Character Animation Fundamentals: Developing Skills for 2D and 3D Character Animation

Book Preface

In this chapter I’ll take you through two things: the equipment needed to make a basic animation studio and some simple animation. We will look at X-sheets and how they help timing, flipping, flicking and rolling; how to use a line tester; and how to put the lessons learnt from your drawn exercises onto a 3D computer animation program. By the end of the chapter you will have learnt how to organise yourself and how to plan and execute a piece of animation. I make no apologies for taking you right back to basics. You may know much of this but bear with me – it is worth refreshing your knowledge and reinforcing the basic principles behind animation.
How Animation Works

The Basics
2D drawn animation consists of a series of drawings shot one after another and played back to give the illusion of movement. This animation can be played back in a number of ways:
• In the form of a ‘flipbook’ (basically a pile of drawings in sequence, bound together and flipped with the thumb).

• Shot on film one drawing at a time with a movie camera and played back using a cinema projector.
• Shot on a video camera and played back with a video player.
• Shot with a video camera attached to a computer and played back on the same computer using an animation program.
• Scanned into a computer and played back.