Interview with Randy Hayes

Randy Hayes

(Randy didn't answer the questions in order like Steve did, so i'll just list the questions and then his response)

Where did you go to get your degree?

What did you do right after you graduated?

How long did it take for you to get your first job in the industry?

What steps did you take to get to your Lead Animator position at Reel FX now?

Do you notice any common mistakes people make while animating? For example, lack of exaggeration?

What advice do you have for me, since I am graduating soon.

I saw your profile on LinkedIn mentioned you do motion graphics as well- what have you worked on and how did you get there as well? 

In answer to your questions, I went to the Art Institute of Dallas, and I started at Reel FX during my last quarter at school. I started with Kent as the first animation apprentices. Kent and I have just worked our way up kinda together, we both have kind of unique skill sets that have been able to help build the team and we do a lot to help everybody work more efficiently. Kent writes some tools and I wrote a training manual we use for new hires to get them acclimated. So between that and just a general overall improvement in my animation over the time I've been here, I got my "Lead Animator" post. 

I think the main thing that people do in CG as students is that they kind of let the computer tell them what they can do. If the rig doesn't give them a nice pose easily, they settle too quickly for an ugly one, or they get halfway to a nice one, and then move on to spline and hope that the motion will make up for the bad poses. But animation is all about the poses telling a good story, if they don't do that by themselves, they won't do it with a lot of computery in-betweens. 

So I'd say to focus on always knowing the story or the joke or the moment that you're trying to show, and making sure EVERYTHING about the pose really communicates that. Don't jump too quickly to in-betweens, make sure your poses work well and then in-betweens become much more fun and useful. 

Motion graphics is something I did more as a hobby, so I can't really give you too much advice on that, but if you're interested in that, check out my friend Byron. He lives out in LA now, but he does great motion design work.

hellobyron.com

Ball bounce walkthrough

Tutorial

Here is a quick tutorial that shows how some of the basic principles of animation can be applied to a ball bounce.

This is my first tutorial video so feel free to leave any comments or suggestions for the video below. Be gentle.

Interview with Steve Orsini

Steve Orsini

Where did you go to get your degree? 

The short answer is I don't have a degree.  The long answer is:

I first went to a regular brick and mourter college in the state i grew up in, New Jersey, but then dropped out after a year (I sat in the "advanced" animation class they had, to check it out, and I found out you didnt get to choose what discipline you studied that last semester [you drew straws for what you have to learn {one would pick animation, cause it's awesome or course, and the rest would be stuck with texturing or something else they didn't want to do}) Also, the seniors and juniors were asking me Maya questions, and not even difficult ones.  So I hightailed it outta there after a lot of praying, analyzing the situation, and asking my one friend who worked at Rhythm & Hues for advice.  

I left and went back home to study at Animation Mentor, as you know.  

What did you do right after you graduated? 

Right after I graduated, I went back to practicing and refreshed myself of the basics before I did more animation tests for about a year and a half.  I had gotten a job at a small game studio not far from home halfway through AM.  I was there for two years and after I was laid off I immediately got the apprenticeship here (although I had been applying everywhere that was a film studio since I finished AM).

How long did it take for you to get your first job in the industry?

Oh, oops, I kinda answered that one in the previous one, haha.  To get my job here, It took about a year and a half, I think. Hmm, maybe It was a year; i forget.  Either way, it wasn't immediate and I had to practice and work on my demo reel the whole time.  It was difficult since I was animating at work, and then would go home and animate more.  But it was worth it!

I noticed you have taken a part of Animation Mentor, how helpful do you think it was?

Animation Mentor is what I owe my career to.  100% helpful.  Being exposed to working animators and networking though it was a gargantuan help. I'm working with two out of the six mentors I've had. I wonder if that had any effect on my being hired here. My Rhythm & Hues friend had given me some personal critiques a lot through the early part of AM and it was just awesome.  I learned so much from him on top of what I was learning at AM. 

