#14 Animation - The Life of Every Character (The Face)
Yeaa... I hope the above GIF of a girl using the motion capture on her webcam to animate the anime character attracted you to this post. :P Haha, because I have one of the most important thing to share with you guys (animators,artists,enthusiasts). Though this has been a rough week for me, I'll do my best to give you the simplest yet informative post today. Exceptionally one of the most important aspect for an animator to master.
The Face
Impressive huh? Behind every movement that the face is shaping into, are thousands of joints coordinating with one another. If you're wondering if it is a point and click and it is automated to get a certain shape....well... no. Every joint is animated manually by the animator individually. Amazing huh? And to think this is just one part of body we have to animate. Imagine fingers, feet etc ...
Every joint rig on the face MUST move as one unit
Facial rigs are set up with manual joints, where you can control individual facial muscles on the character. Another setup would be blend shapes, where there will be controls/sliders for you to slide to get a certain movement on the face. Most facial rigs consist of these two setups, so there would be more customizability for animators. There are definitely other types of facial rigs but these two are most commonly used in every production.
Putting aside the technical aspects of which facial rig is better than the other one, I would like to let you know that none of that will matter IF your facial animation are not moving as One Unit.
That being said, NEVER EVER key the same frame for every joint on the face as well. Though I've said that everything must move as one, it doesn't mean that there are no overlapping actions and follow-through in these facial expressions. That brings us to the next little tip.
The 1 or 2 frame difference on different parts of the face will make the character more organic
Have a look at Elsa singing, "The cold never bothered me anyway". I usually say that a good animated facial dialogue would allow you to lip read the words properly eventhough without audio. And if you take a look at how organic her facial expressions are. The eyebrow that gave her that sassy look and that little squint at the end perfected her animation.
Every facial joint cannot be independent
It must be affecting other parts of the face. Much the same for the body movements of the character. The limbs and joints are all connected and should affect one another. Now the challenge for the animators is that we have to create seamless movements that have overlaps and followthroughs and still look as it is moving as one.
Before I end this post, I would just like to kindly remind you that before starting an animation, always remember to find good references. Plan ahead and ask yourself questions. Questions like "Is your character going to be surprised by something?" If so, how would the face react. Would the eyebrows lead the movement or the eyes? Generally, the eyebrows would lead and pull the eyelids along. Well, most of the time that is. I do hope this post has given you some tips and awareness on how important the face must move as one.
And with this, your characters will definitely come to life!
Thank You
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Credits to @pinstory & @coloringiship for this lovely photo of me.
Hm, for Elsa's expression I couldn't really get "the cold" but I do see what you mean as after some close staring at the movement I COULD read "never bothered me anyway"
It will take you many hours just to make that movement perfect and I do hope as you and your team starts this new project in real life you will have enough rest!
Looking at the details you have to do for your animation made me thankful that I didn't insist on joining becoming an animator at the first place. haha.
Very informative post this is. And thank you for showing us how hard your work can be.
upvoted
Yea 'the cold' part wasn't inside. Haha, though it's tedious in a way, I really love wat I'm doing. It is passion afterall. :)
Yea, I do hope the workload isn't crazy heavy or u'll see me burning the midnight oil for Steemit.
Okay, so I need one of these right away! Also, are you looking at your ginabot? I tagged you and Ama in a post for a thank you for all you do. SMH. Anyhoos, this post is amazing. Is it my imagination or does this take you only like 5 min to do? LOL That's how wonderful I think you are. Truly! I'm not kidding and I'm not flirting!! xx :p
Hahah, the ginabot has been flooding me with notifications, I must've missed it. Sooo sorry!! Haha Thanks! Woke up smiling reading this!
@zord189 yay! You have GB working OT! Lol
I seriously need an Eagle animation! Wings etc. lol
YW, glad you are smiling. xx🦅
Thank you very much.
I'm not an artist but my daugther is. As I write, my daugther is doing some sketching on her Tablet. I know she could get some tips by just watching the videos that you had just shared.
Thank you for sharing.
Ohhh that's nice! I hope she learns something from my posts. Is she working?
No. She is still studying in Form 2, 14 years old. But she is really into drawing. Mostly anime-like character that she created herself. One have been posted by my wife @melcy. You can check it out.
Thank you.
Oh wow! She is incredible! She's really talented.
Thanks. She did the drawing on her tablet.
:3 lol, at first I thought you made the first gif, and I was going to say she looks like an anime character I know. XD you lured meeeeee @zord189. but it was a nice lure, as I got to learn some pretty neat stuff. I'm actually really amazed at how people do these kind of things. I think it's really cool. And seeing that these actually take a lot of work, all I can say is kudos to animators who make watching fun for people :3
Hehe hi @kdee916! Haven't been catching up with you on discord for quite awhile now. We should catchup in #steemitbloggers chat.
Hahaha! I've been swamped with work! I could barely look at the discord and post on steemit. When I do, you're usually asleep already~~ but definitely, catch up soon. :3
Hehe you are a good animator I think, because the animated girl did attract me to this post to know how all these cartoon characters come alive. It doesn't sound easy to me, at all! Keep it up and hope you get rested in body and soul after your rough week that you mentioned :)
Thank you Connie :)
That's really cool! You can probably come out with your own animation video and I'll act it out for you :DDDD! Then I'll be superstar like "Dora the Explorer"
I video people for references wo... But won't be on the silver screen one.
A well done facial animation can really be mesmerizing and captivating.
All the subtleties of the human face alone!
Ikr :D That's the beauty of animation
very cool !! Instead of making one myself i will leave it to u expert hahaa.. i think i just sit and watch cartoon :P
Hahah, just sit back, relax and enjoy it ey :D
that's the plan.. and maybe ask someone to animate me :P
Your click bait gif successfully lured me in.
Haha haha xD
Joke aside, that's lots of hard works for seemingly simply things. Don't stop, keep going!
It is! A lot of patience and practice.
Wow. That was pretty good :)
Thanks :D