Anim 13 – Creature Weight for VFX | The Animation Collaborative

Online Spring 2024 Session

REGISTRATION DEADLINE Extended:
April 8th, 2024

SESSION STARTS:
April 8th, 2024

Online Workshops

Animation

Character

Visual Storytelling

ANIM: Creature Weight for VFX

TOM GIBBONS

Animation Supervisor
Tippett Studios

Length of Workshop: 10 weeks. Once a week.
Days: Thursdays starting April 11th, 2024
Time: 6pm to 9pm pacific time *special time*
Tuition: $1,600 (Includes a $200 non-refundable registration fee)
Prerequisite: NONE

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Creature Weight for VFX:

This class will focus on “manipulating weight”.

diving into and understanding Gravity, Physics, and Bio-mechanics, and then Breaking them for Clarity, Impact, and Story.

why do we perceive a Lion as a Lion and a House Cat as a Cat? they both move almost identically, “context, prejudice and assumptions” play a big roll in how audiences see.

have you ever studied a horse as it runs? the frequency of the muscles tightening and releasing. or study the hands and the eyes of different humans as they pace in a small room?

How is a 100lbs human that runs into a wall different than a 300lbs human,.. or a 2000lbs one?

Gravity, Physics, and Bio-Mechanics can inform the artist (animator) Why these things look like they do. But Science is no substitute for “appeal”; the goal is to know and then forget.

CURRICULUM:

Week 1: The Nature of Gravity
a. The Bouncing Ball example (squash & stretch)
Bio-Mechanics
a. The Froud number
b. bone vs. ligament
c. Predator vs. herbivore vs. reptile
Persistance of Vision & 24fps
a. The ramifications of presenting animation in a “limited” medium
Week 2: Cat (quadruped Walk)
Learn the foot pattern (walk, lope, trot, gallop (run)
Bio-mechanics of Cat skeleton
Week 3: Critique and adjust Cat perf.— Then Cat into Lion
Take that Cat walk, turn it into a Lion
Learn Scale, Timing adjustments, and environmental effects.
Week 4: critique Lion make adj: — Lion into Monster
Take that Lion and make a Monster
How to believably exaggerate using the bio-mechanics and physics already learned & add appeal and character.
Week 5: Human male smash into a wall (trying to open a locked door)
The physics of Muscles Engaged & Muscles relaxed
Take a human and run them at the door, smash into the door, and fall back to the ground
The challenge: to start an Action, maintain the Action, and have the Action ended by a conflict (i.e. The door)
Week 6: Critique performance:
make adjustments
Week 7: Critique Human adjust and transfer performance to Muscle Man rig and adjust for weight. Put the Human scale performance on a Troll/Large-scale Human.
Week 8:
Week 9:
Week 10:

PREREQUISITE:

Reel Review – Confidence in your Advanced Mechanics is recommended.

* Creature Weight for VFX is limited to 10 students for maximum individualized focus. We encourage a comfortable, collaborative environment so that students can learn from their assignments, the critiques of others, instructor demos, lectures, and guest speakers.