Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Then there are the types of actions that the animator might want to appear
to be naturalistic, even though by their nature they are abstract or at least
completely unknown. Take, for example, the animation of dinosaurs or
dragons. Although the first type of creature did actually exist on earth, we are
left with no first-hand account of their movements, even though we can glean
a good deal of information about the way they
probably
moved by examining
what does remain of them. The second example, the dragon, is completely
fictitious; as such the study of dragons becomes difficult. However, we are
able to apply what we have learned from other sources. The study of large
land animals such as elephants, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus may help with
both examples; the study of snakes may assist the animator in getting to grips
with the animation of a dragon's tail.
Early in my career I learned the value of using my own body to study and
analyze action. I had to animate a number of rather difficult characters to a
standard I had not previously worked to. This task was far more challenging
than anything I had experienced before, and I was struggling. Then, on the
advice of the project's director, I began to act out the scenes for myself, not
as
myself but in a way that my characters would move. Ideally I would have
used direct reference material, but this was not practical, so I used the next
best thing: myself. I spent the next few weeks walking around the studio in
both the aspect of a young, powerful, and power-crazed princess and as one
of her short and very overweight courtiers. Believe me, this activity helped
a great deal. I not only learned through direct visual observation of my own
movements as seen in a full-length mirror, but I was able to
feel
how my body
moves in a particular way when undertaking a specific action. This exercise
gave me insight into where the weight in my body was at any particular
moment, where the center of gravity was, and how the figure balanced, and I
was able to locate all the stresses and tensions within my muscles.
Years later some of my graduate students, who were then working for a studio
in London making CG animation involving dinosaurs, were doing exactly the
same thing as they too struggled with the animation of creatures they had no
direct reference for. To get a better idea of how a wounded pterodactyl might
have hobbled across a Jurassic beach, they took to hauling themselves along
using crutches as makeshift wings and filmed the results. This technique
worked very well, and the animation was very successful.
As a young animator I had far less technology at my disposal for creating my
own reference material. Motion capture, digital photography (including stills),
and video capabilities in mobile phones were not available to animators in
the 1980s the way they are today. These are wonderful tools that can be used
to great effect as long as they are used appropriately. Animators should not
depend on any single source of referencing but rather should use a range
of resources: textbooks, film (animation and live action), photography (your
own and that of others), first-hand animation material (observation and
sketchbook work), the first-hand experience of others through mentorship
