Behold my fascination with Character Animation and Blender 3D
I have been a huge fan of cartoons ever since I was a kid, something that hasn't changed in the last 30 odd years. So it really isn't any great surprise that once I discovered Blender 3d and the ability to animate my own characters, that I would become hooked.
I am utterly fascinated with Character Animation. Even though I am not what you would consider a master yet, I love creating and then watching my little characters move across my screen.
There is nothing I have tried that even compares to breathing life into a character that you have created yourself. And the funny thing is that the more you work with your character, the more life-like they become. It is all too easy to start thinking of them as real as you watch their personalities grow and develop with each step of the animation process.
Frank: a character only a mother would love! (from Big Buck Bunny)
Getting Started!
where do I start?!!!
But once you have successfully animated a character or two, you will be hooked and busily animating yourself silly.
Here are a few of my favorite character animation starter tutorials. They will have you up and running in no time at all.
- Introduction to Character Animation
- This tutorial is an excellent beginner tutorial. By time you have finished it, you will have learned to model a character, create an animation rig for him (armature) and you will have created your first animation.
Even if you've never heard of Blender before, you will be able to do this tutorial. - Your First Animation (part 1)
- This is part 1 of a two part tutorial, that will show you how to use Blender's animation tools.
This chapter will guide you through the animation of a small "Gingerbread Man" character. We will describe each step completely, but we will assume that you have read the interface chapter, and that you understand the conventions used throughout this book.
In Part I of this tutorial we'll build a still Gingerbread Man. Then, in Part II, we will make him walk. - Your First Animation (part 2)
- This is part 2 of the tutorial listed above, that will show you how to use Blender's animation tools.
If we were going for a still picture, our work up to this point would be enough, but we want Gus to move! The next step is to give him a skeleton, or Armature, which will move him. This is called the fine art of rigging. Gus will have a very simple rigging: four limbs (two arms and two legs) and a few joints (no elbows, only knees), but no feet or hands.
Proog (walking: from Elephant's Dream)
Let's get them moving!
putting your character through his/her paces
- Anatomy of a Walk Cycle
- George Maestri, the original animation producer of "South Park", explains how to properly set a up a walk cycle.
"Walks are very complex. Not only do the feet have to move across the ground, but the hips, spine, arms, shoulders and head all move in sync to maintain balance in the system. Though complex, if you break down each of these movements joint by joint, the mechanics of walking become clear.
Let's break down a basic walk, step by step. For clarity, I've animated a simple skeleton so you can see exactly how each joint moves." - Walk Cycle by Andrew West
- This tutorial will show you the basic steps in creating a realistic walk cycle for your character in Blender.
It doesn't cover any modeling or rigging, but if you download the tutorial model, this is all done for you. - Proog Walk Cycle Tutorial
- Bassam Kurdali - director of Elephants Dream shows you how to turn a simple walk cycle into a stroll with style.
The walkthrough is intended for readers who already have some familiarity with both Blender and the basic concepts of animating a walk cycle.
Support files for this tutorial can be downloaded here
Further support files can be downloaded here - BioMotionLab 1.8
- When working on developing a walk cycle for your character, sometimes it helps to see it in motion. This site has created a way to do just that. You can adjust various parameters and see how it affects the walk cycle.
You can rotate the model on the Z axis as well as add lines between the marker points. You can also make copies of the walk cycle creations for future reference using Cam Studio or similar software.
Storyboards from "Big Buck Bunny"
Every Animation needs a story
....even simple character animations
- Using Blender to Host a Storyboard
- Learn how to use Blender to plan out your animation by using blender to create the storyboard
New Polaroid
Character Animation Toolbox
Blender has the tools you need to get your character moving!
- Introduction to the Armature System
- Blender uses Armatures for character animation. An Armature is the skeleton (rig) used by Blender to move (deform) your character for animation purposes.
Armatures are made up of bones that are then assigned to specific parts of your character and once properly assigned are then used to "Pose" your character. - The Action Editor
- The Action Editor provides control over the keys set for bones in an armature, as well as for Shape Keys.
- Shape Keys
- Shape keys store different shapes of the same mesh. In other 3d applications they are called 'morph targets' or 'blend shapes' or even 'vertex keys' in older versions of Blender.
Shape Keys are a powerful way to deform your character and are often used to create dynamic and realistic facial animations for emotions and lip syncing.
A Must Have for Blender!
More than an introduction--it's an invitation to a whole new world!
Introducing Character Animation with Blender
I would buy this book again. It is a great book that I have learned a lot from. I have always shied away from rigging and character animation because of how complex I thought it was. Tony's book broke it down into manageable tasks that flowed together into a great project.
