:: Animating Emotion in Characters :: An online character animation curriculum that helps animators achieve emotion in animated characters. By: Randolf Dimalanta
This project is in partial fulfillment of the Masters in Fine Arts Degree in Computer Animation for Miami International University of Art and Design.
This blog features an animation acting curriculum geared towards the intermediate and advanced level animator. It is part of a thesis project in partial fulfillment of the MFA in Computer Animation Degree for Miami International University of Art and Design.
This curriculum is still under construction. I plan to add more examples and a few video tutorials so that the information is clearer and easy to understand.
The project also features an animation called "60 fps", that demonstrates the application of many of the concepts presented in this curriculum. It can be viewed below and is still in the works. I plan on refining the phoneme mouth shapes in the next couple of weeks.
The curriculum featured on this blog is made of 11 exercises to help the intermediate to advanced level animator achieve emotion in characters. They must be taken consecutively as each exercise builds on the next. It also will feature a series of lectures and tutorials to help you along.
Thanks to my instructors, my classmates, fellow animators, students, family and fellow colleagues for supporting and encouraging me to the completion of this project. A big shot out to all of the animators who made their character rigs available on the internet. They will be listed here once the project is complete. It would not have been possible without your help.
Thanks everyone! Completion and graduation is set for Summer 2008 (hopefully). As they say, full steam ahead.
Introduction: For most animators, the very first exercise one learns is the bouncing ball. The exercise is deceivingly simple, but is very important. The main thing an animator focuses on in this exercise, are the animation principles of squash and stretch, ease in and ease out and timing. Because there are no facial features, arms or legs, the animator can focus his energies into creating smooth fluid movement.
In this exercise, you will animating a ball overcoming a conflict. This conflict can be with another ball, or the conflict is withing the environment. A good example of this is if the ball is confronted with a large chasm, hole in the gound, or tall wall. The flow should look something like this: 1) Introduce the character, 2) Introduce the problem or confict and 3) Show the resolution (Does the character solve or become defeated by the problem).
The exercise will also require that you act out what the ball is going to do in front of the camera. This will give you correct video reference to work from. Be sure you have a helper or friend to help you record yourself acting out the actions of the ball.
Competencies: By the end of this exercise, the student should be able to
Demonstrate conflict in a simple animated story.
Demonstrate the animation principles: squash and stretch.
Demonstrate correct timing for different weights.
Demonstrate ease in and ease out for different weights.
Practice and implement proper staging and camera placement.
Practice using the graph editor to create and adjust movement.
Capture and use video reference to help you achieve realistic timing and animation.
Animation Process:
Pre-Planning: With a friend, act out the actions of the ball with your hand, and have your friend help you record/video capture your performance. Use this footage so you have an ide of timing, spacing and proper framecount. Base your animation on the movment that you see.
Planning: Sketch out what you have in mind and break down what you have in mind for the beginning, middle and end. Decide how you want the animation to flow and be conscious where the edges of the frame are located. Also be aware of extra moving objects in your animation. If two objects are moving, the viewer will not know what to look at. Doing so in the beginning will ensure a better product. It will also help you focus on the most important aspects of the assignment. Below is an example of recorded footage, note how the actress acts out the ball with the hand. Below this example is the animation she created from the footage.
Camera and Adding Frame Count: Before beginning any animation project, be sure you know where the edge of the screen is and that you have some way of knowing which frame you are on. Knowing the active area of the frame is essential for knowing where to place your animation as it moves. In Maya, you will do this by turning on the “resolution gate”
In the main viewport click
View > Camera Settings > Resolution Gate.
Also, turn on the current frame counter. This is so that you can pinpoint the exact frame which needs fixing.
Display > UI Elements > Current Frame Rate
Blockin Process: Animate translation and placement first, by this I mean the general location of your object within the scene. Don’t worry too much about squash and stretch at this point, just get the timing down. Use the “step” feature in your animation tools so that the animation looks like a ticking robot. This feature will enable you to see how the keyframes are being perceived and it’s a fast way to see how things are developing. You will be spending most of your time here.
