Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
At some point during the character creation and rough set portion of the production, you need to obtain a
quality recording of any dialog that may occur in the animation. Environmental sounds will be fi lled in after-
ward, but any quality character animation that must accompany the spoken word needs to be built correctly
from the beginning.
Figure 1.10
A character during the animation process
Only then, after weeks (or months) of buildup and work, do you actually get to animate. The best way to
accomplish this stage is to lock yourself away from the rest of humanity so they won't see you obsessively per-
forming the same intricate hand motion over and over to learn
exactly
how the fi ngers fl are and in what order
and position they come to rest when your character performs a specifi c motion. It's also better if no one sees
you doing the silly walk that your character needs to perform, around and around and around. Regardless
of the level of self-ostracism you choose, the process of animating will require time and patience. It may also
require that you go back and adjust your models and rigs. If you've done things correctly, though, if you've
followed the plan, this sort of minimal backtracking will not hurt the production.
As you complete the animation for each shot, you get to do what is probably more fun than any other single
part of the process. You put your animated version of each shot back into the story reel, covering up the rel-
evant portions of the storyboards. With each new shot you fi nish, the story reel evolves from a series of still
images into a moving compendium of your animation genius. And frankly, at this point you hope it's genius,
because you'll have soaked months of your life into it.
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