Expert: Russell Calabrese - 12/9/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hello sir,i am undegoing 3d animation training in a small animation studio i want to know how i can improve my posing abilities in 3d animation i have got one more question-what do they mean by combining straight-ahead and pose to pose methods of animation

ANSWER: Hello Yogesh,

In all 2D and 3D (computer and stop motion) animation, straight ahead animation is where you start at frame 1 pose and move to frame 2; move your character an increment and then continue to frame 3; move your character an increment and so forth all the way "straight ahead" to the end of the scene.

In pose to pose animation the lead or head animator will set the extreme pose for frame 1 then move down the next extreme pose which may be frame 7. In 2D animation the inbetween drawings would be finished by the assistant animator and the inbetweener. In computerized 3D animation the software will fill in the increments between the 2 extreme poses.

I hope this helps

Russell

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sir i have a query regarding pose to pose method of animation
i.e.i have most of the times i have found that when you use set your poses using pose to pose and come back to add breakdowns and other details many irreparable jerks crop up, so how do you get around that problem and why do you set maya to linear mode till the last minute while animating?

Answer
You might need to make more keyframes on either side of the changed frame so the program doesn't inbetween what you had before with what you altered. Also, nothing is irreparable. Go back to a previous saved back-up and try again. You should be saving Back-ups with different names so you can fix something that didn't quite work.

Russell