Sunday, September 16, 2007

duck animation

It has been more than a month since I updated?! Even though I haven't updated, I am still learning a lot about animation everyday with a struggle:D

I was animating scene of ducks, and it was a whole other world of learning how birds move. I had never really drawn birds before, and the way they walk was a lot different from how we walk. First, I tried to study their anatomy as much as I can, like how their wings tuck in to their body ( this was most mysterious for me, because it is hard to see what their wings are doing since they have a white body) After that, I also watched the movie, "Babe" to watch how they walk, run, turn. I watched it frame by frame, and here are some studies I did at first, ( I had no idea what I was doing. I was just trying to draw how they move..)




Then, I animated it. Then, the duck looked like a toy duck. It didn't move like an actual duck! I showed it to Mike, and he taught me some important things that changed my drawings a whole a lot. He told me to find "where is the movable part in their body?" Also "how do their feet tuck into their body?" They were the very important questions to ask myself when I was studying from movement. So I did some more until I felt like I got it,






And I just animated one duck, and it looked a lot different! But then, they looked too realistic, I had to make it look believable, at the same time, it's still animated. Here is the final animation I did....



Another challenging part was the direction of the whole group. After animating 5 ducks, I had to pay more attention to the direction of the whole group. Even though they are doing different movements, the group has to feel like it's one unit. Also Mike wanted to show that there are many ducks everywhere, not only 6 ducks.

So here is a list of what I learned in how to animate animals from this scene....

1. Research Research Research!

2.Where is the movable part(the part that doesn't change, like the cranium, chest and pelvis)? And how those parts connects and move?

3.What is the skeleton? What is the structure underneath?

4. What is the skin like? How does it feel? Loose? Rigid? Rough? Feathered?


Lastly, one important thing was instead of analyzing movement too much, I had to take the role of a duck, be a duck, and animate that experience, not what a duck looks like. That's the wonderful thing about animation, you get to become anything, and share your experiences with others, and that's why I like to animate.

9 comments:

rainplace said...

Very soon you'll be saying- 'Animals are WONDERFUL' too :D

chrisallison said...

Miyuki, this looks great! You sure picked up ducks pretty quick. Thanks for sharing your notes too. I read all this stuff and tuck it away in my brain. Keep us updated on the stuff you learn!

Neverrated said...

hi Miyuki we met at siggraph like last month, so you might not remember me but i saw you at the disney booth and said "hey" but anyways thanks for taking the time to share with everyone how you come up with such great animation, you are so great at it that sometimes i think you will come up with your own book soon!

Miyuki Kanno Long said...

>Mike, Thank you for visiting my blog ;)...mm.....maybe I can say this now..." Animals are not so bad" :D

>Hey Chris, thank you for reading my long lists of things I'm learning. This also helped me to clear my mind and to see what I have learned. I'm glad you liked it. We never stop learning!

>Justin, of course I remember you! It's good to see you in here.(You made your own blog!;) Thank you very much for your comment. I'm glad you liked my animation and learning process. Maybe someday I will have my sketchbook...

Tal Moscovici said...

Hey you finally posted (now get that lazy "other half" of yours to do the same)!! Miyuki, this stuff looks fantabulous! Animals, let alone ducks, are on a whole other level. Way to take us through the process; sounds like some good notes came out of it.

"Movable part"? Ha, more like un-movable part, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...ahhh, God I hate myself. KEEP POSTING!

Ryan Kramer said...

hi miyuki...wow, you even animate animals cute!... geeze. Your skills always impress me. Keep posting for us :)

Miyuki Kanno Long said...

>Hey Tal, thank you for stopping by. I know my other half has been a little bit lazy....he hasn't posted much, but you know him....he lives in his own time. ;)

>Hi Ryan, thank you for your compliment ;) I will post more when I learn something new!

Ken said...

hey nice work you have here!

I think all your duck observations paid off, the animation looks great, really nice. its perfect the way they walk around, all independantly, well observed I say!

And I love the animation of the little girl below - so cute!

Miyuki Kanno Long said...

Hi Ken, thank you for visiting my blog and your comment:) I am glad my observation paid off!