The advice to "use reference" is actually a vague statement that leaves many wondering where to even start. So helpful to see the process broken down like this.
Motion Actor Inc. is so overlooked, glad to see some other people promote them! Also I love how you present your process in the videos, really well done
Excellent tutorial! I knew how to find keyframes and so on, but I've never seen such a smooth workflow for the big picture. Shame TH-cam penalises creators like you, we need more like you in the world.
Man thank you so much. I’ve been teaching myself 2D animation and how to pull from reference this way isn’t anywhere and boy have I looked. This is amazing!!!! Thank you so much this just to my game to a whole nother level!!!!
Man, You really know how to make animation simple to understand for us! you really are a good animator and I really want more tutorials and more videos! Thanks for your time and the videos! please make more for us.
Splendid work! hats off to your work man! you are like Yoda for us! Jesus the speed you have while working on the shot that's as if you already knew what was gonna happen! so tight man! you are hell of an animator! we as inspiri ng young, student of animation or Juniors should get our ass off and work harder and harder to reach this level! I wish there could be a formula besides practice lol
Profe llegue. Gracias a este video me levante temprano, hice la cama, me cocine para llevar al laburo aunque pense en pedir comida alla y listo. Y me hice la madafakin lista y checklist. Sos el 1 Fran, gracias por todo. Ahora cuando llegue al laburo les cuento a todos como ser su mejor version con tu video❤
Hey Chester! Awesome video, super helpful, I just had a few questions! 1) do you have a perspective view open on a different screen helping you see the poses in 3D or are you doing all this in the shot cam? 2) I noticed you using the IK spine, is there a reason for this? I know when and why you’d choose FK or IK limbs, but the spine kinda confuses me, what are the use cases for one over the other when animating the spine? Again, awesome content, definitely subscribed to learn more stuff in the future!
Hey! yep I advise regularly switching to perspective and making sure that your mechanics + weight is correct but I didn’t want to get too lost in those details for this video. Also 2) I like IK spine as it’s less controls to worry about, you sometimes have to translate to get exactly what you want but I’m fine with that 🙌🏻
😤 😡 How can such an amazing account on YT exist like the motion actor thing and never found it until your random ass great video popped up in my recommended
Awesome, thank you for this video! Special thanks for showing the program for reference (which is used instead of image plane). Could I ask which features you use most of the time from Animbot?
Hey thanks, I use tonnns of tools in animbot. If I could only have two I would use Tween machine and Blend to neighbour (shift on the yellow slider) :)
Great video thank you! I guess there is no right and wrong way how you go about doing animation but if I wanted an anime inspired fight sequence for eg, where its more choppy/snappy could I just stay in stepped for that 'look' I am going for? Or maybe a hybrid of some stepped mixed with spline please?
Hi! I create my initial key poses checking all angles to make sure the extremes of the weight are moving correctly in 3D space. After that I switch to the camera view and focus on every pose to get the most appeal possible. I do check semi regularly if things are working in perspective but the end result is a 2D video created from the camera view - So to me that is the most important to get right.
Personally I like to pose with IK as i find that faster but I'll usually swap to Fk once I get to spline. (Unless there is a contact or the hands are leading the action in some sort of way) - Hope that helps :D
Hi I wasn’t too happy with those older streams as my workflow was all over the place at that time so I set them to unlisted. You can watch them here though Prt1 - th-cam.com/video/d_kGgvsnGhQ/w-d-xo.html Prt2 - th-cam.com/video/681eIg0MhWk/w-d-xo.html Prt3 - th-cam.com/video/CxD1sEvpjPc/w-d-xo.html
@@SupakAnimations hmm good question - I think it’s a fine workflow, whatever gets the job done is good. I think for the purposes of education however that it is abit messy and unstructured. There’s definitely still value in seeing different workflows though. so maybe making those unlisted is more to do with me being unhappy with the final result I got to than anything else haha
Hi, When I animate I animate to the camera so in perspective The poses look very bad and very far or near in each frame...so its hard to polish..do you have any solution ?
