Art Institute of Las Vegas
Character Animation MMA 316
Instructor: Ruel Pascual

Course Outline>>>

Class 1 - Fundamentals of Animation : Bouncing Ball
 Class Intro: 3Ps! Practice, Perseverance and Personality.
 12 Principles of Animation
 Basic Maya Animation Workflow: File Management, Navigation, Keyframe, Cameras, Frame Range, Playblast & Translation,Rotation,Scale.
 Keyframes, Inbetweens, Extremes
 Pose to Pose vs Straight Ahead
 Squash and Stretch
 Arcs
 Timing and Spacing
 Static Bouncing Ball Demo
 Bouncing Ball Through Space Demo

Assignment 1: Animate a bouncing ball (basketball or soccer ball). Due Next Week!

Class 2 - Fundamentals of Animation Continued : Ball Drop Different Weight
 Critique Assignment 1: Ball Bounce for students to refine
 Truth to Material / Weight Demo
 Energy/Forces  Ease in Ease Out Demo
 Staging
 Maya Graph Editor. F-Curves. Stepped,Linear,Spline Curves.
 Weight/Spacing Demo
 
Assignment 2: Animate 2 Balls dropping and bouncing with difference in weight (bowling ball and a beach ball) Due Next Week!

Class 3: Fundamentals of Animation Continued : Box Animation with emotions
 Critique Assignment 2: Ball dropping for students to refine
 Anticipation Demo
 Timing, Beats, Phrases
 Moving Holds Demo
 Staging/ Silhouette
 Organizing Keyframes an  Curve Types: Stepped, Linear, Spline, Flat
 Thumbnailing ideas Demo
 Single idea, subtle acting, one emotion, personality
 Box Jump Demo
 
Assignment 3: Animate the Box expressing emotions in Blocking/Stepped Pass Due Next Week.

Class 4: Fundamentals of Animation Continued : Box Animation Refine
 Critique Assignment 3: Box Animation
 Follow Through, Overlapping Action, Staggering Demo
 Secondary Action Demo
 Appeal/Solid Drawing
 Converting Keys
 Graph Editor
 Clean Up

Assignment 4: Box Animation Linear Pass Due Next Week.

Class 5: Box Animation Midterm
 Critique Assignment 4: Box Animation
 Block Poses for Hip Walk: Contact, Down, Passing, Push Off, Contact
 Rig Demo: Controls, Key At Zero, Layers
 Pose to Pose Demo
 Weight
 Timing
 Maya Layers, Control Objects
 Dope Sheet
 IKs

Assignment 5: Animate a Hip Walk

Class 6: Full Character Walk
 Critique Assignment 6: Hip Walk
 Full Character Walk
 Overlapping Parts Demo
 Figure 8s
 IK/FK
 Exaggeration - Cartoony vs. Realistic
 Types of Walks
 
Assignment 6: Refine Hip Walk and Animate the Torso

Class 7: Full Character Walk Continued
 Critique Assignment 7: Full Character Walk
 Timing
 Arcs Demo
 Overlap
 Ease In Ease Out Demo
 
Assignment 7: Refine Full Character Walk

Class 8: Character Gear Change (Two Emotions)
 Critique Assignment 7: Full Character Walk
 Emotions, Motivation, Acting
 Character Take Demo
 Pantomime: Act it out
 Filming Reference, People watching, Movies with great acting
 Posing a Character in Balance Demo
 Maya Issues or Questions
 Thumbnailing your idea
 Blocking Animation in Stepped Demo

Assignment 8: Animating a character expressing two emotions block with Stepped Curves

Class 9: Character Gear Change (Two Emotions) Continued
 Critique Assignment 8: Animating character expressing one idea and emotion
 Converting to Linear Curves
 Timing 3 Speeds Demo
 Less is more. Simplify your ideas.
 Phrasing/Acting Demo
 Clarity of Poses
 Twinning

Assignment 9: Refine character expressing two emotions Convert to Linear Curves

Class 10: Character Gear Change (Two Emotions)
 Critique Assignment 9: Character with One Emotion
 Converting to Spline: Locking Down Demo
 Clean Up: Arcs, Moving Holds, Timing Overlap, Follow Through
 Maya Questions
 Refine Old Animations
 
Assignment 10: Refine character expressing two emotions Convert to Spline Curves

Class 11: Final Critique and Demo Reel Presentation
1. Critique Assignment 10: Character with One Emotion Final
2. Review students quicktime demoreel of all assignments
3. Ball Bounce, 2 Balls Bouncing, Box Animation, Hip Walk, Full Character Walk, Character Two Emotion.

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