Is there a book for Realistic Animation techniques?

I'm thinking that what you're looking for is more along the lines of rotoscoping (correct me if I'm wrong, someone - I've never seen Ghost In The Shell, so have no idea what particular methods they employ in making it). I'd say animators would have a problem otherwise trying to create realistic movement without being too mechnical or ending up back at square one where they have believable but not realistic movement (there's a difference - believable means that we accept that the movement doesn't look wrong, so it's fine, while realistic means if we can't do it in real life, it better not make it into the animation either, no matter if it looks right or wrong...e.g. successive breaking of joints, believable but not wholly realistic unless you want to seriously injure yourself).

So you want to learn Anime style animation? Last time I looked up Amazon there was quite a bit of helpful books. Anyway comics look so nice because they aren't animated, if we can make still pictures become animated, just think what cartoons would look like.

Well, there isn't many resources for actual animation, but most of the "manga" books and internet resources have a great deal of showing detail, and if you looks closely at the "pictures where the characters are only circles and lines" it gives you a decent way on how the physics works, also since I am guessing we both watch alot of anime, don't watch the anime for fun, study how Naruto, Bleach, Gundams, or how the Dragonball characters move around and interact, it really helps you get thinking.

Well I can't help you anymore than that, sorry. I want to learn anime-style animation too, but my goal is to go to a japanese institute, and I am guessing you already went or are in college.

I'm not familiar with the shows you cite, but animation technique is animation technique. The only thing that might be different in what you're seeing versus what you're not interested in recreating is the degree of exaggeration, the number of drawings per second, or the way things like eases, overlap, or secondary actions are handled. There are no real differences in techniques; the differences come in the application of those techniques.

If you can point me to an online clip of some of what you're interested in, I can have a look and see about pinpointing what you'd need to focus on.

I'm not familiar with the shows you cite, but animation technique is animation technique. The only thing that might be different in what you're seeing versus what you're not interested in recreating is the degree of exaggeration, the number of drawings per second, or the way things like eases, overlap, or secondary actions are handled. There are no real differences in techniques; the differences come in the application of those techniques.

If you can point me to an online clip of some of what you're interested in, I can have a look and see about pinpointing what you'd need to focus on.

some scenes from Bleach
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ud-kd18YPbQ

Ghost in the Shell tralier
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0dnEQVLED44

Naruto, edited to a Sum 41 song
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uWEOnBKPhEA
Aloha,
the Ape

One thing to remember is that animated features typically employ a team of animators per character. This is a key difference in feature vs. broadcast animation that budget really cuts into. I don't know how many folks animated Motoko, but it's more in the features than in S.A.C.

Really more than anything this reduces production time while keeping quality high, but the expense is higher. For broadcast production, costs have to be kept low and so does production time, so the overall quality is much lower than in features.

Also the frame rate is important. There are scenes from GITS that are animated in ones. In S.A.C. most scenes will be animated in twos or lower. Actually a lot of scenes in S.A.C. don't have any movement save for a camera pan and maybe one mouth of one person talking.

DSB is right, technique is technique. One of your biggest hurdles will be how much time do you have for production vs. what you want to do.

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out rotoscoping. Features like Jin-Roh, which was Production I.G's last film where they used acetate cels, was mostly if not all rotoscoped and it looks fantastic. If nothing else rotoscoping would be an excellent way to study movement for animation. Once learned you can step away and animate what's in your head and put it on paper.

...realistic means if we can't do it in real life, it better not make it into the animation either, no matter if it looks right or wrong...e.g. successive breaking of joints, believable but not wholly realistic unless you want to seriously injure yourself).

successive breaking of joints not realistic?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jgBN0g-0VSQ

I have to agree with DSB. If you want to animate anime, that's fine, but you need to study animation then apply that to anime. Anime still employs all the same animation principles as Disney animation does. Things like Timing, weight, anticipation, over-shoots, ease-ins and ease-outs, over lapping action/successive breaking of joints, and all that other good stuff.

When you master those lessons, then you can animate in what ever style floats your boat whether it's flying ninja's with giant katanas and electricity shooting out of there hands or cute cuddly talking animals.

Aloha,
the Ape

I have to agree with DSB. If you want to animate anime, that's fine, but you need to study animation then apply that to anime. Anime still employs all the same animation principles as Disney animation does. Things like Timing, weight, anticipation, over-shoots, ease-ins and ease-outs, over lapping action/successive breaking of joints, and all that other good stuff.

I dunno... As I respect the story behind shows like Naruto and Bleach... I find the animation choppy and stiff. Doesn't really look "realistic" to me.

Thanks for the links, Ape

Frankly, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in those clips versus other anime I've seen in the past. Aside from a couple of CG character shots in "Ghost In The Shell", it's pretty standard anime.

Vakis, what you're going to need to do is get some anime on DVD that's in the style you're trying to recreate and go through it frame-by-frame and see how things are broken down. How many frames do they take to go from one pose to another? How do they handle eases and overshoots? What drawings do they include in a fast action shot? Is there any use of squash and stretch, and if so how much? These are just examples, btw. You'll have to come up with your own list of "things that make this style look the way it does".

It's a lot of heavy lifting, but if you want to recreate the style, you have to understand what they're doing first.

Oh, and that video that Ape linked to? Dayum! :D

Every DVD player I've ever owned can do single frame stepping. Even the little portable Toshiba I keep on my desk.