Props?

As the animation comes along - what with the running and the jumping, the realisation that I’ve no idea how to build props has dawned. This is slightly problematic.

To remedy this situation a couple of Digital Tutors classes will be downloaded come payday. I’m looking at Introduction to Modeling in Maya and Creating Cartoon Characters in Maya. With the exchange rate being what it is I can grab both for around $130 AUD, which isn’t too painful.

On Ant’s suggestion I’ve taken out a 13 issue subscription to 3D Artist - a new magazine which is geared to a slightly more pro audience than 3D World. Pro audience - delusions of grandeur? The training continues with fxphd’s June semester. New classes will be announced soon but they have a pretty comprehensive Maya programme that I’m looking forward to.

The run is being done on 1’s an I’m looking at a 6 frame cycle. This gives *really* fast motion and I’m hoping it plays out well. Screen below.

Next, running.

Working on feet and timing, blocking out a stomp away from the wall.

Small slowdown

It’s been a while since I’ve opened Maya and worked on anything - occasionally life and circumstance gets in the way. But it’s another Saturday and grey winter mornings are a perfect time to get back to work.

In the animation gap I’ve found the Pigeon: Impossible podcast. For someone coming to this whole thing in much the same way I am, it’s really valuable. Make sure to go back and watch from episode one, Lucas is also on the Twitters if you want to badger him about things.

In other Twitter-related news Twit Sketch is kind of fun and a good way to relearn to use a pencil. Glen (the guy behind it) has some really nice modeling information/tutorials on his site as well.

Progress

Alfonse is coming along: I’ve learned that keys can be re-timed on you if you’re not careful, that you need to check the workspace before starting a project (so you don’t accidentally key … joints instead of curves *ahem*), and that there’s so much I don’t know about how to animate and even Maya itself.

I know roughly what he’ll be doing, but I’m don’t want to go ahead and pose the whole thing - my focus is on trying to give a performance and develop timing, which I don’t think I’ll learn if everything’s blocked out before hand. Needs a certain amount of serindipity.

The book is good

Having poured through the Animator’s Survival Kit during train rides to and from the office, I thought that maybe just following along with DVDs lacked a certain … something. The Gnomon disks let me get started and I’ve certainly learned a lot from them (more will be purchased shortly), but wanted to see how I would do using some reference from Richard Williams book and trying to figure it out for myself.

I’m using the Norman rig mentioned previously and have started to pose out something a little more ambitious - the above is just blocking down a walk - very early but enough to check timing which appears to be ok.

The point is the book is good. Very, very good. If you’re learning at home you must purchase a copy and get training from different people - each new dvd or book will show you things slightly differently so you can start to find what works for you.