HI...at first i would like to say it´s a good lesson.... Can you tell me what kinda of software are u using on frame 4:47 right side to previu the video reference ? please
Hi! I never actually use the time editor as I think that’s mostly for blending cycles and such. I personally only ever use the viewport and the graph editor whilst animating :)
hey mr sampson, t i'm starting to like animating, and it is fun, and your video is cool, if i may ask question (anybody can answer) what is extreme pose ? , i knew "key pose" because i just learn and eventually able to make 2 SIMPLE walking animation sequnces a.ka walk cycle , but what is extreme pose ? is it not the same with key pose . Is extreme a things like inbetween, i don't like inbetween , onion skin makes me dizzy
Could you please help me? I'm doing this exact video with you here, but the frame count is so much more than you have. I think your final frame is 72-73. But my final frame, at the exact same final pose, is 179! I'm really trying to figure this one out. Any help would be appreciated. :)
The higher the percentage of bias the snappier / more cartoony the motion, so here I wanted to keep it somewhat close to the ref and went for a slightly softer ease at 60%
I alaways find your video helpful..but i followed the link on the key frame pro,trying to sync it with maya, downloading a updating the pyton downloaded folder into their different part but still it never works..i have seen the videos, read the docs still nothing the software blur out maya tool, must i get liecence b4 i can aceess it or i might be doing something wrong
Hi, I believe you need a license for keyframe pro or keyframe MP to use the maya functionality. If you have one and it still isn't working id getting the email to the creator from the website and emailing him with your issue. I've emailed before and he's very responsive. Thanks :)
@@ChesterSampson Thanks! Also thanks for the clear demo on this topic, I do have a follow up question. If we move further along in the blocking process to blocking plus, do you work towards a blocking plus that is in 2s or 3s in stepped before splining? (The kind where the blocking plus looks very close to your spline) E.g Your shot with the musical, you showed your breakdown of reference to final animation, I am just curious what your blocking plus looks like for that shot I do see some 2 hrs live stream of your workflow for acting shots, perhaps I will take a look at that soon 😅
@@Drummer8nimation yeah I often animate down onto 2s, 3s, or 4s (depending on the speed of the move and information that needs to be conveyed during that move). The idea is to leave as little as possible for spline so when you turn your curves to auto you lose as little as possible. Then it’s just about cleaning things up and brining back some of the snappiness that gets lost when you move into spline.
I know nothing about animation, but why can't you add the reference video as a background, at least as a rough start? Is that not a thing in 3d animation software?
You can do this it just slows down the software so I find it easier to use a tool like the one I’m using here - keyframe pro - so that the software and reference is synced up without any lag
The advice to "use reference" is actually a vague statement that leaves many wondering where to even start. So helpful to see the process broken down like this.
Motion Actor Inc. is so overlooked, glad to see some other people promote them! Also I love how you present your process in the videos, really well done
You're a legend. Clear concise workflow is what anim YT needs and your pace is perfect. Keep up the great work.
Thanks! Happy to help :D
Excellent tutorial! I knew how to find keyframes and so on, but I've never seen such a smooth workflow for the big picture. Shame TH-cam penalises creators like you, we need more like you in the world.
Man thank you so much. I’ve been teaching myself 2D animation and how to pull from reference this way isn’t anywhere and boy have I looked. This is amazing!!!! Thank you so much this just to my game to a whole nother level!!!!
Thanks! I hope it helped :)
Thanks
Man, You really know how to make animation simple to understand for us! you really are a good animator and I really want more tutorials and more videos! Thanks for your time and the videos! please make more for us.
very professional tutorials.
Thanks :)
GREAT video Chester, keep up the super work
just found your channel, been loving these, thank you!
Thanks Chester, super helpful! Will keep this in mind for my final major project.
No worries, good luck with the project :)
Great video to share with my students, thankyou!
Splendid work! hats off to your work man! you are like Yoda for us! Jesus the speed you have while working on the shot that's as if you already knew what was gonna happen! so tight man! you are hell of an animator! we as inspiri ng young, student of animation or Juniors should get our ass off and work harder and harder to reach this level! I wish there could be a formula besides practice lol
Super awesome stuff! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed :D
This is great! Thanks for posting and sharing with us!