Watch the objects’ contact to the ground and the height of the arcs. Use the graph editor to create “plateaus” at the top of the movements, and “linear” tangents at the point of contact. Details and More Refinement: After you’ve animated timing and movement, go ahead and add squash and stretch. Convert to “spline” animation and see how things are looking. Adjust your timing, squash and stretch, and arcs.
Get Feedback: Create a playblast and get feedback on your work. Getting an objective view of your work will enable you to see things in a different light. Getting feedback is the single most effective way to improve your animation. If no one is available however, ask yourself these questions:
Is the conflict clear?
Is the animation of both objects smooth?
Do my arcs look realistic?
Do the two objects two distinct weights? If not, why?
Do they look like two different materials?
Are the objects in the camera presented clearly?
Do the objects take turns moving so that the viewer is not confused?
Are they interacting with the floor or with each other convincingly?
Do I have a convincing bounce in the small ball?
Tips: In teaching this exercise and in sitting in classes where this basic exercise is critiqued, I found common mistakes among students, they are listed here so that you can watch out for them.
Stretch of ball on descent happens too early.
Incorrect contact with the ground plane.
Add an extra frame of squash, keep it here at least two and at the most three.
Punch or Pop occurs after squash. The distance between the stretch and the last frame of the squash should be greater than the distance between the first squash and stretch frames.
Top of the movement stops too abruptly, it looks like its hitting a wall. Flatten out tangents using the graph editor.
Put more keyframes at the top of the motion than at the bottom, this gives the illusion of speed.
Be mindful of the frame count and height. If the height is shallow and there are a lot of frames, the animation will play slow.
Practice flat and linear keys.
Keep things simple. Plan your keys (70%). Animation = 30%.
Check out Richard William's tips on frame count.
Soft landings. Create linear tangents to create impact.
When the big ball comes down, sometimes animators will have the small ball react. If you do this, put a delay before the small ball moves. Imagine that when the big ball hits the ground, that it creates a shockwave. This shockwave will take a few moments before it reaches the small ball.
Be sure that the big heavy ball can be seen within the frame before it drops. Sometimes, the ball appears midway down and it seems to appear out of nowhere.
Congratulations on animating the bouncing balls. Now, we are going to move up the animation hierarchy, by animating a drink box. You will be applying many of the same principles as the bouncing ball, such as squash and stretch, ease in and ease out, timing, but now add to this, anticipation and emotion. Emotion is achieved in the drinkbox through timing (how fast the box moves) and gesture (how the box is shaped). Trying to apply this to a simple drink box is ideal before moving on to more complex character rigs.
Anticipation refers to the action before the main action. Sometimes its characterized as the windup before the pitch, or the pull of a rubber band before it snaps. The fact that these actions occur, such as the pulling of a rubber band, or a baseball pitch windup, suggests to the viewer that an action is about to happen, preparing the viewer for what is to come next, making the animation easy to follow and see. In the drink box, see if you can apply an “anticipation” movement before the drink box gets into an animation pose.
In this assignment, you will also practice giving this animate drink box emotion. How do you say is this achieved? Simple, since it has no face, arms or legs, you will be creating emotion through timing and gesture. Remember that emotion is energy, and through the combination of timing and gesture, you are going to convey a particular emotion by matching that energy. For example a happy excited drink box, would not be slouching, the gesture would be upright, it would look confident. If it was sad, it gesture be slouchy, curving downward and the energy would be slow, and maybe even lifeless.
Assignment Description:
Use the drink box and animate it expressing two emotions. To begin, you may choose between the following emotions: Happy, sad, anger, fear, surprise, proud and or thinking. These emotions are the most common, they are easy to recognize, but each animator will treat each differently. If you are new, I would suggest you begin with the emotions happy and sad. Be sure each emotion is between 24 and 48 frames in length.
Good luck and have fun!
Competencies:
By the end of this exercise, the student should be able to:
Demonstrate the animation principles: anticipation.
Demonstrate how to achieve two simple emotions through the use of timing and gesture.
Demonstrate the animation principle “anticipation”, applied before each emotion.
Practice and implement proper staging and camera placement.
Practice using the graph editor to create and adjust movement.
