Animation workflow...

[goodkebab]

Just thought i would share with you how animation is done and the time involved.

This one is about the technical issues that all games (including us) are facing.  If you remember how in CT you could glitch because an animation had to play out before you could continue to the next state. The basic rule is this,  long and beautiful animations that take away player control (player can do nothing until animation is finished)  OR short and fast animations that lack weight or any kind of realism to it.

I remember how people complained about the DA animations,  but they were done so fast in order for the player to have faster control  as opposed to the sluggish feel of CT.

http://area.autodesk.com/inhouse/videos/gdc_2009_demo_prince_of_persia_ubisoft


Ice Age 3

http://www.jaganimations.com/EvolutionReel.mov

It takes 6 weeks for a professional to animate  what is less then 30 seconds.

[Gawain]

so train two real squirrels to become actors and do mocap ;P

[LennardF1989]

Wow, I just love that Ubisoft demo.

[Oatbunches]

           As an animator, It can be a very difficult task to plan out an animation. Minute movements in certain points can drastically change the feel of the animation, especially in a game. I found the Ice Age demonstration really neat, because it closely relates to the way my work is done. It is crucial to construct the most important and meaningful elements first and then slowly animate the transitions between so they weave together seamlessly. When animating hand-held weapons, which I do most often, it is always the infinitely small movements and jitters that go nearly unnoticed that provide that extra realism. Of course, discussing animation verbally can be very difficult because it is really something that needs to be seen in action. I was actually thinking about doing a video demonstration myself sometime in the near future.

[Roberto1223]

is it possible to split long animations into several short animations that are linked together and are interruptable at those precise split points?

[LennardF1989]

is it possible to split long animations into several short animations that are linked together and are interruptable at those precise split points?

Even a 20 second animation can be stopped at any time, so there's no gain in splitting, only making it unnecessarily harder to manage. We are already at 146 animations for the spy and that's still far from complete, so please! :P