Lamp Hop - a Great Addition to Your Demo Reel

Lamp hop by Lisa Springett

A simple lamp hop exercise can be a great addition to your animation demo reel.  One of the most iconic pieces of character animation ever created is Luxo Jr. — the hopping desk lamp that launched Pixar into the spotlight back in 1986. 

The lamp hop is one of the first exercises that students tackle at Animation Apprentice, and a reminder that you don’t need a complex character rig to show personality, weight, and storytelling.  A simple lamp hop animation can still be a great addition to a demo reel - just keep it short and witty - like the example above by Lisa Springett. 

Animate a "Take" with the Luxo Lamp

Animate a "Take" reaction shot with the Pixo Jr lamp

In this simple free tutorial we show how to animate a "take" (a reaction shot), with the Pixo Jr lamp rig which you can download from highend3d.com. 

The tutorial is a simple one, aimed at animation beginners, but it helps if you are already familiar with the Maya Interface.  Follow the thumbnails below to replicate the tutorial.

How to Fix The Pixo Jr Lamp Rig

Pixo Jr is a great rig for learning animation, which you can read all about here.  You can also see a series of short tutorials for animation beginners, showing how to make the lamp hop.  But Pixo is an old rig (2006) and works less well in Maya today.  This is because of Maya's implementation of Parallel Evaluation, designed to make rigs perform faster in the Viewport.  Part of the Pixo Jr's rig is not behaving correctly in this new evaluation mode.  The solution is to change Evaluation Mode to DG. To do this, go to Windows > Settings and Preferences and then in the Settings > Animation category, change the drop down menu for Evaluation Mode from "Parallel" to the older mode "DG".

Animate a Lamp Hopping With Pixo Jr.

In this tutorial we show how to animate a lamp hopping. It's an introduction to character animation, and also a nod to one of Pixar's first animated shorts - Luxo Junior. 

The rig we recommend for this exercise is the Pixo Jr rig - an excellent rig, free for student download at highend3d.com, and the perfect starting point to learn locomotion & mechanics.

Meet Pixo Jr - The Animator's Favourite Lamp!

Pixo Jr - a great training rig for Maya animators

Pixo Jr is an excellent rig, free for student download at highend3d.com.

We recommend Pixo Jr. for the early stages of learning animation - it's a great way to get used to the Maya animation controls without things getting too complex, too quickly.

Pixo Jr. was created in homage to Pixar's pioneering animated short - Luxo Jr. - the film that made the studio's name and proved that CG animation could connect emotionally with audiences.