Animation Process:
1) Pre-Planning:
Decide which emotions you want to animate. For presentation purposes, its best if you choose two different emotions, so that its clear to the viewer which ones you are animating, this will be apparent especially in the shift between the two emotions. Sketch out what these emotions would like in the drink box. This will serve as your guide and it’ll make posing easier.
2) Camera and Adding Frame Count:
Add your resolution gate and framerate count so you can adjust your animation faster.
In the main viewport click
View > Camera Settings > Resolution Gate.
Also, turn on the current frame counter. This is so that you can pinpoint the exact frame which needs fixing.
Display > UI Elements > Current Frame Rate
3) Blockin Process:
To animate the drinkbox, find the locator at the bottom of the drink box. It looks like a cross or little tail under the drink box. Click this to view the channels box. This is where you will find the controls to control the drink box’s forward and side roll, waste and head movement. We will begin animating pose to pose style.
Pose your drink box in the first emotion.
Copy the keyframes corresponding to each control on the rig and paste them on frame 24. You want to hold the same pose for 24 frames.
Afterwards, give yourself a 12 frame cushion before posing the second emotion.
Set your first keyframe to hold this emotion, copy these and paste the exact keyframes another 24 frames down the timeline. Your second pose should now be held for 24 frames.
4) Add and Adjust Timing:
At this point, within the 24 frames available for each emotion, see if you can add movement that represents and or adds to that particular emotion. Convert to “linear” animation and see how things are looking. Adjust your timing, squash and stretch, and arcs once you feel you are satisfied.
5) : Feedback
This would also be a good time to get feedback on your work. Create a playblast and get feedback on your work. Getting feedback is the single most effective way to improve your animation. If no one is available however, ask yourself these questions:
Are the emotions clear in this drinkbox?
Does the movement look realistic?
Do the two emotions look different from one another.
Does my camera angle show these emotions clearly?
If my character is walking, do I have sliding. Sliding is when the character moves without any movement in the feet or any body part that touches the floor?
6) : Add Anticipation:
Below is a recommended framecount for basic anticipation. Add “anticipation” before each emotion displayed by the drink box.
Anticipation Movement: 5 - 8 frames
Anticipation Hold: 2 frames
Tips: In teaching this exercise and in sitting in classes where this basic exercise is critiqued, I found common mistakes among students, they are listed here so that you can watch out for them.
If the drink box jumps, be sure to include rotation while up in the air.
Follow through and overlapping action in the drink box.
Exaggerate the contrast of the emotions so that the ideas are clear.
Have strong posing to avoid "floaty" or "swimmy" movement.
Reverse pose C curves in animation add to contrast. (Illustration Needed)
Remember contrast in timing. Add pauses to break up the timing of the animation, this gives the illusion the character is thinking, it also gives us the viewer a chance to understand what's happening.
Apply drag = approximately 6 frames. This is also called overlapping action.
In the last assignment, you animated a drink box having emotion through its display of emotion and timing. It’s now time to move to complex characters and build upon what you had learned in the last exercise. Before we animate these characters, we have to spend some time “Pre-Planning”. In the development of this curriculum, I interviewed many animators in the industry and the most common piece of advice that all of them gave you (the upcoming animator) was to spend time planning what you are about to animate.
This next exercise is to help you with the “pre-planning” needed to create a successful animation in the next two upcoming assignments and it will require a little bit of life drawing.
In the above illustration, what emotion is being displayed. What is the model doing? The fact that you can recognize what the model in the drawing is doing is what we want. In this assignment, you will be creating lifedrawings that convey an emotion. After they are completed, we will transfer them to our CG character.
Assignment Description:
Create 6 – 8 loose gestural lifedrawings where it is clear what emotions and actions are being displayed. You may work from a life model, photos of lifedrawing model, scour images on the internet (be sure the emotion is clear in these), or research old movies starring Charlie Chaplain, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, or newer movies starring Johnny Depp and pause the movie to see a particular frame and pose. Draw this pose in this fashion.
Save these drawings for you next assignment, good luck and have fun!
Competencies:
By the end of this exercise, the student should be able to:
Demonstrate how lifedrawing can portray specific emotions and poses.
