Welcome to Animation II (Body Mechanics)!

In this class we will be continuing our exploration and refinement of the art, processes, and techniques of animation. Specifically we will be moving away from simple objects into the more complex nature of animating the body specifically bipedal characters. We will be dealing with the problems of balance and weight, momentum and velocity, eases and overshoots, fluid motion and culminating in an introduction to acting through pantomime.

This week we are going to be kicking off the semester with basic introductions to the course, professor, tools and format. To begin please review the course info page (syllabus) and if you like a brief instructor bio.

Or you can watch this video where I introduce everything to you:

Since this is an online class it is essential that you manage your time wisely and take it upon yourself to stay connected as there is no required meeting time to ground you.

If you haven't figured it out by now we will be primarily using Autodesk Maya for our work in this class. If you do not already have Maya 2024 installed on your computer and you plan on completing all or some of this class from home you are going to need to download and install it. Maya cost's $1,620.00 per year so I hope you have some cash saved up or have some organs to donate. Too high for you? Yeah, I thought so. Good news is that because you are students you have access to download and use Maya for course work for the awesome price of FREE. That's right. Free.

To convert your video files to the required mp4 format for submission you may need to install Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe After Effects, or Adobe Premiere) to complete those conversions.