One of the most important aspects of animation is observation. Through observation even the most unedu- cated eye knows whether movement is believable and acting is accurate. From the time we are born, we observe every nuance in the motions of those around us. Both mechanics of motion and acting in all living things are very specific. The animator must observe, catalog, and translate that observation clearly, or
FUTUREWORLDDIGITIZES PETER FONDA’S HEAD AND MATERIALIZES WARRIORS:Peter Fonda’s head was digitized and ren- dered by III for Futureworld, the sci-fi sequel to the film Westworld and the first film to use 3D computer graphics. In addition, robot Samurai warriors needed to materialize; to accomplish this, III digitized still photographs of the warriors, then used image-processing techniques to manipulate the digitized images and make the warriors materialize over the background.
1976
BLINN SHADER IS INTRODUCED:Jim Blinn introduces environmental mapping. Blinn was a pioneer of texture mapping and light reflection on curved surfaces.
1976
believability will be lost. Mike Surrey has a story describing how reference footage helped him define a character in the movie Tarzan:
The ability to create a pleasing design for me comes from studying the character I’m attempt- ing to animate. I will start by looking at as much footage of the voice actor as possible, try- ing to find anything to exploit. For example, on TarzanI had the pleasure of studying Rosie O’Donnell, who has a huge, square head with her facial features all pushed to the middle. I started by trying to do a caricature and pull the design of Terk off that drawing. It’s a process that takes me multiple passes.
Reference is the one thing that will help your scene look convincing. If you can find reference of how the character should be moving through videotaping yourself or other animators, finding footage online that has a similar action, locating footage of the character animated previously and successfully, using footage from the dialogue recording of the voice talent, or using any other kind of reference, do it! An example of using the recording footage of the talent would be Melanie Griffith, who voiced the little bird, Margalo, in Stuart Little 2. Many times the talent will deliver a more genuine performance because they are not acting for a camera; they are acting for the microphone. Melanie has a little habit of clearing her throat after each line delivered. She makes a girlish expression as she does this. It added charm to the Margalo character when animators used this almost imperceptible gesture that you wouldn’t have picked up had you not watched the video reference.
Trying to guess what you know in your head to be realistic motion and shapes never compares to actually viewing that action frame by frame. Eric Goldberg tells the story about his most difficult animation task ever because of his lack of reference while working at Richard Williams’ Animation Studio in London:
At Richard Williams I had to do a commercial with Superman in it, and the agency wanted a kind of Neal Adams Superman. That was tough because I hadn’t done a lot of realistic anima- tion and we had to draw it on cel with grease pencil. Fortunately, Dick set up the leica reel for me. There were some things I had to change, though. I did get the benefit of some of Dick’s good drawings to start with. It was difficult to make convincing comic-book animation with no reference. At the time, it was the hardest thing I had ever done.
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EXHIBITORS ALLOWED AT SIGGRAPH:The ACM allowed exhibitors in the annual SIGGRAPH conference for the first time.
1976
OSCAR FOR SAND CASTLE
(CHATEAU DE SABLE- NFB):
This claymation short won 23 awards, including the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Animated Films.
1977
SINGLE FRAME VIDEO TAPE TRANSFER SYSTEMS ARE DEVELOPED:Single frame video tape animation systems were intro- duced. Used for pencil testing, they were a major development in the production of animation.
1977
Observing reference for motion or dialogue will help you more easily visualize what can be very complex movement and show the intent to the audience more clearly. Why not use every tool you possibly can to make your scene great? Reference helps you plan out what works for the scene and what doesn’t. Reference material also helps you stay honest to the character’s personality and design. It helps you with timing and ensures you haven’t chosen too many poses for the time allotted. It can help you pre-edit your acting choices. Carlos Baena talks about the importance of reference in planning his animation:
In terms of the characters to be animated in the scene, I prepare myself with as much refer- ence material as I can regarding whatever I have to animate. If I’m animating a character, I look for things such as model sheets, animation tests of whatever has been done with the character previously, even things such as video/film reference of actions or characters that have similar things that I can use on my shots.
Inspirational things come out of reference footage for your scenes too! If you are acting out a scene yourself in front of a camera or a mirror, you will observe little things that happen that you would never have discov- ered otherwise. Don Waller has a great story from his days at ILM that illustrates this point:
Acting out the action yourself can help a great deal. A video camera really comes in handy at times to capture certain actions. On Jurassic Park, a number of us went out into the parking lot at ILM and pretended we were a herd of Gallimimuses leaping over a log! The action was filmed, and it helped considerably in getting a feel for the energy of the herd, but one acci- dent helped to incorporate an inspired bit of action into the sequence as well. One of ILM’s artists, also recruited to play a Gallimimus, unfortunately fell and broke his arm that day. So we stuck a few stumbling dinos into the sequence, as an homage to this poor artist who per- formed above and beyond the call of duty! I believe it added a neat little detailed, realistic touch to the frenzy of the scene.