Perfect Imperfection

I love animation that shows us something we recognize, and we all recognize imperfection.

I wanted to do a post on how it can be really great to add imperfection to your animation, and in this case specifically how sometimes things like a perfect ease-in or overshoot can add an element of falseness to your work when creating animation in a certain style. I say this because I was watching the shots of a particular animator here at DreamWorks who does a wonderful job of this, and wanted to understand this a little more and include it more frequently in my own work.

When I used to animated in Maya, I was never a curve editor animator. I would just look at everything in the shotCamera, and track arcs in 3D using my motionTrail script. Here at work, the software we have for manipulating curves is so good, I quickly started doing a lot of stuff in the curve editor and making a habit of smoothing stuff out cleanly and watching to make sure that everything was easing in and out nicely.

I really love using the curve editor, and probably wouldn't go back to doing it all in the viewport, but I recently noticed that my movements were becoming too smooth, too calculated and my animation was losing some of that naturalistic punch that I used to see in my older stuff.

I usually go back to live action to figure out how things really move and how it relates to animation, and below I've shared a few videos that show examples of where we may be tempted to oversimplify and oversmooth the movement. In reality there is a lot of "imperfection" that we see in the arcs of movement without really realizing it, but its part of constructing our perception concerning whether or not something is real.



You can see immediately that the arc and the spacing on the foot is not what you might expect if you just started animating this from scratch...

The arc above shows how the curve might turn out based on our assumptions, and what were used to implementing. Its pretty "perfect" and quite different to how the real foot travels through the air. This would probably result in a semi-decent looking animation, but with something looking not quite right or as if not enough detail existed in the movement.

Instead of going nice and smoothly over the top of the arc, the foot drops slightly before it rises up again at the peak. This is the natural arc as the lower leg swings forward.

Theres an interesting section here where the foot slows down before it begins to fall. If you click back on the video, we see this as a slight pause in the leg, and it illustrates thought in the characters mind... a moment of calculation as his brain thinks about the best place to land the foot.

Notice how the foot doesn't fall to the final contact pose with that perfectly accelerating downward motion, its spacing is almost linear after it starts to fall, then suddenly accelerated just before the contact. The foot is not an object freefalling through space - the leg above it can alter and "imperfect" the spacing as it falls.



As the woman gestures, she holds out her hand, and for a part of the gesture she appears to hold it relatively still as she moves it screen right...



When we track this "smooth" part, its clear how irregular the arc is. Despite the fact its not obvious when we watch the video above, its all going on under the hood, and adding to our perceptions of whether or not the character is real.

The movements of the head are a particularly ideal place to use this idea. When we start animating, we quickly learn about what can make head moves appealing - such as dipping the nose on a turn, a slight nod or twist in the opposite direction before a change etc. These are by all means valid, and used wisely can really add to head animation. Take a look at some of these videos below where I tracked the nose to see how the head is moving, and you quickly see how "wobbly" and unsmooth the curves are. I find this stuff really interesting to study.





Here's another curve we might normally be tempted to smooth out - reducing its subtle realism. I love the little bump at the top, and the small "glitch" in the deceleration at the bottom of the curve.





The guy in the blue shirt above shows how erratic the arcs on a head can really be. Whether or not your shot would call for this kind of detail depends on many things, but its just really interesting to me to see how crazy it can get, on a move that isn't really that extreme at all.



Without getting into the subject of overlap and inherited motion, you can see clearly how a more complex action like sitting down and adjusting weight and balance can increase the scale of these direction changes.

Even movements that are supposed to appear smooth and elegant may contain these irregularities, they are just smaller and less noticeable.



The arcs are almost "smooth" but not quite. I might be tempted to round out the tops of the curves and even out the spacing, but these subtle effects can increase the believability.

As far as how to implement these irregularities, it is definitely something I would recommend doing right at the last stages of polish. You can do this by just playing with the curves and adding little bumps and notches, but it can be very hard to get it to look right, and not like you just screwed up smoothing your shot...The reason for calling this post "perfect imperfections" is because nature will always do this exactly right! If your software supports it, I would even recommend doing this on another animation layer, that way its easy to experiment and scale things bigger and smaller without changing your main acting underneath.

