Some help with planning a short - what approach to use ...

[bupaje]

Well ToonToonz got my mind churning again and figured I'd ask for some help. I want to prepare a 5 minute short and want to think out the process a bit more than my usual just jump in approach -which usually means I have to redo stuff too often. My goal is basically to rig several characters in such a way that when completed I can just focus on the animation. There have been so many discussions about the best way to rig characters, head turns and different software that I'm not sure what would be best.

Basically the main character will not talk but will need a very expressive face, he'll growl get angry, surprised etc and I want a lot of the 'boing' squash and stretch face action.

In evaluating my own strengths I think that 3D is out for the characters, though I may use some objects for the scenery. I can draw and scan all the character art and then use Moho and other programs to add effects and depth if all else fails but I'd prefer to create them digitally so I can reuse them as I might like to pitch an idea using these guys down the road.

I'm guessing I should create each character expressions as switch layers and then maybe duplicate these and arrange the character in the various turnaround positions and adjust these duplicated expressions so I have say front view, face.surprised and 3/4 left view face.surprised.

Hope this is clear and if I am overcomplicating it I'll take suggestions. I would like to rig the characters completely, even if this take a bit of time on the front end, so when I am animating I can easily switch expressions rather than trying to move individual eyeballs etc around.

I have Illustrator but no great experience yet so my tools of choice will be hand drawing, Moho and Flash and I may be able to use after effects later to add titling or basic effects if needed -though I have only beginner experience for now. Still I don't want to do work based on skills I might have 6 months from now.

[heyvern]

You can use bones for squelch.

I create "fan bone" kind of rigs. I started using this with really fat characters so they bend nicely. You have a series of bones that "blend" movement or rotation. This is great for squelch. You can tweak with point translation as needed.

There was a discussion elsewhere I need to track down. I had an argument about "not using bones" because they always look "stiff". I created this blobby stretchy character using only bones as part of my side of the "discussion"... don't know how well I did... but it seemed to explain my point.

I was able to turn him 3/4 in either direction (he was very "amorphous" so... turning him wasn't that big of a deal... still) from just one character model. You have to make an effort but still... less work than 3D or making two different versions.

http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtop ... highlight=

You may want to carefully plan out the story as you said. Then you can know exactly how many "views" of a character you will really need... one at 3/4, one straight on... one from back... etc.. this will help in deciding if it is more work to do multiple characters or... just one that can be reused.

I love switch layers for head turns... but... at the moment you can't change the interpolation... it looks stiff. This is perfectly fine for hands and lip synch but for a head turn... I like more control.

I use a switch layer head turn... and then... I duplicate one of the layers in the switch and "copy" the keyframes from a mid point of the turn and paste it in as point motion.

Now I can move that layer out of the switch group and use those point motions for the turn and use interpolation on the point motion.

There was a discussion that referenced an old post of an animation. It used a really cool trick of putting the head on several layers in "3d" space... you could turn the head and it appeared to turn in a sort of "fake" 3d space.

I like this technique and will be trying it out. It seems to be very fast... but probably best suited for simplistic heads.

-Vern

[Bones3D]

There's a great book on the subject of taking an animated story idea from concept to completion that I strongly recommend checking out... Inspired 3D Short Film Production by Jeremy Cantor and Pepe Valencia. While you may not be working in 3D specifically, the concepts it covers are vital knowledge for anyone looking to create successful animated shorts.

As for animation in general, a required reading would be The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams (lead animator of Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Almost anything you'd want to know about character animation techniques is covered by this book. It's also a surprisingly entertaining read to boot.

[bupaje]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've been fiddling with teh switch layers and head turns and looks like I'd better go through the tutorials again - my memory is like a leaky boat.