Tips: In teaching this exercise and in sitting in classes where this basic exercise is critiqued, I found common mistakes among students, they are listed here so that you can watch out for them. Don’t make up the drawing out of your head. It will be easier and you will draw faster if you have photo reference.
Exaggerate, see how far you can push the pose. This takes some imagination and some risk taking, but the drawing inevitably turns out to be more interesting this way.
Exaggerate the emotions so that the idea of the emotion is clear.
Work fast.
Do many drawings. I’m only recommending you complete 6 – 8 good drawings.
Sometimes you may have a drawing that is not strong, or is unclear. Keep drawing until you have 6 – 8 solid drawings that convey emotion.
Clear silhouettes : Be sure your pose drawing is clear in silhouette form.
Keep your drawings small so you can do more of them. They should be roughly the size of your hand. The larger the drawing, the more paper you need to cover, which in turn may slow you down.
If you completed the last animation exercise, you should a 6 – 8 drawings of a figure in poses that express certain emotions. Now, let’s bring these images into a CG program (the program we are using in this course is Maya). By creating the drawings first in the last exercise, you were forced to think about how emotion was expressed in the figure, and not the computer. Now that you are familiar with the emotion in your figures, we can now begin to integrate the computer in all of this.
In this exercise, you will be taking your drawings from the last assignment, and you will pose your CG models to match your drawings. This will not only give you practice in posing your CG characters on the computer by manipulating the controls of the rig, but you will see the importance of these poses in their ability to express effective emotions. Once this exercise is completed, save it as we will add to it to improve your emotion animation skills in the next exercise.
Before we begin, be sure to download and explore a few free character rigs found on the internet. You can start from my blog entry below, I’ve reviewed and tested a few character rigs posted on Highend3D site. Do this before proceeding with the assignment. Good luck and have fun!
Assignment Description: Use the drawings you created in the last assignment (Emotion Animation Ex. 4) and on the computer, pose your character rig to match the poses in your lifedrawings. Do as many as you wish, but strive to do a minimum of 6 – 8 poses. Or, if you wish, an alternative would be to model a CG character in the way I have shown you up above. This is fine, but as part of your training, use a drawing that you've created in order to get the full benefit of the lesson.
By the end of this exercise, the student should be able to
Explore general controls found in free character rigs.
Pose CG characters in emotive poses.
Become familiar with the posing process by using reference.
Generate poses by using proper keyframing techniques.
CG Posing Process: Below is a link to a video tutorial that walks you through a process on how to pose a character by "bookending" the keyframes. It also covers how to use the Maya script editor.
Tips: In teaching this exercise and in sitting in classes where this basic exercise is critiqued, I found common mistakes among students, they are listed here so that you can watch out for them. Be sure you draw your poses first. From my experience, students who plan and draw out poses by hand usually get better results. This is probably because of the thinking and mental exploration involved in analyzing the pose.
Exaggerate the emotions so that the idea of the emotion is clear.
Clear silhouettes : Be sure your pose drawing is clear in silhouette form. For example, in silhouette form, arms and hands in front of the body, will not be seen. Keep these in the outside of the figure’s form so that the arms and hands remain visible.
Hold your poses for at least 24 frames, with 10 frames between each pose.
Follow a procedure in creating these poses and work from the center of the body outwards. I go in this order: Main control, root control, feet positioning, spine, head, arms, hands and lastly facial features.
Introduction: In what is considered to be the animation bible The Illusion of Life, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, when first developing the process for animation, found that when a character was in a pose that he had to hold for long time, that it was essential to add “moving holds” (Thomas, Johnston). These were considered to be small movements in the eyes, brows, joints, jaw, spine and if the character was an animal, movement in the tail, ears or clothing. This was necessary in order to emulate real life.
In reality, things are in constant motion, atoms keep moving, cells keep dividing, air and wind moves things around, and when things move, there is always some kind of secondary or overlapping action. In an animal, when it jumps and lands, the body stops while the tail and ears keep moving and slow to a complete halt. The action of the tail slowing to a halt, or if the tail is flowing because its affected by a slight breeze, is a moving hold.
