This week I got my first scene that was longer than ten seconds. With about 14 seconds to animate for one scene, I’m pretty busy. The shot has the three birds in a hot air balloon and there is a lot of dialog. I think I’ve figured out how to get faster with the lipsync, but I'm still struggling to get all of the acting done in a quick and effective way. Luckily I was able to get some tips from Darien, the Animation Director on Chirp, and improved my scene.
One of the things I’ve learned this week is how to modify walk cycles to prevent foot positions from sliding. I was told that the producers on Chirp aren't too concerned with feet sliding, but for my own sanity I needed to keep Chirp from look like an ice skater. I was able to fix the problem by making the cycle repeat a few more times and then shortening the distance the birds needed to travel as well. Darien told me that in some cases the whole cycle may have to be sped up and all the tweens would then need to be re-adjusted. Luckily I didn't need to do it that way.
I also learned from Joel about how to make better acting choices. Normally I follow the storyboards as closely as I can but in one scene I was able to improve the performance by making Chirp look more excited. By using the recorded dialog as a basis for finding the “beats” animators can emphasize the character's actions in sync with the line delivery to help the audience understand the message as clearly as possible.
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