Bring your 3D Character to life in 8 weeks!
In this intermediate training series of 8 weeks from basics to portfolio you will develop the artistic and technical skills needed to be successful as a character animator. We will provide you with hands-on instruction and valuable industry insights. You’ll start the course by learning how to animate a bouncing ball and finish with full body acting.
You will learn the critical principles of animation like weight and overlapping action, convey emotions effectively like joy, devastation and concern, learn to express different weights, create a stylized walk cycle to showcase personality and emotion. When you graduate you will receive a Certificate of Completion and leave with an exciting 12 second demo reel!
Who is this course designed for?
This course is for intermediate users of Autodesk Maya who want to make a career in 3D character animation. Learn from our proven, trusted Character Acting curriculum – based on what is taught in big international studios. The training goes beyond the theory to help you truly understand the art and craft of animation. Work with industry quality characters and assets and create an amazing demo reel full and then prepare yourself to apply for a job as a character animator.
Course Outline
Introduction To Storytelling
- Story Lecture: Once upon a time… Story is King
- Three parts of a great story (Introduction, Build up and Resolution)
- Storyboard
Introduction To Acting
- What is acting? Playing a role
- Improvising with Voice and speech
- Continuity
- Body Mechanics
- Pantomiming
Principles of Animation and Keyframing
- 12 Principles of Animation (Overshoot, anticipation, secondary motion etc)
- 2D planning process (sketch a basic storyboard)
- Paths of Actions
- Setting up basic keyframes
- Introduction to Timeline and range slider
- Animating simple objects (bouncing ball)
- Playblast for review
- Using graph editor to perfect motion
- Animating with physics: bouncing ball & obstacle course
- Homework – Students will practice the basic principles on simple objects
Character Animation
- Getting inspiration from references
- Referencing a rig
- Creating Poses with emotion (face and body)
- Posing: Weak vs Strong Poses, Line of Action, Weight, Centre of Gravity, Balance
- Working in passes (block, spline & polish)
- Walk/run/jump cycle animation starting with the blocking pass
- Doing additional animation passes
- Polishing of walk/run/jump animation with a focus on the principles of animation
- Homework Student exercises include walk, run cycle and primary facial expression.
Body Mechanics
- Getting inspiration from references
- Weight, Centre of Gravity, Balance
- Working in passes (blocking and splining)
- Doing additional animation passes
- Bi-pedal character movement
- Basic Quad-pedal or four legged movement
- Homework Student exercises include Heavy Lift, walking and running
Pantomiming
- Fine tuning your acting
- Overlapping actions
- Offset body parts
- Acting through pantomime
- Dealing with intense physical action shots with Weight pushes, pulls and lifts
Facial Acting and Lip Sync
- Making the right acting choices
- Facial Animation
- Lip synchronization techniques
- Student to act or choose a reference shot (12 seconds or less) for their portfolio
Polishing
- Tuning your shots
- Working with continuity across cuts
- Planning and blocking process for a substantial length of dialog
- Improve believability and appeal
Portfolio And Reel Development
- What is Portfolio vs Reel?
- Project – Student must work on their character project for their reel and final assessment.
- Putting It All Together/Work Day using Premiere Pro or any simple editing software
- Adding Sound Effects and music
- Finishing and exporting the final 12 sec video
- Instructors will review the finished piece for their portfolio, and students will be graded.
Project, Mentorship and Assessment
- Instructors will review and grade the finished piece for their portfolio
- Final viewing party: Kick back, relax, and watch student reel
Course Requirements
