jormajorma’s blogblog
Just another AnimationBlogspot.com weblog

hope to have more posts in the New Year.

Check out these puppeteering tutorials by Paul Louis.

Puppet Results on ExpertVillage

I would love to hear if anyone knows any other good puppeteering tutorials.

-cheers

This is a link sent to me from my friend Kiel. I’ll warn you that this is adult humor so is not appropriate for everyone. From an animation standpoint I think it is brilliant. I love the comedic timing.

Superfad Durex Commercial

I love puppetry. I have several puppets at home that I use to entertain my kids. It is a lot of fun. After animating all day it is fun to do something that is realtime.

So if your in love with muppets like I am and your looking for something not about the alphabet then you have to check out Puppet up. This is a troupe of puppeteers from Henson company that merged “who’s line is it anyways” with puppets. The live show allows the action to be seen two different ways. First is that you can see the puppeteers, then second if you watch the screens above them you see it like you would on tv. I think this is soo brilliant. They have a lot of videos up on youtube but I have not seen the live show yet.

puppet up

Also since we are talking puppets, John Ford fellow animator turned me on to treehouse studios. They are a group of animators over at bluesky that are trying there hand at puppeteering. I have only seen a couple of clips but I really like what I see.

tree house studios

I believe in plans. I believe in contingency plans. I believe in backup plans, and rainy day plans. This is never more important then when a project is nearing a critical time constrained deadline. The basic fear of the deadline tends to make people jump into action without the safety net of a plan. This makes them feel like they are moving in a forward positive direction. “Look at me I have finished so much work!” Though this can work, more often then not will end with assets being made that will not work for many unpredictable reasons. I think the prevailing reason to jumping into the problem is that management feels that they can sort out the unknowns when the asset is done. That is if there is any time left over:-)

So as I said planing is the better option in my opinion. I think it is better to fight against the fear and take your time to think of all of the angles and problems. Get your naming convention upfront and have your meeting with design. Yes this does take time but in my experience the time spent planning is more then gained over trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when you hit your deadline. Also another benefit is to manage stress. Deadlines are stressful and as you get closer to the end things will not look the way you think they should. Trying to iron out as many details early on will allow for brain processing time to be spent on those items that could not have been planned out. Ideally if everything works out , the closer you get to a deadline the less unknowns there are and you are truly working out nuances and not broad strokes.

So what do you do with your staff while the boss is trying to sort out the details? They can’t be sitting on there hands. Well at least in games I have found that dividing up the scoping and fact finding can definitely keep everyone busy. This works well when you have a capable team and it gives the employees a sense of ownership and respect. Other then that I believe there are always tasks that can be worked on that are more isolated. Having a pile of assets in the wing that are meant for rainy days is always a good idea. For games animated props are a good example.

Planning is not a magic Bullet and can be taken too far. It is a great tool for keeping work manageable and as predictable as much as any entertainment task can be.

-cheers

Here’s another cartoon series I can’t get enough of. Each little short follows the same similar formula. I would think this would get very tiring but they are quirky enough to keep my attention. Since the story does progress I think this helps keep the my attention to see where they are going to take it next. The simplistic approach and formula would probably help keep costs down and also help with timelines. Where they skimped on complexity, I think they made up for it in style and in my opinion is always a better choice. Hope you enjoy.

USAVICH.TV

This show will turn your frown upside down. I love everything about it. It reminds me of the really fun timing that 2D animation can get away with.

*The timing
*The Character Design
*The poses
*The Simple stories

I really need to buy these shorts. I think you can see most of them online. Check out this link.

Pocoyo

In video game production, more often then not there is an assumption that any attack or motion will do for an AI as long as it is “cool”. A lot of this has to do with the fact that animation is often created before design has finalized the game plan. I find this workflow very frustrating. I understand that games are about the fun play factor and animation is the icing on the cake, but with a little staggering of roles I think both can be achieved. In games there are very few places to show personality for AI that doesn’t rely on cinematics. If possible I try to milk as much personality into every available piece of motion. The attack of a character should compliment its personality as much as the idle or fidget. An example of this can be seen in my TR creature reel.

TR Creature Reel

The second creature showcased in the movie is the Boargar (Boar looking animal). Illustrating his swipe attack. Originally the design doc only called for a melee attack. During the swipe he spins around 90 degrees then has to manually turn the body the rest of the way. What I was trying to show in this move was that he is normally a very happy go lucky piggy but when threatened he strikes hard and strikes fast. So much so that his energy and exuberance can overcome his cute little body structure. Or something like that. This may seem like overkill but for a video game animator it can help keep the fun of animating alive and push the artist to make every animation as unique as possible. I also believe that this mentality helps bring life to a game without compromising design. This idea is not limited to only attacks but should be applied to everything. I have found transitions to be one of the most furtle ground for personality animations. When a creature is passive and then activated it is a great place to show how that character feels about being bothered. Also transition from active to passive states can show frustration or boredom. All of these things are usually supported by most tools such as Havok Behavior or most video game technology. I would love to have further tech that would support more situational or occupational animations. That would definitely go a long way to make creatures really belong into the world. I have not yet been blessed with that type of tech, so till then I will keep sneaking in as much personality as I am allowed.

I really love the posts that John K writes and I try to read it everyday. He is such a wealth of information to share and it is very noble of him to pass it on. Though I rarely disagree with his thoughts and comments as it pertains to animation past and present I am not a huge fan of his work. I can’t seem to look past the awkwardness of the humor and crassness of the material. I am though, a huge fan of his commercial work. Here it seems that his brilliant timing and wonderful cartoony styling is pared done to something that is more palatable to mass consumption. I hope he continues to create these really fun commercials.

John-K-Blog

John-K-commercials

If you haven’t seen the lolliipop music video, click below. It is a must!!

Lollipop

The music is from the pop star Mika and the animation is from Bomzom. I just love the timing and style. The link below shows some of there other work.

Bomzom