http://www.daniel-lim.co.uk/tag/planning/page/3/
Some references of storyboards for sketching out animation sequences and demos of the animations.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Eye movement in animation - essay for ACM204
Eye movement in animation
The movement of eyes in animation is an integral part of expressing a characters emotions, awareness of surroundings and indicating their trajectory. Without a word we can often tell if a character is happy or sad just by looking at their eyes. While some common traits of eyes in animation can be unrealistic for real people, the established rules are simply exaggerations of reality.
In 3D animation, many simple animations have characters with static eyes or simple linear movements. It can be quite creepy to watch a character that moves but their eyes do not! So it’s very important to consider animating the eyes in more erratic patterns that mimic more of a human movement. When we look at things, our eyes do not stay fixated in one place, we survey the small space around it or gaze around from object to object and this never forms a simple up and down or left to right to path.
While in reality only our pupils will dilate or constrict, in animation this effect is taken a step further and the iris will also be enlarged or contracted to express a particular emotion. For example a character in shock, may have small iris/pupils making the whites of the eyes appear much larger, even this area may be enlarged to exaggerate the effect. A character who is happy may have enlarged iris and pupils, showing a lot more detail in the color of their eyes and showing less of the white area. Similarly a character who is sad can often have very large iris/pupils but the way the eyes are detail and animated can show the difference in the emotion such as their eyes shaking and then adding the obvious effects of tears, the addition of moisture to the surface of the eyes can be shown in your animation by making them look more reflective to light. Other details such as eyelids and eyebrows can play a part in expressing the characters emotions with their eyes.
The dilation and constriction of the pupils should also be somewhat relevant to the lighting of the scene the character is placed in, such as constricted when in a brightly lit scenario and dilated when in a dark room. When in a dark space our pupils will become wider to let more light in, hence why it sometimes takes a few moments for your eyes to adjust to a dark space. In the opposite, when in a bright area the pupil will constrict to limit the amount of light coming into our eyes to avoid us being blinded by too much light. Mimicking these changes to the pupil in your character will make them seem more a part of the scene they are placed in.
When your character is interacting with the world around them, the appropriate eye movements will indicate what they may have noticed and where they might be about to move to. If a character is walking straight, why would they turn their whole head to look directly at an obscure object and then seem to notice it after looking straight at it. It would make more sense for their eyes to dart around first to spot the object, then turn their head for a better look. Characters who are walking, running or jumping through will look more natural if they look where they are going before shifting their entire body to go a certain direction, as in reality we don’t blindly move without looking first! Although a moving character may keep their eyes intently fixated on an object that is their goal or destination. The most natural course of eye movements and action for a character is to have their eyes move first, the head move second and the body move third.
When a character is talking to another character, their eyes should not stay perfectly still either, as they will look awkward without any movement. You will notice that when conversing with someone, your eyes will wander, usually around their face in a triangle between their eyes and mouth.
Overall, non verbal communication is important for an animator to understand. Not only the eyes but every part of the body can be used to show the characters feelings. Observing day to day human body language as well as how it is used in other animated films can be an excellent reference point for your own animations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JROX, Bring Life To Your Character Animation With Dynamic Eye Movement, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Free Maya Tutorials, Creating Sensible Eye Movement, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Animation Guides, Character Emotion in Animation, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Luke Jordan, Researching Eye / Body Movements, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Tech World, Animating Expression, retrieved 26th July 2011,
The movement of eyes in animation is an integral part of expressing a characters emotions, awareness of surroundings and indicating their trajectory. Without a word we can often tell if a character is happy or sad just by looking at their eyes. While some common traits of eyes in animation can be unrealistic for real people, the established rules are simply exaggerations of reality.
In 3D animation, many simple animations have characters with static eyes or simple linear movements. It can be quite creepy to watch a character that moves but their eyes do not! So it’s very important to consider animating the eyes in more erratic patterns that mimic more of a human movement. When we look at things, our eyes do not stay fixated in one place, we survey the small space around it or gaze around from object to object and this never forms a simple up and down or left to right to path.
While in reality only our pupils will dilate or constrict, in animation this effect is taken a step further and the iris will also be enlarged or contracted to express a particular emotion. For example a character in shock, may have small iris/pupils making the whites of the eyes appear much larger, even this area may be enlarged to exaggerate the effect. A character who is happy may have enlarged iris and pupils, showing a lot more detail in the color of their eyes and showing less of the white area. Similarly a character who is sad can often have very large iris/pupils but the way the eyes are detail and animated can show the difference in the emotion such as their eyes shaking and then adding the obvious effects of tears, the addition of moisture to the surface of the eyes can be shown in your animation by making them look more reflective to light. Other details such as eyelids and eyebrows can play a part in expressing the characters emotions with their eyes.
The dilation and constriction of the pupils should also be somewhat relevant to the lighting of the scene the character is placed in, such as constricted when in a brightly lit scenario and dilated when in a dark room. When in a dark space our pupils will become wider to let more light in, hence why it sometimes takes a few moments for your eyes to adjust to a dark space. In the opposite, when in a bright area the pupil will constrict to limit the amount of light coming into our eyes to avoid us being blinded by too much light. Mimicking these changes to the pupil in your character will make them seem more a part of the scene they are placed in.
When your character is interacting with the world around them, the appropriate eye movements will indicate what they may have noticed and where they might be about to move to. If a character is walking straight, why would they turn their whole head to look directly at an obscure object and then seem to notice it after looking straight at it. It would make more sense for their eyes to dart around first to spot the object, then turn their head for a better look. Characters who are walking, running or jumping through will look more natural if they look where they are going before shifting their entire body to go a certain direction, as in reality we don’t blindly move without looking first! Although a moving character may keep their eyes intently fixated on an object that is their goal or destination. The most natural course of eye movements and action for a character is to have their eyes move first, the head move second and the body move third.
When a character is talking to another character, their eyes should not stay perfectly still either, as they will look awkward without any movement. You will notice that when conversing with someone, your eyes will wander, usually around their face in a triangle between their eyes and mouth.
Overall, non verbal communication is important for an animator to understand. Not only the eyes but every part of the body can be used to show the characters feelings. Observing day to day human body language as well as how it is used in other animated films can be an excellent reference point for your own animations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JROX, Bring Life To Your Character Animation With Dynamic Eye Movement, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Free Maya Tutorials, Creating Sensible Eye Movement, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Animation Guides, Character Emotion in Animation, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Luke Jordan, Researching Eye / Body Movements, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Tech World, Animating Expression, retrieved 26th July 2011,
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
"Keep Calm and Spin Kick" T-Shirts & Hoodies by UniKoRn | RedBubble
"Keep Calm and Spin Kick" T-Shirts & Hoodies by UniKoRn | RedBubble: 
I made a Spinzaku parody and stuck it on a tshirt :D
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