Moho Forum

Hello guys...and gals....

New to this arena....

Any good reference material to study to get timing and rigging best to make animation look more "fluid"? It seems to me that many of the animation movies are "jerky" is this due to fps issues, rigging issues, or making to much movement between key frames?

After playing with this software for a few days...and then watch family guy...i see it so differently. One thing I noticed is the mainstream animations tend to do a lot less body moving then most of the amateur movies.

With TV animation, it's actually kind of fun to look for the pattern they follow: Wide shot to set the scene, A and B walk in, A says something, moves to a different pose and finishes. A then freezes while B says something, changing poses a couple of times. A blinks. Cut to a close up, set the goal for the rest of the show, etc., etc. The longer a show has been on, the tighter and cleaner its animation tends to be.
Probably the big difference between the amount of movement in the mainstream vs. amateur movies is that the mainstream shows have a better focus -- each pose is there to emphasize a point, to tell a story, and it's held so that the audience has time to "get it". Amateur movies tend to look like they're flailing about. There may be something to getting more by animating less.

So true...your comments help to solidify why the difference was so profound to me visually and contextually.

Reminds me of when someone first finds after effects and wants to make a video of effects instead of a story!

Storyboard time!

My first animations were characters with realistic proportions and smooth movements. Welcome to Uncanny Valley. The more realism you add the more realism everything else requires or it will look odd.

Many animations done with AS look too fluid for my taste. The movement of the arms often looks like the ones of an octopus instead of a human. You need a very good reason for an arm movement to take longer than a half second. The same the the eyes: Unless you character is on drugs they should move within 1 or 2 frames.

This animation was an eye opener for me. It has only a few tweens but great key poses. Try to find a head turn:


But I guess it will take a while until I get at that level.

Btw: You can import a video into AS to study the movements frame by frame.

Hi

You mentioned Family Guy, which is done in half-hour format (three 7-minute acts, as currently broadcast, minus 30 second opening and end credits). Each Act is 14-16 pages in length, varying based on dialogue (more pages) vs. description content (fewer pages). A page is about 24 seconds of screen time. Final broadcast FG episodes are 45-55 pages in length.

TV is Radio
Sitcoms are all audio-driven. They are old-fashioned radio, with a picture attached. Other than sight gags, you can basically "watch" a sitcom with your eyes closed and still follow the story. The point here is that TV is radio. If you approach it from that perspective, your writing gets better.

Comedy Audio Track
The most important thing in a comedy cartoon is the audio track.
Comedy is writing and delivery. You need a good, punchy script, delivered audibly clean, with interesting delivery by the voice artist.

Comedy Writing
The fewer words in a comedy script, the better. Approximately every third line should be a punch, or "button" (to invoke a smile or laugh). Four lines without a button is a weak script, i/e there should be 8-10 buttons a minute. Never animate your first draft, write it, let it sit, come back in a few days, look again, rewrite. Trim or rephrase to shorten then length of lines and cut, cut, cut anything you can that is not funny. Re-check the writing.

Character Movement
I say all this to move to your question about character movement. Unless it's a sight gag, what characters say matters more than what they do. Because of the fast pace, the viewer must be able to follow the speaker, so the speaker usually moves, the quiet characters usually pause (this directs the viewer's attention). So, rule of thumb, unless it's a sight gag, tell your story with the least movement in the scene necessary to tell the joke. In drama, story is king, animation is more dramatic (Disney, etc).

In comedy, the joke is king, story is second, the story is merely a stage for more gags.