Character Animation

Today I got to attend a super awesome animation meeting! A few animators presented their work on the latest character’s movements and lip syncs, so I got to see them for the first time moving along with their speech. It was super cool!

It takes a while to get to this point. Character development is a long process that needs to be taken in care. The first step comes from the Designer, who describes how the character looks: heritage, height, build, hair, eyes, age, facial features, and clothing are noted with the accompaniment of several image samples and references. Meanwhile the writer builds the character: how they behave and talk, decides the voice and accent, what they say and how they say it in response to Nancy’s questions etc.

Next, the Character Designer conceptualizes: taking all of the descriptions, he illustrates the characters. After several edits and plenty of feedback, he begins forming the 3D shape, seen here:Next, the animators rig the characters with joints, muscle movements, and assemble figits so they can move like normal human beings.

They sync the dialogue with the actor’s voices and when all the animation is finished, the characters are placed in their respective environments, like in this picture here:Then comes a grand presentation time for further critique and comments, which I got to sit in on today. Sadly, I won’t be able to share too many details, but I will say that these characters are so cool! (Try identifying where this picture of Bess and George can be found in ASH.)

*Tomorrow will be the second part of the Weekend Mystery series since the office will be closed Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
~Little Jackalope~

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9 responses to “Character Animation”

  1. Karen says:

    secret of shadow ranch!

  2. Future HeR Animator says:

    WOW! So awesome to able to see these screenshots! This is what i dream of doing at HeR one day, animating! Bringing the characters to life! I’m working on some simle animation right now and looking at collages that offer computer stuff. 😀 😀 Thanks for sharing this Jackalope!!!

  3. Anonymous says:

    The pic is in the Drew’s study by the photo album of all the cakes and the newspaper clipping!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Secret of Shadow Ranch.
    Very cool process.It must take alot of work but,you guys all love it,right?

    From me,
    Silvertongue.

  5. You’re right! This photo can be found near the book of Cake Photos. Of course, the picture was taken at Shadow Ranch.

    And yes, we love doing this kind of work. It sure is rewarding to see the end result of a long-worked on image or animation!

  6. May I ask what animation studio that was done in? Do you guys use Blender? 😉

  7. Future HeR Animator says:

    Little J, you forgot the little logo on the render window. You didn’t blurr it. I found the program that matches the logo and I plan on going to collage to learn the program.
    Collage is only a few years away for me! 😀
    but anyway, I just wanted you to know so next time you would look things over more carefully.:)

  8. Firewing3333 says:

    The process of creating a character is so interesting! What program do you guys use to animate the characters, if I may ask? 🙂

  9. Anonymous says:

    this is from on Nancy’s bookcase in her house on the second floor, Bess and George are at Shadow Ranch here.

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