The jump-like feel is going to give the ball life and personality ~ it sells that the ball has a thought process before it acts.

I pulled a few clips from “Boundin’ ” which I feel demonstrate the style of jumps I’m talking about. I also put in some clips of triple jumps to show a real life example of jumps with long hang time.

Notice that how the character (it would be the ball in your case), feels as if it’s sticking to the ground and then snaps up quickly into the air. The “stick” is the few frames of anticipation, and part of the hang in the air is sold by the stretch leading to the squash that settles into the original shape. The character will basically reach the height of its jump before the squash as it crests over the arc to fall back to the ground.

In the graph editor, you may be able to better see how you push/exaggerate the arcs. Round out the tops of the arcs and make the falls to the contacts sharper.

Think about this – take this image for example:

Baloo’s face is concerned, and his body language says it too — He’s leaning in, and his hands are lightly placed on Mowgli for comfort.

Now what if we were to just change the face and nothing else? Such as a snarl, scared wide-eyed look, or laughing face. Even with the body in the exact same comforting position, the change in face would completely change the tone and story that the image is telling.

So now I wonder ~ is the face what ultimately sells the tone of a shot? From this, the face seems to outweigh the story the body pose alone tells.

A Life Less Sedentary: CG Artist Health by Sam Conlogue

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs~

Imagination lives on one of the higher tiers. Once you are relaxed enough to where you can comfortably “zone out” or daydream, you are in the healthy mindset to be creative. If you are stressed, have a tight schedule, or are physically unhealthy, you cannot reach this point. The “stress” can be a lack in any of those levels (physiological, safety, social, esteem…). Only you can know the source and what you do to relieve it.

Think about it. When you’re trying to finish up things at home before you catch the bus to work or if you’re sick and are just trying to stop a sinus-headache, your mind is very task-oriented. However, when you’re laying by the pool relaxing or in a field watching the clouds your mind starts to wander into the “what if?” questions. You’re relaxed, have no worries, and your mind is entertaining itself with, well, imagination.

So bottom line: Take care of yourself! Your good health will allow you to be in your happiest and strongest mindset to have the courage to create.

For Class 2 (Psychology of Body Mechanics):

The following is an excerpt from Animation Mentor’s blog by Wayne Gilbert:

“When doing a body mechanics shot, your attention must be focused on the body and how it moves — don’t spend a lot of time on the acting. The audience must believe that the character decided to jump so there needs to be a tiny amount of acting such as a quick look in the direction of the jump to show that the character is aware of the situation. In each body mechanics shot there is a sequence of activity that runs from the character’s brain through its body and you must decide what that sequence is before starting to animate. Where and how does that sequence begin and eventually end? When the sequence is correct, the shot is successful; if it is entertaining that’s a bonus.”

In summary: this class will be to make sure you understand how the body moves, so the most successful shots will be simple ideas and straight forward actions. Keep in in mind as you go through your future assignments! Trust me! I myself had to learn how to simplify and in the long run, learned much more through simpler shots that focused on the foundations. (view body mechanics as a foundation to acting/story)

———–

For Class 3 (Advanced Body Mechanics):

The following is another section by Wayne Gilbert:

“Personality is shown through posture. The first thing you have to break down is how the character stands. You must arrange body parts to describe inner life. How a character stands reveals emotional state, energy level and attentiveness. Everything that you do from there is a sequence of lead and follow that shows how that particular character moves. Nothing moves without a force either driving or pulling it.

define the broad descriptive forces creating a movement such as leg drive or body lean and arm pull, then show the subtle force options such as the turn of a knee, foot direction, head roll, a twist in the body and decide when each of these happens. What leads and what follows is the best starting point for understanding breakdowns. What moves first? Why? What moves next and continue through the sequence. Explore your options and decide why the character moves then how you are going to show that and decide before you start animating.”

I was drawn to this excerpt mainly for it’s commentary on force. The succession of motion in connected parts (such as a shoulder –> arm –> hand –> fingers) comes down to the initial force driving the action. Poses alone should depict driving forces in that they can help the viewer see what has just happened or what is going to happen in an action. In other words, a strong pose helps the viewer visualize the in-betweens of a particular motion.

Check out these tutorials by Keith Lango on creating good poses:

and some more…

Establish a character and world before you plan the situation or action. By doing this, you’ll have a better understanding of how your character would react in the given scenario.

For example: a character is waiting for a bus.

If you just say “a guy” is waiting for a bus, it’s more difficult to think of actions of how this person would act. Thus you start to lean towards cliches, which isn’t ideal.

If instead you say James Bond is waiting for a bus, you can better picture how he would carry himself. He’d be standing tall and confident, might be fixing his suit, and have that expression with the curved eye brows. You know that expression I’m talking about

Suddenly the shot just became much more interesting.

After the character is established, establish the world. You’ll then be able to understand a character – world relationship and how they fit into the given scene.

Google a “how to” on a movement you want to animate. Not only will you find video examples, but also written explanations. I found that seeing the written next to the video can help with understanding what’s happening in the movement. You’ll understand where the force is coming from and, sometimes, the thought process of the person or animal doing the action. The thought process is just as important to understanding how your character should act/feel during the action.

Try it!

When exaggerating/stretching a pose:

Put less stretch into “solid” parts of the body, such as the head or hands) and more stretch into the skinnier/elongated parts of the body (such as an arm or neck). This will read better in motion as a stretch rather than a deformation.

Spline Doctors on Reels:

http://splinedoctors.com/2009/08/more-on-demo-reels/
http://splinedoctors.com/2006/02/demo-reel-tipspart-2/
http://splinedoctors.com/2008/05/revisiting-what-makes-a-good-reel/

Carlos Baena on Reels:

http://www.carlosbaena.com/resource/anim_DemoReels.html