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Hand Structure

Hands are notoriously tricky to animate, but when done correctly, it adds a lot of detail and believably to your performances. But to...

Micro gestures & Micro Expressions

Micro gestures and expressions are a very interesting layer you can add to your animation to add more life and character. In essence,...

Weight

Weight is one of the trickiest things to get right in an animation, and can be broken down into many factors that must be combined to...

Getting Started in Maya, Part 5: Project Management

These tips and tricks should help every animator in maya, whether they are just starting out in the graph editor or they have been...

Getting Started in Maya, Part 4: Timeline

As an animator, the timeline is one of your most important tools. Although we will only be going over the basics in this post, I...

Getting Started in Maya, Part 3: Menus and Shelves

Almost all of the tools and settings you will needs to use in Maya are located in the menus and shelves, and this post will help you to...

Getting Started in Maya, Part 1: The Viewport

If you've always wanted to get into 3D work or you are completely confused or overwhelmed, then this series will help get you started in...

Maya Tip: Coloring Key Ticks

If you've ever experienced confusion when you go further into blocking, due to the overwhelming amount of keys, then this Maya tip will...

Animating the Hands

Hands are a generally a forgotten resource in beginning animator work. But when animated properly, they can do a lot to convey the...

Anatomy for Animation - the Muscles

As a continuation of my post on the bipedal skeleton, I'd like to talk about muscles, since they allow us to move our joints and affect...

Timing and Spacing

Timing and spacing are two of the Twelve Principles of animation, and although they're separate principles, we will be talking about them...

Planning an Animation - Phases of Animation, Part 1

Planning is the first step in the animation process, and it's an extremely important one, since it helps you determine the point of your...

Posing the Eyes

The position of a character's eyes is very important, not only so that they're looking in the right direction, but also to help convey...

Acting with Eye Darts

Eye darts are a very powerful acting tool, and when used in combination with blinks, you can create very believable and interesting...

Acting with Blinks

You may have heard that most of the acting is in the eyes, and this is why blinks are so important. Blinks will do a lot to sell the...

The Bipedal Skeleton

The way our bodies move is extremely dependent on how our skeleton is set up, and in fact, the skeleton is unique to bipedal characters,...

Breakdowns - how to get from here to there

Breakdowns are an extremely important part of animation and what separates the animator from the machine. And as one of my favorite...

The Moving Hold

Especially in CG animation, the moving hold is an essential part of keeping your character alive. However, it's a tricky subject to...

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