What steps did you have to take to become an apprentice at Reel FX and then an actual animator there?

The first part of this kinda goes back to what I was saying earlier.  Lots of practicing after school.  We never stop learning in this industry. Not after school, and not after we get a job.  

To get hired on after the apprenticeship I kept learning.  Being teachable and knowing how to follow directions very quickly and completely, even if you totally disagree, made me more desirable to them, I guess.  I was going pretty fast though notes on my own shots and I'd take on any fixes of other people's shots that they'd give me (which is the lame part of job, in my opinion), without pitching fits or showing negativity.

Do you notice any common mistakes people make while animating? For example, lack of exaggeration? 

I don't feel I'm able to make an overarching generalization like that about my co-workers, but I can say that in student work I notice that animation lacks character and entertainment a lot more than it used to.  Anybody can learn the principles, but being entertaining and having a sense of what's funny will make your work stand out.  It's also the toughest part to get right.

In my own work, I find that I often forget to build in texture to the movement.  So, like two fast movements, then one slow movement, then one fast movement, is more interesting then, four slow movements. Obviously it depends on the situation, but I hope that kinda explains what I mean by texture.  The action has to follow a rhythm, but not repetitively, and I am forget to plan for that often.

What advice do you have for me, since I am graduating soon. 

No matter what project or place you work at, find something to learn.  I was awfully grumpy for most of the two years at the game studio, but once I got here, I realized how much it had helped me.  I understood rigging way more than I would have otherwise, I had a better understanding of how to do cycles when the time came here, I gained a lot of speed, and I got to save up a lot while living at home.  Not everyone lands their dream job right out of the gate. Some do,  but just in case be prepared to do work on yet another lame mini-game compilation for the Wii, or a commercial for a product you hate, and know that there is a wealth of knowledge at any studio in this industry.

I hope that helped! If you have any more questions or need clarification, don't hesitate to ask!

Guest Post, Taylor Offill

The animation process developed with ink and paper transfers directly to 3D animations. 

What is the purpose of animation?

The process of animation is to give life to the lifeless.  By exaggerating each of the twelve principles of animation the performance becomes believable to the audience.

What is a perfect animation?

The most important thing about animation is to always remember that story is king and animation is the way to show the story.  Many new animators jump into a project and start animating wildly. Make sure that every motion has a purpose instead of just having movement to fill space.  A perfect animation is one that lets the audience fall into the story by making them feel welcome or feel apart of that world. 

How do the principles bring a viewer into the world?

Fluid motions with slow in slow out allow the viewers eyes keep up with what has happened.

Arcs are more pleasing to the eye than sharp turn and jagged movements.

So now we get to squash and stretch. Many people may ask about photo-realistic animations and if you still need to squash and stretch. The answer is yes.  Granted its not like in a cartoon animation where you can pull a body part 20 feet away from its original orientation, but each part of the body still has the ability to stretch out or compress in a small about.   An example of this is your head, take the time to examine its range of motion.  It can turn side to side and pivot up and down. Now you can compress or stretch you neck out which deforms the body from it original position. Its the small details such as this which brings a character to life.

Anticipation builds suspense that gains get the audience on the edge of their seat. Getting them excited about what is to come. 

How does this information help me?

Keeping these principles in mind while animating will help animations become a better and pleasant experience for the makers and the viewers alike.

Like this post? check out Taylor's blog

Arcs, Timing and Spacing

Arcs

Only the most mechanical actions follow a linear path which can work fine for animating a machine but it looks unnatural for a living creature. Most natural actions are done in a path of an arc or curve. This is especially true with humans and animals where everything from hand movements to eye movements have an arc to them. 

Importance

As an animator it's important to 'clean up' your arcs to keep them as nice flowing curves from one pose to the next to create more realistic motion. It's not uncommon for animators to use programs or sometimes even dry-erase markers on their monitors to track the arcs of different parts of a characters body such as the hips, hands, or head to ensure that they are moving in the smoothest arc possible.

