A

animation

a business worth getting into 270–1

with constraints 128–33

golden age 207

Animation Layers 22, 23–5, 272–3

basics 276–9

cycle cheating 280–3

filter if crowded 277

how they work 274–5

lock BackAnimation 275

overrirde mode and muting 279

texture 284–5

variations on a large scale 76

animators

Darrin Butters advice 291

as dying breed 206, 299,301

Greg Kyle's advice 301

Jacob Bergman's advice 299

Keith A. Sintay's advice 295

Michael Cawood's advice 207

an im Export 143

anticipation 6–7

appeal 32–3

arcs 20–1, 96

refining in Polish 196–9

Attribute Spreadsheet 141

audience focus 8

audience reaction 26

auto key 82–3

AutoTangent 46, 49, 55, 193

 

B

balls

animating with constraints 128–33

animation layer 276–9

anticipation 6–7

bouncing ball with antenna 12–13

bouncing ball using value operators 74–5

bouncing using Editable Motion Trails 96–9

curvesofa bouncing ball 18

moving up and down 210–13

squash and stretch 4–5

staging 8–11

stride length 214–17

using Grease Pencil tool 108–11

beats of a scene 72

Bergman, Jacob

advice for animators 299

animators as dying breed 299

favorite tools in Maya 298

first job in animation 299

knowing when you have found right idea for

a shot 298–9

reasons for sticking with it 299

relying on special script or plugins 298

working with motion capture 298

blending animation 24–5

blendShapes 154–7

bookmarks, naming 79

Breakdown keys 73

buffer curves 76–7

Butters, Darrin

advice for animators 291

advice for a demo reel 291

doing things differently 291

favorite animator 290

favorite character 290

interest and hobbies 290–1

tips for getting inside character's head 291

understanding motivation/subtlety of a scene

291

workflow changes 290

 

C

camera angle 9

cartoony motion 88–9, 176

planning shots 244–5

Cawood, Michael

advice for animators 207

advice for a demo reel 206–7

animators as dying breed 206

favourite tools in Maya 203

finding the right idea for a shot 205–6

golden age of animation 207

interests and hobbies 204

personal projects 205

tips for getting inside character's head 204–5

understanding motivation/subtlety of a scene 204–5

using Maya in everyday job 202

workflow changes 203–4

Cenk250–1

channel selection 29

character poses

arm controls 106–7

arm and hand switching 102–5

arm, raising 38–41, 55–9

body and head shapes 32–3

body movement 21

body rotation 100–1

boredom 23–5

chest movement 92–5

controller symmetry/object space 138–43

embarrassment 14–15

facial expressions 84–7, 246–69

fixing problems 240–3

flying cycle 222–7

giving and taking a pencil 126–7

hair Et cloth additions 168–71

head movement 20–1

heads and noses 112–15

holding a lollipop 124–5

jumping 18–19

lead action part of the body 116–17

numb arm 88–9

planning 176–9

ponytail and earrings 144–7

rough posing 111

running and falling on the ground 182–7, 196–9

spine movement 16–17

thinking 26–7

variations in cycles 280–3

walking 28–9, 30–1, 76–7, 218–21

waving 14

writing 82–3

see also facial animation; lip sync

Character Sets 106–7

clips

manipulating 90–1

in relative space 91

clusters

adding 158–63

move location 159

pivot point 161

position and weight 158

smooth influence of 163

coloring the action 22

compressed/contained 5

computer control 55

constraints 118–19

all or nothing approach 129

animating with 128–33

parent 122–3, 133

parenting 120–1

prop rig 124–5

weights 123, 126–7

controllers 138–43

scale of 149

world 139

zeroing 140

converting cycles 180–1

copied pairs 188

Copy Keys 143, 191

copy and paste 140, 194

copying curves 92–5

core ideas 28

curves

of bouncing ball 18

buffer 76–7

copying 92–5

drift 45

frame length 211

isolating specific curves on multiple controls 221

offsetting 17,213

Pre-and Post-Infinity 210–13

tweaking 92

see also splines (spline curves)

customizing see standing out

cycle with offset 139

cycles 140, 208–9

basics 210–13

converting 180–1

experiment with making sections slightly

different in length 225

eyeballing 214

flying cycle 222–7

quad 228–9

stride length 214–17,229

variations in 280–3

walk 180–1,218–21

 

