Dinosaur Animation Reel

Student animators at Animation Apprentice learn how to animate a dinosaur in motion. The tutorial uses the free Dino rig by Harry Geoghegan, available for free download at Creative Crash.  Following the tutorial, novice animators can create a believable dinosaur walk cycle and performance. To see some of the best dino animation by our students, watch the short demo reel above. 

Dinosaur Masterclass at VIEW October 24th

Animation Apprentice is going to VIEW, the 20th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference that takes place every year in Turin.

This year the VIEW conference runs from Monday 21st October until Friday 25th October.

On Wednesday October 23 at 2.30pm I'll be on a panel with SVA titled "Starting Your Animation Career: How to Get Noticed and Get Hired".

On Thursday October 24th I'll be teaching a one-day masterclass in Maya demonstrating how to animate dinosaurs, from 9.30am at Piazza Mestiere.

The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.

ILM & "Fallen Kingdom" at the VFX Festival

Fallen Kingdom

One of the highlights of today's VFX Festival at Escape Studios in London was the presentation by Jance Rubinchik, animation supervisor at ILM on the making of Jurassic World, and Fallen Kingdom.

The talk was a masterclass in creature animation, demonstrating how much careful research goes into the creation and animation of the dinosaurs.

The Jurassic World series of movies as are a "balance between science and entertainment", as the film-makers try to keep both audiences and paleontologists happy.

From the point of view of animators looking to tackle realistic dinosaur animation, the lesson is simple: use as much reference as you can, and make sure you use live action reference that is as close as possible to the anatomy of the creatures you are trying to animate. 

How to Animate Dinosaurs

Jurassic World

One of the highlights of October's VIEW conference in Turin, Italy, was Glen McIntosh's presentation on  the making of Jurassic World, and Fallen Kingdom.

Glen was the animation supervisor on both projects. His talk was a masterclass in creature animation, showing just how much research goes into the creation and animation of the dinosaurs.

McIntosh described the Jurassic Park series of movies as a "balance between science and entertainment", as the film-makers try to keep both audiences and paleontologists happy.

No animator knows how dinosaurs actually moved. But, dinosaurs have plenty of living relatives, such as birds,  and animators can find useful reference material in many corners of the natural world.

"Indominus Rex" Dinosaur Rig by Truong

Indominus Rex by Truong

We're liking this "Indominus Rex" Maya Rig made by Truong, free to download and use for non-commercial animation.

The IRex is fan art, based on the character from Jurassic World, a genetically engineered monster hybrid between the T Rex and the raptors. Because of this, the copyright in the rig vests in the Jurassic World creators; hence the need to use a rig like this for learning purposes only.

Like all of Troung's rigs, the IRex is very well modelled and rigged, and for the most part sufficiently light to give you at least a close approximation of real-time playback in your viewport.

Tokyo Rex by Lee Caller

Check out this excellent dinosaur animation by Animation Apprentice student Lee Caller.  You can also view his other videos at website here - all of Lee's work has a strong storytelling element as well as great technical qualities - the perfect ingredients for a great animation performance.  Lee has been teaching classes at Escape Studios lately, introducing animation students to the art and craft of character animation. So, not just a great animator - but a great teacher too.

Dinosaur Locomotion Tutorial

Dino walk by Mark Lawson-Hall

Our latest tutorial at Animation Apprentice shows how to animate a dinosaur in motion. The tutorial uses the free Dino rig by Harry Geoghegan, available for free download at Creative Crash.

Following the tutorial, novice animators can create a believable dinosaur walk cycle and performance. To get started, watch the theory video below.

Dinosaur Rig by Harry Gladwin-Geoghegan

Here at Animation Apprentice we're liking this dinosaur rig by Harry Gladwin-Geoghegan. It's a great free rig for Maya animators, and you can download it here.

The Dino rig excellent for doing creature locomotion, and just about the only thing it won't do is close-ups, as the facial controls are quite limited.

But, to get some dino action on your animation demo reel, this is an excellent rig to choose.