You said what!
how to create the illusion of speach and emotion
Blender has some great tools and techniques for lip syncing and facial expressions. Here are a few tutorials to get your character looking and acting more life-like.
- Lip-Sync with Shape Keys
- An in-depth look at how to use
Shape Keys to create realistic mouth shapes for lip syncing. - Creating Facial Expressions
- Shape keys are most often used for facial expressions. We will create some basic shape keys like "open", "wide", "narrow", "brows up", "brows down", and "eyes closed". Then we can mix the facial expressions together in an animation, and lip synch to a sound file.
- Adding sound and Lip syncing
- Learn how to actually sync up your facial animation shapes to an audio file.
- Driven Shape Keys
- A great example of how to use Driven Shape Keys to make your life as an animator easier.
Driven Shape Keys are a powerful way to easily adjust your Shape Keys while animating.
Various facial expresions
Animation Tips and Tricks
This blog serves as a forum for people to ask questions about character animation. Host Shawn Kelly and Animation Mentor staff and associates will answer questions, provide tips and tricks, and share ideas about animating. Animators are welcome to post their opinions, ideas and questions on the blog. We hope to start some great dialogue and get the animation community talking.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byAn amazing look into setting up your own animation project
"Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish"
Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish
Creating an animated short (whether in Blender or any 3d software) is time consuming and full of potential pitfalls. Which is why most of us avoid it like the plague. But if you are interested in creating a animation, "Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish" is a must read book.
Roland shows you how to get started and avoid the common first time mistakes in an easy to understand humorous manner that makes reading his book not only informative but highly entertaining as well.
While definitely not a book for complete beginners, it is definitely a book that belongs on every eager to be animator's bookshelf.
Free Rigged Characters For Animation
for when you just want to practice "strutting your stuff"
Some days you really just want to be busy getting a character moving and practicing the really cool moves you thought up last night.
So, here you go, take your pick from some very nicely rigged characters created in Blender, ready for animation practice.
Most if not all have documentation and instructions for ease of use.
Petunia Robot
Petunia the little monkey robot<br /><br more...1 point
ManCandy v2.3
This version should work fine with blender 2.46 an more...1 point
BlenRig 2.0
Video tutorials for BlenRig 2.0 @ http://www.vimeo more...1 point
Simple biped rig
Blue controls are for FK, red controls are for IK. more...1 point
Start Your Own Library of Great Animation Titles
Blender Animation Projects Currently in Production
Animation projects by Blender Community Members
If you have an animation project in production or would like to suggest one to be featured here, just leave a comment in the guestbook at the bottom of the page.
- A very little warrior
- My goals with this short film:
-learning of: making story and storyboard, animation, rendering, compositing
-creating a professional look render and animation
-creating a cute and beautyful short film
-maybe selling the result somehow (tips wanted)
-popularize Blender :-) and using mainly free programs
-one man project (yes, I will make everything)
-creating a good reference for me
Technical goals:
-very fast render (1-2 minutes per frame at hd resolution at my AMD4600 dual core CPU), no raytrace, using only shadow buffer lamps, using baked shadows sometimes
-making content that easy to use in real-time render (for example in a game): lowpoly subdiv models with normal maps and using standard (not complex) shaders - Dwarfed Films
- The Filmmaking Blog of DWARFED FILMS,the Irish film production and animation company specialising in high quality visuals and great sounds.
They are currently working on an animated short "Mr. Humpfninkel's Sales Technique". - proyecto tuqueque
- Well, as the title suggests, is a 3d animated short project that I hope to be a really interesting thing. The general idea is to tell a story that I've been developing very "once in awhile" since 2005 and finally I decided to take it into reality, well, virtual reality in any case...
- Kajimba
- OK, so what's this all about then?
Kajimba is a dry and dusty place way out in the middle of Australia, and when we say way out, we're talking a bloody long way from anywhere. Built right in the middle of all this nothing is the Kajimba hotel, and this is the story of all the folk within. - Bearubs
- Bearubs children's cartoon series. David Lindsley: "I put together some sample images and animations up there using Blender. These are not nearly up to the level that Big Buck Bunny has shown, but could be! We are currently looking for financial backing and will be soon looking for a studio to do the animations."
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Isle of Squid
Link to Isle of Squid and Site Review form
- Isle of Squid
- The Isle of Squid is a Directory of Squidoo Pages that have been screened for quality. It allows you to find the best Squidoo Lenses for the topic you are interested about.
- Isle of Squid Site Review
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Your chance to sound off
Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and don't forget to rank my lens so I know how I'm doing.
aquariann wrote...
Another wonderful Blender lens! Great collection of links.
Posted November 05, 2008
ChristiannaGarrett-Martin wrote...
This is a great lens! and really interesting :)
Christianna
Posted November 04, 2008
