Chapter 8. Animating Your Characters

Building off everything you have learned to this point, we can now begin to implement animation techniques and start work on our very own project. This chapter aims at getting you going on the animation process. It will be up to you where you ultimately want the animation to take you through your script, creativity, and lessons learned in this book.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Following your blueprint

• Animating characters non-linearly

• Finding a workflow

• Putting it all together

• Experimenting with character animation

Following your blueprint

The building blocks are set. It's now time to mold these elements into an animated masterpiece. This can be the most overwhelming part of the process, but just remember to keep your script and storyboard handy for the duration of this process. These two items make up the blueprint or map of your animation and things will move a lot smoother with them close by. Also, remember that a blueprint can change. Don't be afraid to make edits to your script, even this far into the process, when certain obstacles come up during animation.

Animating characters nonlinearly

If you have ever worked on films or read up on the process of filmmaking, you will discover that scenes, more often than not, are shot out of sequence and edited together later on. This can be due to location restrictions, weather, scheduling conflicts, and a multitude of other issues. It stands to reason that linear work is more feasible with animation due to having a more controlled environment. You don't have to worry about scheduling locations or weather as all work is done on a computer and actors don't have to get together for recordings (although the latter arguably helps in creating more authentic emotions). All said, you may have to prepare for the event that non-linear animation will happen. If you need to meet a deadline, for instance, you may need to move forward with scenes you have voices for while other actors finish up their portion of the script. The same can be said if you're collaborating with a team and you're waiting for assets needed...

Finding a workflow

Sometimes, while animating, if a scene or environment appears multiple times throughout an animation, it may be best to animate all shots for this scene first, no matter where they appear in the script. That way, you can finish one scene project file and move on to the next, as opposed to jumping back and forth throughout the animation process. This, of course, goes with non-linear animation, but it's also a workflow choice. It could drive some people nuts. There are those out there who like to create characters and scenes as they animate. Another method is to have everything designed before beginning the animation process. Should you render each shot out as you do it? Or should you wait until everything is animated and then export everything out at once? These are just a few small examples of what will define your workflow.

For this book, a basic workflow was set up for you to follow. First, we designed a character. Then we created a scene. And now, we will combine the...

Putting it all together

Taking all the elements we have assembled to this point, we are going to create a short animation. This is mostly an introduction to what will undoubtedly become a more complex process. But it should hopefully give you an idea of what is required to assemble an animated project. We will be taking everything we have learned so far and combining it to create this animated scene. Advice will be offered on several aspects. However, ultimately, you will choose where you want to take this character and scene once you have a handle on the basics of animation. If you're ever in doubt, refer to the previous chapters as they contain all the basics you will need to get going.

Opening the scene file

First, we will need to open a scene or backdrop for our character to interact in. As we created a scene for the book, let's go ahead and use it. Remember, this file is called OutsideScenery.anme and is located in the Chapter 6 work folder. The following are some tips for bringing your scenes and characters together:

• You can open the scene file or import it to your library so that it can be accessed any time.

• If you open the file outright, be sure to go to File | Save As and save the file so that you can keep your original scene untouched. You may want to name this new project file Scene 1 or something that indicates what the scene or shot entails.

• For more complex animations, you may want to consider organizing scenes and shots into separate folders on your computer. This can make things more accessible when working on animations with multiple scenes later.

Bringing in your characters and props

The next step is to import our characters and props into the scene. If you still have your character saved in the library that we worked on, you can bring him/her into the document through that panel. If you don't have the character in the Library panel, you can always go to File | Import | Anime Studio Object and browse for the file you saved when you created your character. Once the character and props are on the screen, be sure that a layer is placed above the backdrop on the Layers panel.

If you want, you can organize your scene assets into a Group layer, which is something you can certainly do. Sometimes, having a lot of layers on the Layer panel at once can get confusing.

Experimenting with character animation

What do you want your character to do in this environment? Is she taking a nice leisurely stroll through the countryside? Perhaps, a monster is chasing our protagonist? Maybe he's hauling a huge seed, which he will bury to grow a large plant that leads to a new and exciting world? It may not seem like it, but your possibilities, even with just one character and a scene, are virtually endless. What's important is that you now have the know-how to create what you want. We learned about bone animation, actions, keyframes, and all the tools. You just need to learn how to execute what you want or what your script calls for.

This section will outline some basic animations you could use in your own works. The goal here is to take these small elements and apply them to a larger project. In other words, we won't be creating any linear narrative here. Treat these as separate exercises to strengthen your soon-to-be-made cartoon.

Running, waving, jumping, and more...

Incorporating facial expressions

Before we start creating a basic conversation, it's best to explore how to create different emotions by manipulating facial details. You can create your own character to do this; or, you can use the work file entitled CharacterFacialExpressionStart.anme if you'd prefer to use the book's character.

An anxious expression

There are a few ways we could create the illusion that a character is anxious. This will mostly come down to the way the eyes move, along with the eyebrows. Your character probably won't be smiling as well in this case. The following are some tips for creating an anxious expression:

• Shifting eyes back and forth: This can be effective with dialog. This is one reason it was suggested that it may be best to create your pupils in a separate layer than that of the whites of the eyes. That way, it's easier to grab the pupils, create keyframes, and shift them.

• Tilt the eyebrows outward: This can be used when creating sad expressions, but it can also...

Creating a conversation

There's a good chance that your cartoon will contain characters talking to one another. This is how a plot progresses in films and the same goes for cartoons as well. To approach creating such a sequence may be a bit overwhelming. How do you keep things interesting? Should you do any animation other than the mouth movements? This lesson should help with that.

First, let's open the file ConversationStart.anme. This file contains two characters we can use to create a conversation.

Situating mouth poses and audio files

To begin with, you will need to decide how you want to approach animating mouths. You will remember that we discussed techniques such as use of Smart Bones and the Switch layers. Pick one that you are comfortable with.

In the case of this exercise, we will use the Switch layers and draw out a series of mouth poses. We will refer to these as phonemes. Phonemes are the poses our mouths make when we make different sounds. This includes "S", "Th", "O", and "F...

Summary

It would be impossible to detail every single animation situation you will run into as you begin your production. Each script carries different traits as well as the creator behind the animation. But by learning how to create basic character movements in conjunction with facial animations, you will be able to do a lot. While the conversation we made is pretty simple, your creativity will launch you to new heights once you start working on your own production.

In the final chapter, we will take a look at how to preview, compile, export, and publish your animated movie.