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Mike York

I’d like to thank you for this and the previous post. This is exactly the stuff I’m looking for help with. I’ve been trying to find a way to efficiently block out a scene for a while but not felt comfortable with any of them. I actually would have thought blocking on 4’s would be too much for a first pass.

I do have a question-well, I have tons of questions, but I’ll just ask one for now. When you are blocking, will you block out the body in passes, blocking the hip motion first and then working your way out or would you block all of the poses out in one pass? I imagine this is something that changes depending on if you are doing straight-ahead or key pose animation, or just what your particular style is, but I’d love to hear your opinion.

-John

Linear keys cause the motion of the object to move in a “constant” fashion, there are inbetweens, but they move without changing speed, they simply pass through frames you have keyed.

Splines are the by far the most frequently used in computer animation for a variety of reasons, but basically they give you the most control over your animation. A spline is basically a default curve that the software generates, which usually consists of a “slow out” and then a “slow in”. Anyway, I could go on for pages on splines, but just keep in mind that they are the best!

This is a more basic question. What is the difference between stepped keys, linear knots and splines. I have a rudimentary understanding of what each term means, so an explanation would help.

Thanks for the advice.

Rohit Iyer

I’m trying to pick up a new style of blocking, which puts the subtleties into the blocking around the accents in the dialogue, but its been slow going. I have a hard time understanding what’s going on at this level. I keep finding myself leaving blocking, and adding all the subtleties after I’ve done some arc checking . My current way of blocking makes nice movements, but they feel somewhat less sophisticated in complexity, and they look very “pose to pose”. I was wondering if you guys knew of the method and could describe it better? I know some guys at blue sky use this style, but its hard to find any info on it.

cheers and thanks for all the great info,
andy

this post makes us realize that sometimes when we don’t use stepped keys or the “pose to pose” method.. it doesn’t mean we are animating in the “wrong” way…this shows that whichever your method is…. it’s all about the results or the situation on the acting or motion you want to convey…IK/FK.. etc etc… and how comfortable you are with that method….

I am really getting into layering method.. direct to flat tangents or spline from blocking… and yeah.. i can see the difference between spline vs linear… I totally stay with spline.. it’s just has more “organic/subtle” feeling if “good used” like you said “I don’t let the computer do more than 4 frames inbetweens”

thanx again and keep rocking!

it’s listed under his site at http://www.johndoublestein.com under the Rigs & Scripts page.

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