Why is Timing Important in Walks?

Timing is important in everything.

It creates character, energy, attitude, weight, lead and follow. It creates physical and emotional performance. Timing is used to show effort in thought and movement.

When a child is sneaking up on a butterfly, they move very slowly, struggling to maintain balance until the moment of attack. There is great effort in moving slowly, especially when taking long strides. A slow sneak is contained excitement showing physical and emotional force. The attack is released excitement and physical energy exploding into a fast step or lunge to catch the butterfly.

A tired or sick person will walk pained and slow unless running for the bathroom; quickly shuffling for the bathroom means something different. An excited toddler will walk fast to keep up with their long legged parents. Timing and posture will show age, and it is very important in all animation.

Guest Blogger Wayne Gilbert

How Important is Music on a Demo Reel?

Honestly, I don't think music is important at all on a demo reel. I would question the validity of any recruiter that wanted to hire an animator based on their song choice.

I have actually never put music over my demo reel. Some people love putting a big rock song or a dance beat over their animation to help the entertainment factor, which I totally understand. Personally, I don't like putting anything on my reel that distracts from the animation. That includes both the music and the packaging.

I'm not hoping someone watches my demo and is entertained in the way they would be by a movie. I also don't want them spending time staring at the ornate box I sent it in. The goal is to have them focus on the work they are watching. I've heard that a lot of recruiters will turn off the volume if there is a distracting song playing, which won't help your dialogue shots too much.

I was told by a friend who has been in the industry for a long time that there was a general assumption among recruiters about demo reels: the fancier the packaging and presentation, the less likely the animation is good.

Less is definitely more when it comes to demo reels.

Guest Blogger Travis Tohill

What's the Most Important Animation Tool You Use?

Wow-- that’s a tough question. I guess I can answer that by answering a similar question: what tool can you not live without? I know this may sound silly but my answer is the animation picker.

[Insert old grandpa voice] Waay back in my day, we had to select joints to move them…give me my cane!

I remember going crazy because sometimes it was so hard to find out where the joints were that sometimes you would put keyframes on things you really shouldn’t. But then came Mel Scripting.

Mel allows the animator to do something very simply that used to be tedious. If you have to do something over and over, Mel is your man, or woman, or machine.

I developed my own picker when I found out just how powerful Mel is. It saved me so much time, it was amazing. Being able to click on a picture that didn’t move to select objects was truly a godsend to me. I do also remember that when we first started using the pickers, there was a lot of backlash from animators. They thought that by clicking on another window, their performance would be slowed down. Once they tried the picker, their performance actually sped up! Now it has become part of the workflow.

So simple an animator can do it.

Oh, and don’t get me started on referencing objects…

Guest Blogger Mike Gasaway

Which Animation Principle Do You Think is Most Important, and Why?

That's a tough one. Timing and posing are top contenders, but if I had to choose one, it would be timing. Great poses with bad timing can ruin your animation, but bad poses with great timing can still get the idea across. Both scenarios are obviously not ideal, but I prefer timing over poses.

To me, timing is really important because it determines the intention of your actions. You can have a simple head turn, going from one pose to another, but the feeling will change depending on how you transition from pose to pose.

If the timing is slow, the character may appear tired or very cautious, and if the timing is fast, the character may appear nervous or panicky. Or, let’s say you have a character (a student, for instance) picking up a piece of paper (a test). Your poses and body language will tell us how he feels to some extent, but the timing of how he picks up the piece of paper will tell us if the student is nervous, confident, or stressed.

Or, let's say a character is jumping and falling. Your poses could be fantastic, but if the timing is off, then the physics are off. If the weight is off your animation won't be believable or entertaining. If your poses are bad but the timing is spot on, your animation might not be pretty to look at, but the intention and overall feel and believability of your animation will be intact and the story idea will be somewhat preserved.

Of course, if your poses are absolutely horrendous and your character looks happy and proud instead of sad, then your audience will be confused no matter what. :)

Guest Blogger Jean-Denis Haas