Great Animation Workflow Video from Blue Sky’s Patrick Giusiano
EPIC Animation Tips from Patrick Giusiano on Vimeo....
11 Principles of Puppetry
The directors of the Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa and the artists behind the internationally-acclaimed production of "War Horse" detail the essential elements of a lifelike puppet performance, most of which apply equally to animation - especially game animation where, as in the theater,...
From the Web: 25 Fastest Ways to Fail at Animation
Good advice from Animator Island: http://www.animatorisland.com/the-25-fastest-ways-to-fail-at-animation/...
Gamasutra – Game Animation Bootcamp: An expert roundtable Q&A
In this roundtable discussion, from last year's GDC Game Animation Bootcamp, several leading game animators talk about the unique challenges and opportunities presented by animating for games. Gamasutra - Game Animation Bootcamp: An expert roundtable Q&A....
Gamasutra: Harrison Pink’s Blog – Can I Borrow A Feeling?
Nice article on the interplay of game theme and mechanics to create what the author describes as the "feeling" of the game. Gamasutra: Harrison Pink's Blog - Can I Borrow A Feeling?....
Altering a Chicken’s Center of Mass to Reproduce Dinosaur Locomotion
As I mentioned in an earlier post, properly modeling the CoM (Center of Mass) of a character in motion is essential to producing lifelike behavior. In this interesting study, from the University of Chile, researchers examined the role of CoM in determining movement style in animals and...
Gamasutra – Ted Price explains the Insomniac approach to creative leadership
Not a fan of the terms he uses, but I completely agree with his approach to empowering creative leaders within his company. It all boils down to this: Enable them to be creative and demand that they lead. Gamasutra - Ted Price explains the Insomniac approach to...
The Backbone of Good In-Game Animation
The human back bone, or vertebral column consists of 33 vertebrae, of which 24 are articulated and 9 are fused at the base of the spine. In games, we don't usually deal with the bones of the sacrum and coccyx, and we often deal with...
Anthropometric Data for Creating Physically Believable In-Game Character Motion
When creating lifelike, in-game character performances, especially in games featuring realistic human characters, unrealistic physical behavior can very quickly make your in-game animation look "game-y", marring an otherwise believable performance. While we can generally rely on animators to believably convey the character's weight, momentum and inertia...