Monday, April 20, 2009

What Do You Do When You Come across an Animation Problem That You Cannot Solve?

There is no replacement for experience. This profession is not exempt from that simple fact! Smart animators immediately seek out experience when they hit a wall with their work. On the job when I get stuck, the very first thing I do is to spin my chair around, and ask all the animators around me! When I was starting out, I had the very good luck to be placed in some offices large enough that there was always somebody around who had experience with the problem I was dealing with, but small enough that everyone helping each other out was not too distracting from the work of the day. That was always between 6-9 people to a room. If you are in a situation like that, there will always be somebody around who has dealt with something very similar who can point you in the right direction. And even if you are not in a production environment yet, you are never alone when you have the internet! I learned every single technical skill I have from a forum that I visited daily when I was first interested in CG. Not unlike the Animation Mentor forums, this place was filled with individuals pursuing the craft like me. If they didn’t have an exact answer, they at least had a unique approach to the problem that would get me thinking more innovatively.

If there is literally nobody around, no time to wait for a forum reply, and you are truly stuck, there are some little tricks that might get you back on track. First, if the problem is technical, all software has more than one way to achieve nearly every effect, so check the documentation for those other paths you might take. If it’s a performance issue, then ask yourself what made you choose the performance that is not coming across in the first place. Try making a different acting choice and seeing if it was the stronger one all along. If you can’t see what is wrong, but know something is, then take a break! You need fresh eyes to diagnose the situation. Take a walk, leave the shot, and when you come back you may just have a new idea. There are millions of hurdles that an animator may encounter. So I cannot give advice for everything. All I know is that there is a solution for all of them. So never give up.

Guest Blogger Kenny Roy

5 comments:

Kevin said...

Good stuff, Kenny. In addition, my acting professor says there is one question you should always ask yourself when making an acting choice: "What would I do if I were this character in this situation?" It's not just what you would do, and it's not just what you think the character would do. It's a combination of the two which usually results in an acting choice that appears natural and believable. This is what the Russian actor Constantin Stanislavski's called the "magic if." Read more about Stanislavski's system. It was initially created for stage actors, but there's a ton of stuff we animators can take from it.

Fabian Molina said...

Thanks for the Great post! Backign away from something and coming back to it with fresh eyes really works great. Aside from asking my peers around me with help, thats in the top 3 things to do when i hit those brink walls. One can only fiddle and play with the same model, drawing, or puppet for so long til, our mind goes crazy. hehe

Unknown said...

Kondiloma akuminatum ialah vegetasi oleh Human Papiloma Virus tipe tertentu, bertangkai, dan permukaannya berjonjot. Tipe HPV tertentu mempunyai potensi onkogenik yang tinggi, yaitu tipe 16 dan 18. tipe ini merupakan jenis virus yang paling sering dijumpai pada kanker serviks. Sedangkan tipe 6 dan 11 lebih sering dijumpai pada kondiloma akuminatum dan neoplasia intraepitelial serviks derajat ringan. Kondiloma akuminatum ialah vegetasi oleh Human Papiloma Virus tipe tertentu, bertangkai, dan permukaannya berjonjot. Tipe HPV tertentu mempunyai potensi onkogenik yang tinggi, yaitu tipe 16 dan 18. tipe ini merupakan jenis virus yang paling sering dijumpai pada kanker serviks. Sedangkan tipe 6 dan 11 lebih sering dijumpai pada kondiloma akuminatum dan neoplasia intraepitelial serviks derajat ringan segera kontak kami untuk mendapatkan obat kutil kelamin manjur

navya said...

Very interesting and good Explanation
ASP.NET Training
ASP NET Training
ASP.NET Online Training
C-Sharp Training
Dot Net Training in Chennai
.Net Online Training


Online MVC Training
Online WCF Training
Online Web-API Training
Online LINQ Training
Online Entity Framework
Training

Dot Net Interview Questions

5689 said...

zzzzz2018.8.7
pandora charms
nike factory outlet
canada goose jackets
nike outlet store
pandora charms outlet
ralph lauren uk
moncler online
canada goose jackets
nike air jordan
nike outlet