A little more on Rob Coleman's background: Rob was at Industrial Light & Magic for 12 years from 1993 to 2005, where he was Animator Director on the Star Wars prequels - The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
A lot of animators, artists, educators and students attended the talk. When my students and I reached there, there were no seats left, so we got to stand throughout the talk. Standing at the talk is not too bad though, as I can take nice pictures of him while he was giving his talk. Here are the pictures:
During the talk, he mentioned two quotes which I found them useful to all animators out there:
(1) "Animators are actors"
(2) "I would not want something that are realistic, but something that are believable" That something he is refering to, of course, is animation.
An interesting discovery about the fight scene in Attack of the Clones. Rob Coleman told us that he got his inspiration for the fight scene from a Hong Kong movie, Swordsman 2 东方不败.
He shared the tricks of the trade:
An interesting discovery about the fight scene in Attack of the Clones. Rob Coleman told us that he got his inspiration for the fight scene from a Hong Kong movie, Swordsman 2 东方不败.
He shared the tricks of the trade:
- Timing of animation
- Moving Holds (Moving holds are slight and slow changes in pose over a number of frames. They are mostly used to keep a character alive slightly when the pose is supposed to stop. Moving holds help to avoid any completely still body motion that always looks dead in 3D and also serve as a nice soothing contrast to the relatively fast movment before it.)
- Reference
- The computer is a bad assistant (Don't get lazy)
- Add in the "dirt"
- Automation and Simulation (They are your friends)
He also highlighted the points to take note to become a better digital artist:
He also highlighted the points to take note to become a better digital artist:
- Study the world around you.
- What is important in this shot, sequence?
- Understanding your role on the film and your contibutions.
- Being true to the film you are making, whether it be photo real or stylized.
Be believable!
