Comments on Animation Tips & Tricks: Could You Discuss Blocking Techniques?

Angel, I'm so sorry that I didn't see thi...

2011-08-29T13:50:34.003-07:00

Angel,

I'm so sorry that I didn't see this way back when you posted it. I'm doing some writing on animation blocking and I just came back to review this page and I saw your comment.

Not sure if it's too late or not, but what you were told is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!! Women can work out animation timing just as well as men. What a silly thing for him to have said to you.

Best!
:) Dana

Am only a beginner in this field. Doing my B.Sc de...

2009-09-18T20:48:47.765-07:00

Am only a beginner in this field. Doing my B.Sc degree in animation. My sir said Its too difficult to manage timing animation being a girl.Is that correct? Am a girls .Is girls have less opportunities
or talents in this fields?

...so yeah, it's called 'copied pairs' because the...

2009-04-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

...so yeah, it's called 'copied pairs' because there are a pair of keys for each pose, one at the beginning of the pose, and one at the end. You make the pose, then copy it later in the timeline where you want the timing of that pose to end.

Incidentally, I find it very easy to shift around the timing this way as well, because you can grab the pose keys and move them up or down the timeline to lengthen or shorten the poses, and transitions as well. Keeps it nice and simple during blocking so I can get the timing just how I want it before adding lots of other details and offsetting different parts of the body

Copied pairs is a method of blocking where you key...

2009-04-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

Copied pairs is a method of blocking where you key your pose at the beginning of the time you want your character to be in that pose, and again at the end of that time that you want him/her to be in that pose. You can make the tangents constant at both ends of the pose, giving you a time period in between with that solid pose, which ends up looking much like stepped keys until you get to the pose change.

When you move your character into the next pose, you will put several frames after the first one (how many depends on how fast you want the pose to change), then key in your next pose (beginning and end again, of course). The transition between poses will be very boring and weightless initially because of the computer interpolation, but I go in and add breakdowns to the hips, arms, whatever's moving from one pose to the next, right away in the blocking stage so that I can already 'feel' the weight properly shifting from one pose into the next.

so, what is copied-pairs? why is it called copied-...

2009-04-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

so, what is copied-pairs? why is it called copied-pairs?

I work in splines a lot too, for simpler animation...

2009-04-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

I work in splines a lot too, for simpler animation I do everything in spline. there are tools for auto-orienting your splines (in maya I think it's a michael comet script, in houdini it's built in) which means you can get a fairly correct flow in the spline very fast and easy. I used to think splines are hell, until I heard the spline doctors talking about... splines, and then I read victor navone's splinophilia article and understood more about working clean and efficient with splines :D I think animating directly in splines is great :D

I agree, I think it's a personal preference. I lik...

2009-04-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

I agree, I think it's a personal preference. I like to jump back and forth from stepped to flat. Stepped helps me create stronger poses and then flattening them helps me with timing