01 A LAMP AND A BALL – PART 1

In this first lesson we will have a look at some basic tools to start taking the first steps in the world of animation.

02 A LAMP AND A BALL – PART 2

In the second part of the lesson we will animate the lamp interacting with the ball and start familiarizing with the Graph Editor.

03 THE GRAPH EDITOR

The Graph Editor is an essential tool every animator should master. In this video we will study its characteristics by creating an animation without using the viewport.

04 THE BOUNCING BALL

The Bouncing Ball is an animation exercise which every animator should know how to do. Later on, we will understand that everything we animate is somehow related to the simple ball that bounces.

05 ANIMATING A PENDULUM

Another animation classic. When animating the pendulum we learn to manage all the overlapping movements, from the simplest to most complex.

06 A BALL AND HIS TAIL -PART 1

We will animate a jumping ball with a tail. In this first part we will manage the movement of the ball only through Anticipation and Squash & Stretch.

07 A BALL AND HIS TAIL -PART 2

We go on with the jump exercise and add the tail movement and overlap by copying, pasting and phase shifting the curve in the Graph Editor.

08 THE LAMP JUMP

In this lesson we will animate a lamp and make it jump like the famous Pixar lamp does. Here we will focus on Timing and Overlap.

09 MOTION TRAIL

Maya offers a very useful tool to trace the arcs, which are the pathways followed by moving objects. A visible trace of such pathways allows us to create more fluid animations.

10 WALKING CYCLES -LAYERED P.1

We study a generic walking cycle of a character and start animating it by using the layered method. In this first part we will focus only on the pelvis, the point where the movement begins.

11 WALKING CYCLES -LAYERED P.2

Let’s now animate the legs: first studying the main poses and working on one of the two, then copying and pasting the result to the other to complete the animation.

12 IK VS FK

We analyse the difference between a system of bones in inverse kinematics (IK) and in forward kinematics (FK) and learn how to choose the most suitable method according to the shot we’re animating.

13 WALKING CYCLES -POSE TO POSE 1

Let’s move back to the generic walking cycle and try the Pose to Pose animation to find the differences with the Layered method. In this first part we will deal with the main poses design.

14 WALKING CYCLES -POSE TO POSE 2

Let’s move from the Blocking to the Splining phase to complete the walking cycle and see how to manage the Curves in the Graph Editor in this crucial transition.

15 FULL BODY RUN – p.1

We animate a running in place cycle by using the layered method. We first work on the shot planning and then start animating the pelvis.

16 FULL BODY RUN – p.2

We add the movement of legs and feet, then follow our planning to have a clear view of the main poses we want the animation to achieve.

17 FULL BODY RUN – p.3

To complete the running cycle we add the arms and hands movement and see how to make them work consistently with the torso and the legs.

18 CONSTRAINTS – p.1

In Character Animation it’s often necessary to connect some objects to each other so that one follows the movement of the other. Here we see various Constraint techniques that can be used.

19 CONSTRAINTS – p.2

In this second lesson about Constraints we will see how to animate an object connected to a hand through Groups and Parent Constraint.

20 CONSTRAINTS – p.3

In the last lesson about Constraints we will see how to deal with a character holding an object with 2 hands or with one throwing it from hand to hand.

21 THE SOLDIER – p.1

In this lesson we will create the animation of a video game soldier performing an action. In the first of the 3 videos we will manage the objects setup.

22 THE SOLDIER  – p.2

After setting up the necessary objects, we begin animating the video game soldier starting from the lower part of the body.

23 THE SOLDIER – p.3

In this lesson we will animate the upper part of the body and complete the soldier animation.

24 HAND POSING

In this lesson we will study the hands animation to add appeal to our poses and movements.

25 THE CLIMBING -p.1

Michal Makarewicz, Directing Animator at Pixar, shows us the workflow that he uses every day in production. He will do it by animating a character who climbs on a wall.

26 THE CLIMBING -p.2

In this video lecture, we continue to examine how a great professional animator works on a complex phisical shots like this. Let’s add new levels of complexity to the animation.

27 THE CLIMBING -p.3

We continue to examine Michal’s workflow, adding new layer of complexity to the animation. In this lectures we will add movements the upper body.

28 THE CLIMBING -p.4

Let’s add arms and head to our animation. This lecture concludes the Climbing Animation performed by Michal Makarewicz using the Layered Method.

29 LIP SYNC -p.1

Let’s make the characters talk! We learn how to synchronize the lips with an audio track using the Layered Animation Method.

30 LIP SYNC -p.2

After creating the major movements of the mouth, we add details to the Lip Sync animation.

31 LIP SYNC -p.3

We keep working on the Lip Sync, this time looking at the character from different angles, in order to add further layers of complexity to the animation.

32 THE TONGUE

The tongue plays an important role in the final outcome of a good lip-sync, since in real life it is an essential instrument to speak properly. Let’s finalize the animation.