Other moving holds are eyes and clothes. In the eyes, important moving holds are eye darts, and eye blinks, just think about how we see in reality. Our eyes are constantly moving, focusing on different things every moment. When eyes don’t move, they seem to have no life and may seem robotic. Think about how much your eye moves while you are reading this document. You’re probably sitting still in a chair or at table, but your eyes keep moving. Your eyes are moving because they are gathering information. Your animated character could improve if you apply the same principle to his eyes as well. (Link to Example Here)
Assignment Description: Using the CG posing assignment from Exercise 4, add moving holds, in either of the following or a combination of movements between the eyes, brows, mouth, spine shoulders, hands, arms and legs to each of your poses in order to make it seem the character is alive.
Competencies:
By the end of this exercise, the student should be able to:
Apply subtle movement to a pose to create a moving hold.
Apply the moving hold in eyeblinks.
Apply moving holds to eye darts.
PrePlanning: Before you begin, view your poses and ask yourself what moving hold could be added to each pose. Make a list and then apply them. In all of your characters there should be subtle movement in the joints, spine and eyes.
VIDEO REFERENCE: Look at an existing animation, and step the animation (slow motion) and see how many frames it takes for various moving holds to occur. Below is the video reference that lead to the animation featured above.
ANIMATION PROCESS: Below is a link to a video tutorial that walks you through a process on how to pose a character by "bookending" the keyframes. It also covers how to use the Maya script editor.
Here are some questions to consider asking yourself to make sure you are on target with this assignment.
Do the moving holds add to the life of the character?
Is there anything that is not moving that needs to be moving in this pose?
Do the moving holds interfere with the readability of the main pose?
Moving holds are essential for keeping an illusion of life within a character especially in CG computer animation. The computer helps us in the animation process in many ways, but it does not know how to integrate the moving holds. The computer will also hold the pose perfectly, so much so that it will seem to be a robot. Its our job as the animator to add those subtle movements and to prevent that robotic look, to make our characters seem like they are alive, in constant motion like all things living.
Introduction: By this point, you should be getting familiar with the posing process, holding the posing and transitioning from one pose to another. In this assignment, you will implement all that you have learned thus far, by animating a character waiting for a bus. Why a bus? Because of the versatility of the situation. When we wait for a bus, , you can either stand, sit (if you there is a bench) and once in awhile, we’ll display random movements such as checking our watch, looking down the street for the bus, reading the paper, checking out the person next you, whatever you are doing, you must be aware of the bus. This assignment is also a exercise in subtle animation. The moving holds you had a chance to animate in the previous exercise are going to come in handy, as they will be needed to carry your character during those times he is waiting.
Assignment Description:
Animate a rigged character waiting for a bus. While he is waiting, animate him executing a casual movement. Research possible casual movements people display while waiting for a bus like, reading the paper, checking the time, looking at the weather wondering if its going to rain, drinking a water bottle, saying hello to an acquaintance. Be sure both movements are clear, and that the main action of waiting for the bus clear. Competencies: By the end of this exercise, the student should be able to
Apply subtle movement to a pose to create a moving hold.
Analyze and perform a series of poses to execute an idea.
Execute a story in a short animation without the use of dialogue.
Pre-Planning: Before you begin, record yourself or a friend waiting for a bus. Before filming, establish the situation. Ask yourself these questions: Why is the person waiting for the bus? Where is he going? Where is he coming from? What is happening at the bus stop that might change the situation? How long is this animation? Be sure you rehearse before filming, as it may take a few takes to get it right.
After you have captured your footage, establish the poses needed to create the feeling and to make the animation readable. Be mindful of gesture and body language. Once you are familiar with the poses and movements, you may begin animating.
When animating establish the poses with your CG character and be sure these are held. Refer to your video reference to give you an idea of how long to hold a particular movement. Worked in “stepped” animation fashion, switching to “linear” and finally to “spline”.
EVALUATION: Here are some questions to consider asking yourself to make sure you are on target with this assignment.
Is it clear that the character is waiting for a bus?
Is there intention and personality in his other actions, are these actions clear?
Is the animation smooth?
Are the poses held long enough for the viewer to see?
This blog features an animation acting curriculum geared towards the intermediate and advanced level animator. It is part of a thesis project in partial fulfillment of the MFA in Computer Animation Degree for Miami International University of Art and Design.
