Flash 8 2D Animation - the body

This flash 8 animation production video tutorial is about body acting, clear poses, and conveying emotion with the body. It may seem basic, but is seldom shown properly and executed with clarity and precision. It goes on from the previous page that dealt with lip-synching and face acting. Do not move the rotation point. If you move the rotation point on another key frame it gets all screwed up. So do not move the rotation point of say the head, the arms, legs, forearms, hands, etc.

You want the work area to be as big as possible. Make a hotkey for everything, eg flip. The pose needs to support the emotion of the character. A subtle shift of the arm may convey a whole heap of meaning. Directors like a heap of negative space. Turning off background objects may speed up the computer speed because it has less to render. You should never skew the head or tip the head drastically - which distracts from the emotion of the face. It is rare to tip your head too much. The head generally remains level even when you are off balance. Character body positions in relationship with gravity is important to pay attention to. Maintain the line of gravity. The head stays up and down unless the character looks down at his navel or up at a bird.

Pick a point of motivation to make a movement. The arms can be moved to support the action. Check that lines are not getting too close to each other. If you get stuck move onto something that you are sure about. Refer to the storyboard for a clue or some inspiration to interpret the action. In this tutorial the character is made to scratch his cheek. Custom hands are in the character folder. You should only go into the folder to make custom adjustments to the hand shape for example. Modifying a pose slightly looks better and is less work. Just tweak a little bit.

Go onto the next flash 8 professional 2D animation tutorial - Animating Opening credits.

Flash 8 Resources

The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles, and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion, and Internet Animators - This animation book systematically demystifies virtually every aspect of animation from simple walk cycles, to breaking joints to dialogue and acting. Along the way, the book corrects or eliminates animation information that is inaccurate or practices that distract.

Hollywood 2D Digital Animation: The New Flash Production Revolution - this book takes you through the flash 2d animation broadcast production techniques used by the professionals. This book is a must for any serious animator who wants to see how the big boys do it.

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