Timing and Spacing

Timing and Spacing relate to how much time you put between poses. This has a great effect on how an action is understood by the audience. It can change a character's walk from someone who is slowly meandering down the road to one who is hurried or late for an appointment. 

Example

The most common example used to explain this is the head turn. Using the same head poses, a fast turn could make it seem like the character was hit in the face while a slow turn could make it seem like they are merely stretching their neck. 

Here is a lesson that was helpful to me when I was just starting to animate.

Sources

Thomas, F., & Johnston, O. (1981). The illusion of life: Disney animation. New York, NY: Walt Disney Productions.

Williams, R. (2001). The animator's survival kit. New York, NY: Faber and Faber Limited.

Goldberg, E. (2008). Character animation crash course!. Los Angeles, California: Silman-James Press.

Blair, P. (1994). Cartoon animation. Tustin, California: Walter Foster Publishing Inc.

Follow Through, Overlapping Action, and Slow In and Slow Out

Summary

Follow Through and Overlapping Action are two similar techniques that provide some additional realism to animations and create the impression that the characters are interacting with real laws of physics.

Follow Through

Follow Through is what happens at the end of and after an action, and adds resolution to the scene as a whole. Some examples would be during a baseball swing when the player continues to move the bat around their body after they hit the ball, or a soccer player that keeps their foot moving after they kick the ball. Without the ending the action loses it's strength and looks like it was effortless for the character.

Overlapping Action

Overlapping Actions are the smaller parts that supplement the main action that don't happen at the exact same time. This gives the impression that different parts of the character or clothing are separate from the main driving force of the action. A common example is the tail of an animal, the main body of the horse is the driver of the action while the tail reacts to it by dragging behind and generally starts and stops moving after the body. Nearly any part of a character can be used for overlapping action as long as it isn't the main driver for it.

Slow in and Slow Out

Slow in and Slow out is the spacing of in-between frames so that the velocity of an object isn't constant throughout. This generally means making an object spend more time at the beginning and ending of it's motion and less time in the middle so that it emphasizes the more extreme poses and creates a more appealing action. Without it the character's motion seem too linear and and mechanical.

Sources:

Williams, R. (2001). The animator's survival kit. New York, NY: Faber and Faber Limited.

Goldberg, E. (2008). Character animation crash course!. Los Angeles, California: Silman-James Press.

Blair, P. (1994). Cartoon animation. Tustin, California: Walter Foster Publishing Inc.

Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose

Summary

Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose are the two opposing methods of animation. Straight Ahead Action is the method were the animator literally starts at the first drawing and works straight ahead from one drawing to the next until the action is complete. Pose to Pose is the method of planning out and perfecting the important key poses needed to convey the idea of the animation and then going back and filling the the in-between poses.

Straight Ahead Action

Straight Ahead Action allows the animator to be extremely creative and can help add a feeling of spontaneity and freshness to the animation and can be the most effective with wild and scrambling actions. This method runs into issues in some situations when there is a strong perspective in the camera and can cause certain key poses in the animation to lose clarity and appeal. 

Pose to Pose

Pose to Pose is the most popular method for animators in the industry because it allows for a large degree of control over the action. Animations that use this method are usually easy to follow and generally avoid issues with the scene or camera placement because each major point in the action is planned out before the animator invests too much time into it. When used correctly, Pose to Pose helps the animation to have a certain clarity and strength that is difficult to achieve with Straight Ahead Action. 

My Opinion

On a personal note I would advise any beginning animators to start learning using the Pose to Pose method because it is both the most common method used in the industry and it allows the animator to make corrections to parts of the animation without undoing much of their work. I found some examples of how this method is used in modern 3D animations to plan out the scene before adding the in-between frames for a dance and for a conversation.

Source

Thomas, F., & Johnston, O. (1981). The illusion of life: Disney animation. New York, NY: Walt Disney Productions.