What Are Some Tools You Use to Animate Better?

Our tools vary from show to show, but it really saves time when you have a great character UI, a way to pick controllers of your character-- especially when you have a lot of work to do with fingers or facial features.

A good facial shape setup will go a long way. If you have to zoom and move around your character trying to find the right controller, then you're wasting time. So if there's not character picker, then I set up scripts (in Maya) that help me select all the fingers at once, or all the tail controllers, or wing controllers, etc.

It's also really helpful to have a script that will select all the keys that are part of your character in case you have to move the whole animation around. It is a huge time saver for me during my initial blocking passes.

Or, let's say you have to add some handheld motion to your camera and you need to set random keys for a long period of time, then it helps to have a script that does that for you. You just adjust the frequency and amplitude and go from there. If you had to do that by hand, it could take a long time.

Sometimes you need to zoom into your scene but you don't want to use another camera because you need that exact angle and setup of your shot. For this you can use a 2D camera zoom script. This helps me a lot when I need to focus on specific areas that are more detail oriented and smaller, like fingers vs. big body movement.

These tools actually exist online. You can find them on creativecrash.com in the Maya MEL script section, and I highly recommend them.

I also have a set of hotkeys within Maya that help me save time. For instance going back and forth in time, frame by frame, or toggling Nurbs controllers on and off, or other things that I use very frequently. The hotkeys are also laid out close together in a way that I don't have to move my hand around, just stretch my fingers a bit and that's it.

Of course there are also other tools for copying animation curves, mocap tools, cleanup tools, etc. that I use, but due to their proprietary nature I wouldn't be allowed to talk about them. The previously mentioned tools are all available online and let me have a pretty good setup at home and not just at work.

Guest Blogger Jean-Denis Haas

Is There a Movie Scene or Life Event that Inspires your Animation?

Every good animator has something that inspires them, and is constantly being re-inspired.

While surfing this morning, I experienced an interesting inspiration. There were groups of children on summer vacation taking life guard camps at the beach. Instead of watching for waves behind me, I was watching them run around, gleeful despite the fact that it was 8 am, laughing and pushing each other about, falling in a heap, then scattering. They would be told to swim so they would go charging into the water screaming, then flailing around until they got over the cold shock, then splashing one another or body surfing until the teacher ordered them to swim around the buoys out past the break.

They instantly got serious. Some were quite competitive while others fell complacently behind like it was a chore. As soon as the task was over, their attitudes would quickly change back to playful frantic energy.

It was funny to watch. It would have been a blast to animate.

I remember the reason I wanted to get into animation was from inspiration from the original Jurassic Park movie. It came out when I was a freshmen in high school, and I was blown away by the fact that computers could turn something extinct alive. I knew I wanted to somehow become involved in that magic. The scene where they were chased in the field was particularly inspiring to me. But there have been many more moments since.

Guest Blogger Jason Martinsen

How Important Is Networking in the Animation Industry?

Networking is very important in the animation industry. It takes some time to start getting a solid group of folks in your rolodex who you can rely on, and who in turn will rely on you. I’ve gotten to know so many amazing people in this business, and I have a core group of contacts (who are also really good friends). We help each other find work and connect with other folks. You have to be out there working to get your “list” going, and obviously you’ll increase the number of people you know as you work at different studios.

It’s a very small industry, so you also have to take care to be respectful of your peers as well. Negativity can get talked about very easily, and can affect your potential employability. So don’t do underhanded things to work colleagues! It will come back to bite you in the butt eventually!

Guest Blogger Dana Boadway

What Are the Top 3 Types of Scenes to Include on a Demo Reel?

I think it is important to show a bit of everything on your demo reel.

If I had to pick 3, I would go with: a body mechanics shot, a pantomime acting shot, and a dialog acting shot. Those scenes cover a pretty decent area of animation and will go a long way toward showing your chops. Including these scenes will also hold the attention of the viewer, whether that is a recruiter, a supervising animator, or your mother.

Guest Blogger Josh Riley