Hi all, I'm doing research into the animation of pupils for a degree in design for interactive media, and what I need is feedback from character animators, with a good working knowledge of animation, idealy with a few years experience.
Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.
1/ Your name:
2/ Company you work for:
3/ Your job title:
4/ What type of animation do you work with?
5/ What percentage (estimate) of time spent animating a character is spent on expressions? (facial and body)
6/ Do you think expressive pupils would enhance the experience of the viewer?
7/ Under what circumstances do you feel expressive pupils could be used? (type of animation, close up, etc)
8/ What restrictions can you see there being for adding this extra detail of expressive pupils?
9/ How did you learn to animate? (books, training, college, etc, please list some titles)
10/ Would a, ïpupil animation guideÍ be useful for you, or other animators whom you work with?
Thank you for your time, and valuable knowledge.
Sam Watterson
my portfolio at http://www.samwatterson.co.uk
Nothing personal, but the first few questions are a little personal...I will however, gladly answer the rest for you, at least from my perspective.
5/ What percentage (estimate) of time spent animating a character is spent on expressions? (facial and body)
Equal time, equal treatment. Remember that it all depends on the level of realism and entertaining value. It also depends on what your boss is looking for. You can't spend a great deal of time animating something, if the time and budget doesn't permit.
If you're working for a company, or a personal project where they're looking for the best possible quality...then you put your gift of observation, acting, timing to its limits, and you don't miss a bloody detail. Body language, pose, little twitches etc...subtleties like eye-darts and almost unnoticeable smirks can be the most powerful effects visually in animation.
Otherwise, if you're working on something that's low-budget, and needs to get to the point fast, then a good recommendation is to get your key poses solid, don't fool around too much with subtleties, cause that takes time, and use good expressions, at the right times. That's impressive enough in itself.
6/ Do you think expressive pupils would enhance the experience of the viewer?
Everything enhances...but remember to stay truthful to the issue at hand. Don't overanimate and throw a bunch of junk in if it doesn't convey the right message. A bright light in the eyes, terrible shock, nausea, an adorable big eyed baby are a few examples of how you can play with pupils, but don't mess around and make the pupils beat around for no reason, that can actually take away from the animation.
7/ Under what circumstances do you feel expressive pupils could be used? (type of animation, close up, etc)
Pupils, as with thousands of other subtle muslces and parts of the face can be used to express inner thought. You have to ask yourself what the purpose of pupils are. Remember that they control the amount of light that enters the eye. When you open your eyes wide, you let in more light, and your pupils will contract to balance the amount of light entering your eye. The same works in reverse in dark situations...they'll expand to let in more light, in hopes to see more.
A person with impaired vision will often have pupils that dialate more than normal...this is because the eyes need more light to see properly. You can use that in reverse, and use that feature, along with a squinting brow to show that the person is having a hard time seeing. Same applies to someone waking up in the morning...you squint at the light, and the pupils tighten up, because your eyes are adjusting to the quick change of light in the room. The list goes on, but you have to use your own observations to figure those out.
8/ What restrictions can you see there being for adding this extra detail of expressive pupils?
See above.
9/ How did you learn to animate? (books, training, college, etc, please list some titles)
All of the above. Anywhere you can get it, but respect the fact that you need to be ready to learn something...otherwise you might be wasting your time. A good way to approach learning, and learn fast, is to give yourself an unreasonable goal...in the process of trying to animate what you've set yourself out to do, you'll run into countless questions and challenges...those are the questions that you should have answered...those are the questions that you'll benefit from the most, and remember the best.
10/ Would a, ïpupil animation guideÍ be useful for you, or other animators whom you work with?
Ok, after all this, I hope that you're referring to pupils of the eye. Otherwise, disregard all of the above...otherwise, if you're animating pupils, and want to get the best out of pupils, and you want your pupils to sing and dance...then...
open your eyes.
Adam