Spring Class Starts on Monday 4 March 2024

Animation by Mark Masters

Our Spring Animation Class begins on Monday 4th March 2024.

It's not too late to book a place; all you need to do is visit the main Animation Apprentice site and go through a few simple steps.

If you want to learn 3D animation to a professional level, and start your new career as an animator - your journey starts here.

How to Import an Image Plane into Maya

In the three minute video above, we show how to import an image plane into Maya. Image planes can be especially useful for, as in the example above, importing your thumbnail sketches into Maya, so that you have your reference inside the shot.  This way you can follow the reference step by step, and match your animation poses to your thumbnail sketches. 

Animate a Walk Cycle "On the Spot" with Monty

Monty goes for a stroll

We've uploaded a new series of video tutorials on how to animate a walk, using the marvellous "Monty" rig, free for download from Creative Crash.

There are four video tutorials of just under ten minutes, showing step by step how to animate a walk cycle, animating the walk "on the spot" on a treadmill, then adding a forward translation on the World Control to have Monty move through his environment.  

The videos are recorded in Autodesk Maya, and are aimed at animation beginners. 

Animate and Light a Candle with Blend Shapes

Below is a short free tutorial on how to create, animate and light a candle using Blend Shapes in Autodesk Maya.  The goal is to understand how to use Blend Shapes to morph simple objects in Maya from one shape to another, and then animate them. 

Blend Shapes are used mainly for facial animation, but they can also be used to animate inanimate objects - in this case a flickering candle. 

Great Tripod to Film Live Action for Animation

One of the best ways to get live-action reference for a piece of animation is to film yourself acting it out, capture the footage on your phone, and then import the footage onto an image plane in Maya.

The best way to film yourself is by mounting your smartphone on a tripod. 

We're recommending this excellent (and inexpensive) tripod, made by Linkcool, for mounting your phone/camera, while you do the acting and give the performance.

How to Animate with "Heavy" in Maya 2024

We've recently updated the "Heavy" rig, one of the free rigs we recommend for learning animation. Heavy can be downloaded from highend3d.com, and you can read all about him here, as well as see how to use him to Animate a Walk Cycle here, and a Run Cycle with Heavy here. 

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".

How To Use Infinity Curves in Maya

In this short video we show how to turn on and use Infinity Curves in Autodesk Maya. Infinity Curves are a powerful tool that enable animators to smooth out looping cycles, such as a walk cycle, run or similar, smoothing the motion so that there aren't any frustrating clicks, bumps or mistakes.

Why Animators Should Work on Multiple Shots

Recently a student at Animation Apprentice was getting stuck on one of the weekly exercises, and I suggested that he work on a different shot. At first he resisted - he didn't want to give up on the shot he was working on.  

But I explained that lots of animators like to work on multiple shots at once - it helps to be able to rest your eyes, and come back fresh to a shot after working on something else for a while. 

How to Troubleshoot Animation Curves in Maya

In this brief animation tutorial, aimed at animators learning Maya for the first time, we show how to troubleshoot your curves in Maya, using some simple animation with Monty The Green Pea.  Maya's Graph Editor is confusing at first, but after a while it becomes the animator's best friend. When you first learn animation, you will find bumps and clicks in your work, which can be hard to diagnose and fix. Slowly, over time, it becomes clear how to find the curve that is causing the trouble - and fix it. 

Animation Apprentice Demo Reel 2024

 

 

Above is our 2024 student demo reel, a selection of the best work done at Animation Apprentice over the last year. The reel includes work by Joshua Reynolds, Marc Stevenson, Mark Masters, Michael Monks and Sean Rubin. Congratulations to all of them on their excellent work.

BBC Ignite Welcomes Animation Pitches

BBC "Ignite" deadline is 8 February 2024 at 2pm

BBC Children’s Animation are seeking submissions for fresh, bold and innovative animation ideas. The scheme is called "Ignite" and the deadline is 8 February 2024 at 2pm. 

For all our students at Animation Apprentice who have been working on short films - this is a perfect opportunity to pitch your materials to the UK's biggest broadcaster.

Animate a Simple Head Turn with "Monty"

Animate a simple head turn with "Monty"

In this basic tutorial for animation beginners we show how to animate a simple head turn with a basic character - Monty the Green Pea, who you can read about (and download) here.  

The idea is to learn how to do a basic head turn without making it stiff and lifeless - dip the head slightly on the turn, and also close the eyes - everyone blinks when they turn their head. 

"A Christmas Carol" by Richard Williams

If you've got a few minutes this Christmas Eve, why not watch Richard Williams' 1972 Oscar-winning version of The Christmas Carol.  It has all the atmosphere of 19th Century London and none of the sentimentality.  It's just twenty minutes long, and was completed at Williams' London studio at 13 Soho Square - a Grade II* listed building which still stands today (it's even painted the same colour).

Introduction to Character Design

 

In this short video I talk briefly about the basics of character design, how to start with simple basic shapes and work out from there, developing your characters personalities from very simple beginnings.  Character design is very much about contrasts - making characters feel different, and look different - with contrasting personalities. 

How to Clean Up Scanned Images in Photoshop

This short video shows how to take a scanned image and tidy it up in Photoshop. The image I am using is an ink cartoon drawing, but this method works equally well for pencil drawings, and also works for images that have been photographed with a smartphone camera.  Why should you clean up your scans? The purpose of the cleanup is to make your scanned images look prettier, to make them ready to send to a client, or to look nice for a presentation. Raw scans look ugly and unprofessional - watch the video above to see how to tidy them up.

How to Use The Shelf Editor in Maya

This short introductory tutorial shows how to use the Shelf Editor in Autodesk Maya. The Shelf Editor allows animators to create buttons on a shelf, permitting the user to select frequently-used control curves such as hands, feet, body and head quickly and efficiently. For most animators working on production, the Shelf Editor is one of the first tools they will use when setting up their character workflow, to ensure they can animate fast and efficiently. 

Animating With Maya's Motion Trail Tool

This short video (just three minutes long) shows how to use Maya's Motion Trail Tool. The Motion Trail Tool is very useful for smoothing out the kinks and bumps in your animation, to ensure that your arcs and paths of animation are as smooth and flowing as possible. Bumpy animation curves will create pops and bumps in your animation. The Motion Trail Tool is one way of overcoming these problems and giving your animation an extra polish. 

Animate a Feminine Walk with "Monty"

Exaggerated Feminine Walk with "Monty"

One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk.  In this basic tutorial, we show how to take a "plain vanilla" walk using the marvellous "Monty" rig (free for download from highend3d.com) and make Monty walk in a feminine way, like a model on a catwalk.   

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

How to Fix Knee Pops in a Walk Cycle

In the video above, we show how to fix knee pops in a walk cycle. IK chains can "pop" if the leg on a character gets over extended, so the trick is not to completely extend the leg. Straighten the leg on the contact position, then slightly dial it back and relax it. To find out more, watch the short video above.

Using AI to Colour 2D Animation with Cadmium App

Cadmium App

Artificial intelligence continues to offer new ways to speed up the animation pipeline and turboboost the productivity of animators. 

One new breakthrough comes from the Cadmium App, a new tool which automates the process of colouring 2D animation.

Cadmium is a creative tool for hand drawn animation. Using machine intelligence, animators can now colour their entire animation sequence from just a few keyframes.