Profe llegue. Gracias a este video me levante temprano, hice la cama, me cocine para llevar al laburo aunque pense en pedir comida alla y listo. Y me hice la madafakin lista y checklist.
Sos el 1 Fran, gracias por todo. Ahora cuando llegue al laburo les cuento a todos como ser su mejor version con tu video❤
Love the video ! Thanks for putting the time to make them :)
Happy to help 🙌🏻
Thank you for sharing! This is great
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :D
This is a well made video, thx!
Thanks! :D
Hey Chester! Awesome video, super helpful, I just had a few questions!
1) do you have a perspective view open on a different screen helping you see the poses in 3D or are you doing all this in the shot cam?
2) I noticed you using the IK spine, is there a reason for this? I know when and why you’d choose FK or IK limbs, but the spine kinda confuses me, what are the use cases for one over the other when animating the spine?
Again, awesome content, definitely subscribed to learn more stuff in the future!
Hey! yep I advise regularly switching to perspective and making sure that your mechanics + weight is correct but I didn’t want to get too lost in those details for this video.
Also 2) I like IK spine as it’s less controls to worry about, you sometimes have to translate to get exactly what you want but I’m fine with that 🙌🏻
@@ChesterSampson thanks for responding so quickly and yeah makes sense! Last question - Would you say you use IK spine the majority of the time then?
So helpful! Thank you! 😃
Happy to help :D
😤 😡
How can such an amazing account on YT exist like the motion actor thing and never found it until your random ass great video popped up in my recommended
Great video!
Thanks!
Awesome, thank you for this video! Special thanks for showing the program for reference (which is used instead of image plane). Could I ask which features you use most of the time from Animbot?
Hey thanks, I use tonnns of tools in animbot. If I could only have two I would use Tween machine and Blend to neighbour (shift on the yellow slider) :)
I love it
Thanks :D
Great video thank you! I guess there is no right and wrong way how you go about doing animation but if I wanted an anime inspired fight sequence for eg, where its more choppy/snappy could I just stay in stepped for that 'look' I am going for? Or maybe a hybrid of some stepped mixed with spline please?
Thank you sir
Thank you! Are you working only in "camera scene" or combining with every angle?
Hi! I create my initial key poses checking all angles to make sure the extremes of the weight are moving correctly in 3D space. After that I switch to the camera view and focus on every pose to get the most appeal possible. I do check semi regularly if things are working in perspective but the end result is a 2D video created from the camera view - So to me that is the most important to get right.
Love seeing your workflow man! Are you using fk or ik hands for better posing? Cheers :)
Personally I like to pose with IK as i find that faster but I'll usually swap to Fk once I get to spline. (Unless there is a contact or the hands are leading the action in some sort of way) - Hope that helps :D
Hi Chester! you deleted videos of you animating an acting scene. Do you still have these videos? i wish i could watch it again
Hi I wasn’t too happy with those older streams as my workflow was all over the place at that time so I set them to unlisted.
You can watch them here though
Prt1 - th-cam.com/video/d_kGgvsnGhQ/w-d-xo.html
Prt2 - th-cam.com/video/681eIg0MhWk/w-d-xo.html
Prt3 - th-cam.com/video/CxD1sEvpjPc/w-d-xo.html
@@ChesterSampson
thank you so much!
why don't you like this workflow?
@@SupakAnimations hmm good question - I think it’s a fine workflow, whatever gets the job done is good.
I think for the purposes of education however that it is abit messy and unstructured.
There’s definitely still value in seeing different workflows though.
so maybe making those unlisted is more to do with me being unhappy with the final result I got to than anything else haha
Helllo ! Great video. Could you explain to me how do you sync Key frame Pro with Maya ?
hey sure thing here's a guide - zurbrigg.com/keyframe-pro-documentation/item/maya-to-keyframe-pro
Hi, When I animate I animate to the camera so in perspective The poses look very bad and very far or near in each frame...so its hard to polish..do you have any solution ?
informative, thanks....
