Category: Session with George

About Body Mechanics:

When a person wants to convey information, speaking is not the only method. Body language, eye contact, and facial expressions can all serve as effective means of communication. As an animator, using body language to “describe” a character is an essential skill. Characters with different personalities will have distinct ways of walking. For example, an arrogant person might exaggerate their arm movements while walking, while a timid person might try to make themselves smaller. The same principles apply to animal characters. Therefore, animators need to study the complexity of human or animal movements and observe body language in various scenarios.

Adding exaggerated elements like “squash and stretch” based on reality can enrich characters and animations. Additionally, clear action silhouettes and action lines (such as S-curves or C-curves) can enhance the readability of the animation, making it easier for the audience to understand the characters’ actions and emotions. In my project, the tail is a crucial character element. In animation, S-curves and C-curves are essential for the tail’s flexibility, making the character more dynamic. When transitioning from one action to another, extending the duration of the previous action and adding slight oscillations can increase the character’s realism. Due to rigging limitations, my character currently lacks “squash and stretch” effects, so I plan to learn how to better rig characters in the future to make my animations more engaging.

About Acting:

I believe that as an animator, acting is an essential skill. While we don’t need to perform like professional actors, we do need to deeply understand and empathize with the characters. This understanding allows us to create animations that align with the characters’ personalities, making them “come to life” with greater realism and vitality.

A good expression and eye contact can convey a lot of information. When people converse, they often look into each other’s eyes and observe facial expressions. Therefore, animated characters need to have rich facial expressions and eye interactions to better express emotions and intentions. This nuanced performance can enhance the audience’s immersion, making it easier for them to understand and resonate with the characters’ emotions and stories.

Through these summaries and reflections, I hope to continuously improve my animation production skills and make my works more vivid and expressive.

This week’s feedback primarily focuses on the details of mouth shapes. Firstly, when making the “u” sound, the corners of the mouth should not be fully open; the corners of the upper and lower lips should touch slightly. Secondly, when saying “get,” a small amount of teeth should be visible to make the pronunciation more natural. Even when laughing heartily, the jaw should remain relatively still, while the chest movement becomes more pronounced. These subtle adjustments can make the character’s mouth shapes more accurate, enhancing the overall realism and expressiveness of the animation.

When creating lip-sync animations, several aspects need to be considered:

1. Opening and closing of the mouth (jaw): This is the basic element of lip-sync animation, determining the mouth shape changes of the character.
2. Opening and closing of the mouth corners: Different emotions and phonetics require varying degrees of mouth corner movements to reflect the character’s expressions.
3. Vertical movement of the lips: Adjust the positions of the upper and lower lips to match the speech.
4. Forward and backward movement and rotation of the lips: Use these movements to depict more complex mouth shape changes. For example, “u.”
5. Adjusting the visibility of the teeth based on dialogue and emotions: Certain sounds and emotions require more teeth to be shown.
6. Overall vertical movement of the mouth: Adjust the position of the entire mouth to suit the needs of speech and expression.
7. Adjusting the dynamics and shape of the nose based on mouth movements: Changes in the mouth affect the shape and dynamics of the nose.
8. Changes in the cheeks: Compression and expansion of the cheeks can enhance the effectiveness of lip-sync.
9. Movement of the lower eyelids: Small adjustments in the lower eyelids can enhance the character’s expressions.

It is important to note that the mouth does not always fully open and close with each sound; there needs to be some buffering and transition to ensure the animation is natural and smooth.

Regarding eye animation: The corners of the eyes and the ends of the eyebrows generally remain stationary, only showing slight movements in specific emotions and expressions.

Based on last week’s feedback, I have modified the character’s movements to make them smoother and more natural. I paid special attention to the follow-through motion, ensuring that each part moves in harmony. Specifically, I adjusted the arm movements to better follow the shoulders, the hands to closely follow the arms, the upper shoulders to follow the waist, and the head to follow the shoulders. With these detailed adjustments, the character’s overall movements have become more cohesive and realistic.

Reference shoot

Acting_Blocking

“Eyes are the windows to the soul.”
When people converse, they typically don’t look at each other’s mouths but rather at each other’s eyes. The eyes can express a wide range of emotions, making them a crucial element in communication. In this performance, we need to use the eyes to convey the character’s inner world. By altering the shape of the eyebrows and the degree to which the eyelids cover the eyes, we can create various expressions, such as “sly” and “amused.” These subtle facial adjustments should not only match the dialogue but also align with the character’s personality traits. The use of eye expressions and the detailed handling of facial expressions are essential methods for conveying the character’s emotions and enhancing the impact of the performance.

For the “Acting” assignment, we need to find a 3-5 second audio clip and then enrich the story and character design ourselves before performing it. The performance relies mainly on facial expressions and simple body language to interpret the audio. When it comes to expressions, the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth are crucial components that form an expression and are essential elements in conveying a character’s personality. Through subtle changes in facial expressions, we can communicate the character’s emotions and inner world, making it easier for the audience to understand and resonate with the character. Therefore, during the performance, special attention should be paid to these details to ensure that the expressions are vivid and in line with the character’s design.

To make the animation more vivid and realistic, I need to further enhance the precision of the tail’s movement. This involves making more detailed adjustments and optimizations to every subtle motion of the tail, ensuring that its trajectory and speed perfectly align with the character’s action requirements. Precise tail movements will not only enhance the expressiveness of the animation but also help the audience better understand the character’s emotions and intentions.

During the animation production process, the following adjustments need to be made: First, the speed at which the key is struck by the tail needs to be increased to make it more forceful, emphasizing the tail’s power. Second, the falling speed of the character should be accelerated to enhance the tension and realism of the action. Additionally, the character’s movements and speed when hit by the key should be modified to ensure a natural reaction that adheres to physical principles. Finally, the motion trajectory of the tail should be optimized to ensure the entire action sequence is smooth and visually impactful. These adjustments will help improve the overall animation performance, making it more lively and engaging.

Still need to improve the trajectory of the tail.

Adjust the speed of the key. Speeding up the speed at which the key pops out, not only increases the visual impact of the animation but also demonstrates more clearly the great strength and elasticity of the tail effect. Let the audience feel the vividness and vigor of the character more intuitively.

Plan

Shoot video Reference

Blocking

In my shoot video reference, I tried to use my hand and arm to simulate the tail’s movement. However, due to the different skeletal structures, I could only achieve a rough motion trajectory. While this method cannot accurately replicate the tail’s dynamics, it provided me with a basic reference to start from in my animation process. I will continue to explore how to better represent the tail’s movement to ensure that the final animation is both natural and lively.

This is a character I designed previously, a mischievous doll. It has some cotton protruding from its chest, making it look particularly unique and interesting. There is a small key inserted into its left ear, and its tail is shaped like a keyhole. In this project, the biggest challenge will be animating the tail. Since the tail needs to interact with the key, it requires precise movements and careful consideration of many details and technical aspects. I need to think thoroughly about how to make this interaction look natural and smooth, while also maintaining the character’s liveliness and charm.

Improvements in the shape and movement of tail movements. Improve pose