[Figures 1 & 2] Frame 1 of the shot, sf01 (left). The starting position was generated by moving the ALL node and rotating the COG and feet controller. The pause and turn frames for shot sf01 (right).

Shot one, or sf01, is first. The shot begins with the character facing away from the camera. He pauses briefly and then turns around while making a few stretching motions. The first step is setting his starting position. Figure 17.1 shows the initial frame. I place him at the proper distance from the desk and with enough room between his body and the wall to make the turn. The ALL node is used for his translation and the COG and feet nodes rotate the body. This allows for the most flexibility when I begin breaking up the body as it turns around. Using the ALL node to rotate the character entails counter-animating the feet. Remember, the ALL node affects everything.

Now that the first position is set, I need to add a few more beats. I want the character to briefly pause before he begins the turn, so I select the COG and feet controllers and copy the pose from frame 1 and paste it at frame 18. (I could have also held down the middle mouse button and slid the time line. This would have prevented the scene from updating and allowed me to set a key without the character moving.) Once the pause is generated, I need to create the turn. I want a slow rotation and have chosen frame 74 as the last frame. The same controllers are chosen and key frames are created. Figure 2 shows the first two poses.

The next step is the stretching action. I’m going to continue setting keys on just the COG and feet during this stage, although I will likely remove the side-to-side rotation being set on the COG. I’d rather use the chest and hip controllers to get that pose. This is a quick and dirty way to see whether the generic action is going to work.

As the character finishes his turn at frame 74, he makes a motion to his right (screen left in Figure 3). I’ve placed the key at frame 83 and held that position until frame 95. (I again copy the value pose at 83 and use it to hold the character until frame 95.) He then leans toward his left (screen right in Figure 3) with a similar stretching motion. That pose occurs at frame 101 and lasts until frame 1 15. There is a slight recovery to his original position (frame 74) that ends at frame 121. Figure 3 shows the sequence of images.

[Figure 3] The rough stretching sequence.

It’s time to check the animation with a quick render. As expected, some minor changes need to occur. The transition from screen left to screen right (frames 95 through 101) is happening too quickly. I’m limited to the 121 frames of shot length and need to borrow a few frames from another part of the shot to slow this motion down. I think the turn (frames 18 through 74) could lose a small amount of time and still be effective.

The scene summary in the dope sheet allows me to move the range of keys to add an additional three frames to the transition from screen left to right. I’ll select the keys at frames 74, 83 and 95 and shift them backward three frames. That makes the new stretching transition 9 frames.

After reviewing a fast render of the 121 frames, I‘m satisfied with the initial pass on this shot. I’ve hit the major beats and I’m comfortable that the actions planned will work sufficiently. This process needs to continue with the two remaining shots. Shot number two, sf02, is a close-up and primarily involves one major position. I’ll address more of the details in a later section in this chapter. Now on to the third shot in the sequence it has a bit more complexity due to the difficulties of walking and entering the chair.