HI...at first i would like to say it´s a good lesson.... Can you tell me what kinda of software are u using on frame 4:47 right side to previu the video reference ? please
Hey Chester
Will you please make video on time editor in maya?
That will be very helpful all of us.
Hi! I never actually use the time editor as I think that’s mostly for blending cycles and such. I personally only ever use the viewport and the graph editor whilst animating :)
@@ChesterSampson okay Thanks for the update
hey mr sampson, t i'm starting to like animating, and it is fun, and your video is cool, if i may ask question (anybody can answer) what is extreme pose ? , i knew "key pose" because i just learn and eventually able to make 2 SIMPLE walking animation sequnces a.ka walk cycle , but what is extreme pose ? is it not the same with key pose . Is extreme a things like inbetween, i don't like inbetween , onion skin makes me dizzy
Can you use movie clips as a refrence? If I use a scene from a movie for too long is it copying?
It depends how much you change that to be your own by pushing poses, timing, spacing etc.
Could you please help me? I'm doing this exact video with you here, but the frame count is so much more than you have. I think your final frame is 72-73. But my final frame, at the exact same final pose, is 179! I'm really trying to figure this one out. Any help would be appreciated. :)
What's your framerate?
Where do you get your reference videos?
you can film your own or find reference online, much like I did here using the youtube channel - Motion actor inc
Why do you bias it to the 60%instead of 90%?
The higher the percentage of bias the snappier / more cartoony the motion, so here I wanted to keep it somewhat close to the ref and went for a slightly softer ease at 60%
I alaways find your video helpful..but i followed the link on the key frame pro,trying to sync it with maya, downloading a updating the pyton downloaded folder into their different part but still it never works..i have seen the videos, read the docs still nothing
the software blur out maya tool, must i get liecence b4 i can aceess it or i might be doing something wrong
Hi, I believe you need a license for keyframe pro or keyframe MP to use the maya functionality. If you have one and it still isn't working id getting the email to the creator from the website and emailing him with your issue. I've emailed before and he's very responsive. Thanks :)
@@ChesterSampson ok I would do just that..I appreciate this, you are the best!
Hi what microphone are you using, is it a USB mic?
Hi, yep it’s called - Presonus Revelator Dynamic Dynamic USB Microphone
@@ChesterSampson Thanks!
Also thanks for the clear demo on this topic, I do have a follow up question.
If we move further along in the blocking process to blocking plus, do you work towards a blocking plus that is in 2s or 3s in stepped before splining?
(The kind where the blocking plus looks very close to your spline)
E.g Your shot with the musical, you showed your breakdown of reference to final animation, I am just curious what your blocking plus looks like for that shot
I do see some 2 hrs live stream of your workflow for acting shots, perhaps I will take a look at that soon 😅
@@Drummer8nimation yeah I often animate down onto 2s, 3s, or 4s (depending on the speed of the move and information that needs to be conveyed during that move). The idea is to leave as little as possible for spline so when you turn your curves to auto you lose as little as possible. Then it’s just about cleaning things up and brining back some of the snappiness that gets lost when you move into spline.
My workflow changes constantly but you should get an idea if you watch those livestream recordings :D
@@ChesterSampson Yup sure I will watch them like school lectures😅
Wow Thanks for Sharing But Rig link is not Working!!
Oh sorry I’ll fix that!
The new link should work :)
I know nothing about animation, but why can't you add the reference video as a background, at least as a rough start? Is that not a thing in 3d animation software?
You can do this it just slows down the software so I find it easier to use a tool like the one I’m using here - keyframe pro - so that the software and reference is synced up without any lag
By the way, she is so pretty tho... And thanks for the tips
Bad bad bad, got worse at animation from watching this, unsubscribed 💔
😂 haters gonna hate
hmm... interesting, you both worked at Blue Zoo Animation in 2018-2019...
@@bangdoel7691 I’ve never met this man before in my life. We are mortal enemies