Notes

Principles of animation

Squash and Stretch seems to be the most important to early Disney Animations. Stretching an object out helps with getting a sense of speed across,
Anticipation prepping for the action, the running man can crouch and ready himself like a spring. Make the anticipation action easy to read!
Staging helps an action being staged so that it is understood, helps sell the story that is being told "if a spooky feeling is desired, the scene is filled with the symbols of a spooky situation. Old house, wind howling, leaves or paper rustling through the yard, clouds floating across the moon, threatening sky, bare branches scraping against windows… a bright red flower will be out of place". Strong silhouettes for actions.
Straight ahead action and pose to pose. Straight ahead is making the Animation as you go. Animator knows the story point of the scene and things to include, but hasn't little plan on how it will all be done. Pose to pose is where the animator has planned their actions, figures out which drawings will be needed to animate the business, makes the drawings, relating them to each other in size and action, and gives them to an assistant to draw the inbetweens. With Pose to pose there is clarity and strength. With Straight ahead action there is spontaneity. Both methods have their uses and are usually combined. Some animations benefit from relying on one more than the other.
Follow Through and overlapping adds life to a character. If they stop suddenly it would look unnatural so if they have appendages, tails or coats these parts would continue to move after the main figure has stopped. The body also doesn't move all together differently but different bits move and catch up at different rates.
Slow in and out helps with timing an transitioning between extremes
Arcs. Very few organisms are capable of moves that have a mechanical in and out or up and down. Most living creatures' movements follow a slightly circular path. The head seldom thrusts out then back again.
Secondary Action supports the main action. A flustered person will put on their glasses as they regain composure. Secondary Action is always kept subordinate to the primary action. If it conflicts with the primary action or becomes more interesting or dominating in any way, it is either the wrong choice or is staged improperly.
Timing The number of frames used in any move determines the amount of time that action will take on the screen.
Exaggeration pushes a character's actions if they're sad make them sadder; bright make him brighter.
Solid Drawing make the poses appealing and stand out
Appeal making the character appealing for the audience, quality of charm, pleasing design, communication, magnetism. Whether it be a heroic character or a villain they should have some appeal/swagger to them that makes that character pop.

Alessandro: How to animate (part1): Planning your shot (Maya)

Video reference and blocking

Add in something that pushes your animation further, Pitching with the addition of a flip makes it more interesting.

Creating your own reference can help push further alongside the collected reference.

Sketching the Key Poses can help in creating the KEys

Setting up for new animation: Modify > preferences > Animation > Tangents = Clamped and Stepped.

AutoKey on

Add keyframe on first frame so can utilize auto keyframing

Is Asymmetry good in face, If the mouth is angled to the side and pushed, have the nose follow that line. Really push expression.

For the next pose grab everything and set the key then pose to match reference. Alessandro resets all the controls and then poses them.

Alessandro: How To Animate (part2): Blocking

Alessandro Usually starts with the feet.

Doesn’t focus on fingers too much

On down has a bit of compression

Uses the keyframe skip to help check poses

Quickly can pose in stepped and then checks in spline to check.

With Gimbal lock Alessandro uses the second hip control to help.

Hiding limbs can help with the part you’re working on

Use the motion trail tool for arcs and it’s flowing nicely. Helps eliminate hitches.

Use limbs to cheat in certain poses to hide rig limitations

Pose the face in each key

Have contrasting lines 25:00 min

Alessandro: How To Animate (part3): Blocking plus

Can use Tween Machine to help create inbetweens in the blocking stage

Once tweens are made for the section Alessandro refines the arcs and makes sure that all the body parts aren’t moving in the same way (Secondarys)