Animation Bootcamp: 2018 Tricks of the Trade

In this 2018 GDC micro-talk session, animators Gwen Frey, Joe Han, Almudena Soria, Jalil Sadool, Kyle Chittenden & James Benson rapidly deliver their best animation tips and tricks in 5-minute bursts.
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[@morbid1.]

Animators need more love on GDC... too short

[@reke9942]

Honestly GDC is a gold mine of information. Really appreciate the content.

[@morbid1.]

Gwen is master in tech animation...

[@RocketFriday]

and I love her confidence,
"We hit it perfectly and have no time for questions!"

[@NihongoWakannai]

Joe han talked about drawing on your monitor, but all the things he uses it for I can do in-program. Blender has a feature that can show the movement of points over the frames as a connected line, and I use the cursor to mark contact points.
Hotkeys for orthographic camera are also default in blender.
If blender has these, surely maya and C4D would have them.

[@luciger_globus]

Gwen Frey, thank you so much I was about to make the mistake of authoring so many turn animations for a student project. So excited about this!

[@sivag2453]

Really useful content for animators, thanks to GDC ...look forward to see more related tips in future .

[@elainascott7496]

I'm getting back into Games Development after 10 years and this is just a goldmine!

[@taufanaugusta8884]

Kudos for Gwen, i learned a lot.

[@maxismakingstuff]

These talks were great.

[@Vekkq]

thank you

[@edenelegiac]

I clapped at my desk cause I'm a rebel.

[@gwenfreytheta9649]

ONE RULE!!

[@reke9942]

Remember she is watching you 20:13

[@junbozuo6474]

The first and the last guy are brilliant...

[@John-X]

He kept smacking his lips...i hate that

[@pkminpkmon]

Aww James Benson's thumbnails of the games he's worked on XD

[@ArnaudMEURET]

Turns out that black & white stripes are the best to accurately grasp all the subtleties of a character’s motion.

[@alperozgunyesil]

gold

[@TheNSJaws]

would've been super great if they had more time to expand on everything
anyone got any idea on where to find more info on each of these topics?

[@gwenfreytheta9649]

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask on twitter. We are all very active! I'm Gwen Frey (@diregoldfish)

[@goldroger9990]

GwenFreyTheTA hey you are the don't clap lady.

[@TheNSJaws]

Sadly, nothing in particualr. I'm interested in the general expanion on each topic, which, I assume would take up the time of a full 30 minute presentation each.

[@rolandojr.4044]

Does anyone have any resource related to what Gwen ( the last panel ) talked about, I pretty much got the basics of game programming and need to learn more. Hopefully the resource is in Unity but I'll still take anything

[@kabeltelevizio]

She was using Unreal, I think. I am not sure, how similar Unity's animator is.

[@MrSensitiveNipples]

Any more information about what the last talker was explaining, and showing? More specifically; Any other resources on the internet about what she was talking about.

[@gwenfreytheta9649]

Want me to expand a little more on a specific point, or just the entire thing? I definitely tried to cram waaaaay too much into this :/

[@MrSensitiveNipples]

GwenFreyTheTA I would love to see you go further into detail on the last subject of your talk, but I feel like the entirety of the animation blending system needs more explaining. As you said: 5 minutes isn't long enough. 🙃

[@gwenfreytheta9649]

Hmmm, I'll try to put together a youTube video this weekend that is a slightly extended cut. Also I can do a Q&A on Twitch if that would help?

[@MrSensitiveNipples]

GwenFreyTheTA Sounds great. I'll be subbed, and watching for the video.

[@applejinx7172]

You were great. Loved how information-heavy it was, I think you chose well :)

[@maxismakingstuff]

Does anyone know what facial tracking software was used at 4:36? Or have any to recommend?

[@FrameMachine]

It's most likely Faceware. I'd recognize those markers anywhere.

[@pawpotsRS]

the second panel what?

[@Sp1derFingers]

NO CLAPPING

[@tacticslc4805]

I like the thumbnail

[@minaaris]

I really appreaciate these conventions you people are doing, but the second guy didnt understand what was asked from him

[@Radicalshikami]

i want to hear tips from the animator guy of nier: automata

[@reke9942]

Have you seen the GDC talk solely from the neir animator guy?

[@Bella_Rei]

HELP, I need extra ears, at 0:28 does he say "[...] and then a cancelled boy simulator"...
and then the picture is of a news story about Kinect being a disaster?...
DID THIS GUY WORK ON PROJECT MILO?!

[@Paul-to1nb]

He had to have been talking about Milo lol. Still hurt that never came out, but it was also way ahead of its time. Maybe modern AI could do it?

[@Kallyanna]

Guy #2 Told it like is IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah he did not talk about what the panel was about.. except that.. yeah most animators do the hoody thing.. my husband included! (He's also the programmer!!!!!!!!!!!! so that also tilts there) I actually linked this vid to one of our business partners for #2's advice

[@matt4193]

Three-keyframe-Scout OP pls nerf

[@herpderp1750]

Most of Joe Han's tricks are old school, and replaced with a much cleaner/faster process in anim-bot