Comments on Animation Tips & Tricks: Regarding Timing, Do Professional 3D Animators Use...

Hey Julian, no Petrone here, =) In regards to you...

2009-08-12T07:34:36.789-07:00

Hey Julian, no Petrone here, =)

In regards to your question, I was wondering the same thing as I was reading Shawn's post for the first time, but towards the end he mentions using the frame number of your video reference as a base at least in the planning stage. So as you're making your thumbnails based on your video reference, also make note of the frame number. Using the "real-life" timing, as Shawn says, makes perfect sense. Now, how do you figure out timing when NOT using video reference? I guess that's where tools like Flipbook come in handy. But I definitely agree with Shawn that planning goes much smoother when you use video reference.

fyi, you can view the frame number instead of min:sec in Quicktime which is helpful when looking at reference.

Hey Shawn, Great piece of advice. I'm current...

2009-08-11T20:10:46.027-07:00

Hey Shawn,

Great piece of advice. I'm currently blocking a shot with some boxing moves (I've no boxing experience) and the conceptual approach to how to go from a real performance to an exaggerated one you just described is very concise and clear. The workflow you suggest is definitely the one I'm going to use.

This blog is great by the way.

Cheers,

Charles

Long time follower, first time commenter here =) ...

2009-08-11T14:26:34.870-07:00

Long time follower, first time commenter here =)

Personally, I use thumbnails and Flipbook during my planning stages. I quickly explore the poses and breakdowns I want, not worried about drawing mistakes and only concerned with how clear it reads. Flipbook just helps me experiment with the timing of the poses I've figured out on paper, and it's a more intuitive alternative, at least for me, than shifting around that thin red keyframe mark in Maya. Once that's down, I pretty much use that information to transfer into Maya.

My question, however, is similar Adam P's (Your last name wouldn't happen to be Petrone, would it?). How would you go about figuring out the correct timing of your work just on paper? I usually never know until I've seen it in a sequence of some kind, and that's where Flipbook plays its hand. So, something that I think may only need 5 frames on paper, may possibly need more or less. How can you ever be sure when you haven't seen any kind of playback?

Hey Shawn Great post! I was wondering about the ...

2009-08-11T13:34:28.758-07:00

Hey Shawn

Great post! I was wondering about the software tools you mentioned. How "common" is it for an animator to use something like Flipbook or PAP to "plan" a shot before even touching the 3D character (Sort of like animated thumbnails, not necessarily polished hand drawn animation)? Is that way of "planning" realistic in a bigger studio setting, or do most animators stick to thumbnails on paper? I was also curious as to how you're supposed to figure out what poses happen on what frames, but using the "real-life" timing makes perfect sense.

Again, great post!