Nature's Call

Cgtantra session animation

I did this animation for an animation session on cgtantra

Tips and Tricks

I was just thinking of having this post to provide answers to some of the frequently asked questions. So here I go

Q : How important is it for a 3D animator to know 2D/ have drawing skills ?

Ans : Well, when I was a rookie in animation, like many , I also had this question in my mind and used to ask it to people in conferences and other places. I can now myself give an answer to it . I would say that it is 100% important for an animator to be able to draw. Being able to draw does not mean that you have to be Michelangelo. But you should be able to do rough thumbnailing of poses. It helps. If you are working in a studio, you get storyboards for your shots and better understanding of storyboard is possible if you yourself have tried your hands on different poses. And I think every animator wants to do some animation of his/her own. Now, if you are not able to plan out your poses, how can software give you your animation. If you are not from 2D background, no worries. Just grab a copy of "Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair"and start drawing from it. Its a great book. Draw from anything. Draw your imagination. Just keep drawing.

Q : Where to use IK and where FK?

Ans : Generally, IK is used where you have contact with something. Like feet are in IK because they are in contact with ground. Or say a guy drinking a glass of water will have his hand holding the glass in IK. Fk is used where their are no contacts required. Say a guy walking will have FK hands.But there is no hard and fast rule to it. Whatever suits you in whichever situation works best. Many animators work only with IK and many with only FK. Inbetween your shot also depending on situation, you can switch FK to IK and vice versa . So, its all a matter of your ease.

Q : How do I track my arcs?
Ans : Tracking arcs in any software can be done using an erasable screen marker. Just trace your arcs on your monitor screen. If you are still unconfortable with that, then you can put a clean transparent plastic paper on your monitor and use a permanent marker on it. I use clear paper used for wrapping cut fruits and vegetabes :) . Then there are few tools in maya software like ghosting and motion trail which ease in tracking arcs. You can also check your spacing in these ways.

Q: How to avoid unwanted rotations in hands or gimbal locks ?

Ans: Solution for this is to animate in gimbal mode because in gimbal mode, you animate in one axis at a time. For this it is not even necessary to change the rotation mode to gimbal in rotation tool's settings. By default , rotation mode is set to local. Keep it that only. After choosing rotation tool for the object , just left click on any of the rotate attributes or click on the rotate attribute of that axis in which you want to rotate your object. Say for rotating in x axis, after choosing the rotate tool, left click on Rotate X attribute of object in the channel box. This will automatically put your rotation in gimbal mode. Also, I never rotate the object using outer ring of the rotate tool.

If you have got a gimbal lock problem and you want to resolve it , then select the object and go in graph editor . Check for x and z rotation graphs (most of the time they would be the culprits), you will find they they are crossing each other at the point where your hands are rotating unwantingly ie the point where you have gimbal lock. Correct the graph of x and z rotation at that key and keys after that and your problem will be solved.

More to come. So keep visiting :)

Gymnastics

Animation of a guy doing gymnastics.

Experimenting with stick figure

Having fun with stick figure. This is my first experiment with stick figure on a small software.

Push Animation

Hi ! This is animation of pushing a sofa.