D

deformers

facial 32–3

keep copy of body mesh before adding

deforms 155

Lattice Deform 72

wave 89

wrap 164–7

deleting 31

demo reel

Derrin Butter's advice 291

Greg Kyle's advice 301

John Nguyen's advice 297

Keith A Sintay's advice 295

Michael Cawood's advice 206–7

dialogue

breaking down 150–1

see also sound

Dope Sheet 182, 185

dry erase markers on monitors 43

dynamics 145, 168, 171

 

E

ease in/ease out see slow in/slow out

Editable Motion Trail 19, 20–1, 96–9

and Grease Pencil tool 112–15

refining arcs in Polish 196–9

exaggeration 28–9, 88

 

F

facial animation 84–7, 246–7

blink and brows 262–5

blinks 260–1

core poses 250–1

deforms 32–3

eye darts 266–7

final touches 268–9

jaw motion (lip sync 1) 252–3

mouth corners (lip sync 2) 254–5

mouth shapes (lip sync 3) 256–7

planning and prep 248–9

timeline technique 84–7

tongue (lip sync 4) 258–9

see also character poses; lip sync

final polish list 286–9

final texture 200–1

FK (forward kinematics) 100–1

IK/FK switching 102–5

flatting 18

flying cycle 222–7

follow-through 16–17

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators 20

forward kinematics see FK

 

G

games 223

Graph Editor 60–1, 185

buffer curves 76–7

Infinity in 75

right click to give the menu 67

speed cheats 78–9

value operators 74–6

visual tools 68–71

windup 66–7

working with keys 72–3

Grease Pencil tool 108–11

and trails 112–15

 

I

IK (inverse kinematics) 100–1

IK/FK switching 102–5

in-panel previews 11

Insert Key 72

inverse kinematics see IK

 

H

keyframe animation 128–33

keys, working with 72–3, 182–5

Kyle, Greg

advice for animators 301

advice for a demo reel 301

animators as dying breed 301

favorite animator 300

favorite tools in Maya 300

knowing when you have found right idea for

a shot 300

reasons for staying with it 301

relying on special script or plugins 301

 

L

Lattice Deform 72

Leighton, Eric 134–5

lip sync

jaw motion 252–3

mouth corners 254–5

mouth shapes 256–7

tongue 258–9

see also character poses; facial expressions

 

M

maxed-out/hyperextended arms and legs 32

monitors, dry erase markers on 43

motion capture 293–4, 298

moving holds

with Retime Tool 194–5

when splining 188–93

mute/unmute channels 69

 

N

Nguyen, John

advice for animators 297

advice for a demo reel 297

animators as a dying breed 297

favorite tools in Maya 296

knowing when you have found right idea for

a shot 297

tips for getting inside a character's head 296

understanding motivation/subtlety of a scene 296

 

O

objects

cone and box 122–3

constraints 120–33

gloves 164–7

hair Et cloth 168–71

lollipop 124–5, 148–9

ponytail and earrings 144–7

running and falling on the ground 182–7, 196–9

selection 121

spheres 120–1

offline edits 236–9

outstretched/extended 5

overlapping action 16–17

 

P

parent constraints 122–3, 133

parenting 120–1

Pinned option 99

planning 176–9

playing at speed 7

Polish, refining arcs in 196–9

pose to pose 12–15, 186

Post-Infinity curve 210–13

Pre-lnfinity curve 210–13

Pre-Select Highlight 71

principles 3

anticipation 6–7

appeal 32–3

arcs 20–1

exaggeration 28–9

overlapping action/follow-through 16–17

secondary action 22–5

slow in/slow out 18–19

solid drawing 30–1

squash and stretch 4–5

staging 8–11

straight ahead/pose to pose 12–15

timing 26–7

prop constraints 124–5, 126

rigging 148–9

 

