overall performance.
- 12. Staging:
- Staging involves setting up scenes to convey a clear and unmistakable message.
- Proper framing, camera angles, and elements contribute to effective communication.
Animation in Maya
- When initiating an animation in Maya, begin by selecting the object and pressing ‘S’ to set a key on the current frame. Once the key is set, you can proceed to create the animation by moving to different frames, setting keys accordingly, and repeating the process.
- To identify frames with set keys, look for the red line on the frame within the time slider(Make sure that the keys visible on the time slider are only those you’ve selected.)
- When adjusting keys, hold down ‘Shift,’ select the desired frame area, and observe the blocked region with arrows. Inner arrows allow for movement, while outer arrows enable stretching.
- Pressing ‘S’ each time you work can be tiresome and prone to forget. To address this, consider toggling the ‘Auto Keyframe Toggle on/off’. Enabling this feature eliminates the need to manually press ‘S’ for every change, as it automatically records alterations. However, as it captures even subtle changes, be mindful to avoid creating unnecessary keys.
Following this explanation, we had the opportunity to practice animation. I imported a woman model from Zbrush and applied auto rig to it. Utilizing this, I animated the model by referencing an image of a walking cycle(I think I am not good at animating..)