There is a ton of artistry in a good animation and it’s a field that is rich and deep. We’ve tried hard to expose the power available in Blender and to make the process of creating animations for virtual worlds fun and rewarding.
If you are new to animation on Blender and haven’t done so already, take a look at first-steps to create your first animation.
Details
- The User Interface – each element of the UI explained.
- The Animation Rig – the structure of the animation rig and its features.
- Export Modes – background on the animation export modes Avastar can use.
- BVH and Mocap – how to transfer motion from mocap files.
- Animation Priorities – features and pitfalls of animation priorities.
- Attachment Points – animating and rigging the attachment points as bones.
Tips and Tricks
Resources
Some general animation advice and ideas:
- Animation Tips & Tricks – advice and tips from professional animators. Think Tintin, Rio, Ice Age, Matrix: Revolutions, Constantine, Transformers, Madagascar, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, WALL-E …
- Workflow example – detailed workflow by Nelson Brown.
- The 12 basic principles of animation – these are a famous set of principles to make animations more realistic by Disney animators Johnston and Thomas. See the Wikipedia article, The principles of Animation, and Thomas and Johnston’s Principles of Physical Animation.
- Tricks to Animating Characters with a Computer – by John Lasseter from Pixar.
- Animation Insiders – free ebook from 13 renowned animators.
- 3D Character animation tips – blog by Andyba offering various tips.
- The Death of Rigging – an alternative approach to animation making use of layers of motion. Can be implemented with Blender’s NLA.