Q

quad cycles 228–9

 

R

reference 176–9

reference edits

offline 236–9

saving 240–3

reference video 172–3, 176

referencing 230–1

basics 232–5

namespace 233

offline edits 236–9

saving edits 240–3

standardize naming convention 235

Region Tool 72

Retime Handles 195

Retime Tool 72, 182, 183

moving holds with 194–5

rigs 136–7

adding BlendShapes 154–7

keep copy of body mesh before adding deforms 155

props 148–9

sprucing it up 144–7

testing 138–43

Roy, Kenny

break down dialogue 150–1

hips lead the action 116–17

making the most of reference video 172–3

planning cartoony shots 244–5

starting over 60–1

well-rounded approach 134–5

workflow 34–5

 

S

scenes

acting out 178

saving a scene 33

timing reference 178–9

understanding motivation/subtlety of 204–5, 291,293,296

secondary action 22–5

Sintay, Keith A.

advice for animators 295

advice for a demo reel 295

favorite tools in Maya 292–3

first job in animation 294–5

how to use Maya in everyday job 292

relying on special script/plugins 294

tips for getting inside a character's head 293

understanding motivation/subtlety of a scene 293

working with motion capture 293–4

slow in/slow out 18–19, 55

adding extra key to shape ease ins/ease outs 57

smooth channel 157

solid drawing 30–1

sound

breaking dialogue 150–1

generation 87

importing into a scene 249

turning off 172–3

spacing 27, 55

and splines 42–5

tracking the movement 43

speed cheats 78–9

splines (or spline curves) 36–7

avoid letting curves drift 45

how they work 38–41

moving holds 188–91

open viewport and Graph Editor together 39

and spacing 42–5

spline reference 56–9

tangent handles 50–3

and tangent types 46–9

technique 54–5

see also curves

spotlight selection 11

spruce up 144–7

squash 4–5

staging 8–11

standing out 152–3

adding blend shapes 154–7

adding clusters 158–63

adding hair Et cloth 168–71

wrap deformer 164–7

Stepped keys 182–5, 193

stepped preview 186–7

straight ahead 12–15

stretch 4–5

stride length 140,214–17,229

 

T

tangent handles 50–3

breaking and weighting 51, 53

handles pros and cons 53

keys pros and cons 53

weighted and non-weighted 50

tangent types 46–9, 187

clamped 49, 189, 193

flat 49, 189

linear 49, 59

plateau 49

spline 49

stepped 49

techniques 80–1

auto key 82–3

cartoony motion 88–9

character sets 106–7

copying curves 92–5

edible motion trails 96–9

grease pencil tool 108–11, 112–15

IK and FK 100–1, 102–5

timeline 84–7

trax editor 90–1

texture

final 200–1

layers for 284–5

thumbnails 176

timing 26–7

scenes 178–9

Track Editor 185

Trail Color slider 97

trax editor 90–1

twinning 32

 

V

value operators

Add (+=) 74

divide (/=) 74

multiply (*=) 74

subtract (- =) 74

visual tools 68–71

 

W

walk cycle 180–1, 218–21

walking 28–9, 30–1, 76–7

wave deformer 89

wind-up for action 4, 6

workflow 34–5, 174–5

converting cycles 180–1

Darrin Butters' advice 290

final texture 200–1

Kenny Roy's advice 34–5

Michael Cawood's advice 203–4

moving holds with retime tool 194–5

moving holds when splining 188–93

planning/reference 176–9

refining arcs in polish 196–9

stepped keys 182–5

stepped preview 186–7

world controllers 139

World Space 180

Wrap deformer 164–7

duplicating body parts 165

smoothing 166–7

 

Y

Youtube 176

Yu Ji 34–5