Its important to mention that in animation we don't strive for "realism", we strive for communication of the idea. If the idea is ultra realism, then yes we animate as realistically as we can, but normally we are extracting the essence of movement and simplifying it to make the statement clear. So then, are all these imperfections necessary? no, I don't think they are absolutely needed, but they do add a layer of information to the idea you are communicating - audiences all know instinctively that natural motion is varied and irregular, and by including this in your animation you help make your characters appear more lifelike - which may make the audience more likely to believe what they have to say.

Surprise !

I saw a pretty unusual YouTube video today. Kind of funny, kind of cheesy, but great for that reference that is really hard to come by. There are some golden little moments that you just simply don't see that often... but may have to animate!

This guy comes onto one of these American Idol style talent shows, and does something that nobody really expects. The reactions from the judges are priceless, but also his own gestures and mannerisms are great to watch.

Watch the video, then I`ll point out a few things that really stood out to me. I suppose these things can be interpreted any way, and are pretty subjective, but its all research in the end !



Try not to be distracted by the ridiculous voices of "Ant and Dec".

• ( for some reason embedded YouTube puts the time scale in remaining time )

• -1:42 - This is my favourite bit. The female judge ( Amanda Holden ) is genuinely shocked and amazed. The way she holds her hands together after finishing the clap, the half laugh, and the little blink of disbelief. She is truly touched, and its a nice little moment of genuine femininity ( compare to the relaxed but impressed male reaction of Simon Cowell to screen right ) . Its almost like she has to hold the moment in her hands, because she cant quite believe it! Compare this too with her contrasting attitude at -3:50 the difference is huge! at this point she is a little condescending ( the way she quickly looks him up and down, frowning, not particularly impressed by his appearance ), then a few moments later her attitude is transformed completely.
  

• -1:24 - Another great moment. Watch Simon Cowell's eyes and mouth after he says "fantastic". He really shows a number of things here. Firstly he is clearly humbled by the performance, but wants to retain his professional image and tries not to show it - but twice he looks down briefly and coupled with the blinking he gives this away. The fact that he smiles through this "submission" and also squints very slightly, shows how much he likes this guy, and not just his performance. Its almost like hes thinking "you just did something I could never do, even though I`m supposed to be judging you on it...". The way he holds his hand under his chin is like he's trying to raise his head, to keep his humility - in a "keep your chin up" kind of way. Very subtle stuff, but incredibly powerful if we could harness it and use it in our animation.

• -1:04 - This one is interesting. After she finishes saying "diamond" she does a slightly elongated blink. This is because she realises that shes actually said something a little stupid. Shes waiting for the reaction from the audience, and when it doesn't come immediately, a little tinge of embarrassment is seen, just in this single slightly lengthy blink.

• -3:12 - Back to near the start again. I like this little bit because it shows uncertainty and doubt in the guys eyes. After he sings the words "nessun dorma" ( or really at the start of "dorma" ) he does a very quick look down - I presume at the judges, and then quickly sets his eyes back to his little comfort zone that he clearly locks into right at the start of his performance. He is nervous here and wants a little token of reassurance. Its quick, but its there very clearly.

• -1:46 - Sorry to jump around. I like the change on the guys face as he realises his fate is in the hands of the judges. At first he taking in the applause, smiling, and recovering knowing he has done all the hard work - but then quickly breathes out and straightens his face as he realises he must deal with what is said in the next few moments. He also does a little nod, a little gesture of reassurance to himself that it will be ok.

• -0:36 - Look closely at the faces of the judges as they watch him walk off the stage. Once again I like the expression on the woman's face, and her body language. She has her hands flatly down on the table, which is kind of odd, but interesting. Its great too they way they all track him with their heads and not just their eyes as he walks off.

I think these subtle and hidden moments are much more powerful than any of the reactions, they edited together on the actual show. For instance the "half crying" and "face wiping" that the female judge is shown doing, says far less than a single pose that she holds around -1:42.

Anyway... I`m sure there's loads of things, of all different kinds you could pick out of any footage , I just thought that little clip had a nice set of unusual mannerisms and gestures I wanted to remember.

Dont worry... Be Thinky !

When I'm working on a challenging animation, something that happens to me often, and must happen to every animator is a feeling of being overwhelmed; mainly by the millions of different ways you can approach a certain action within your sequence.

We've all been told over and over you must plan your animation. This is true of course, but I find no matter how much you think things through - there are always details left out, and spaces that you would prefer to leave to "evolve", after all that's part of the magic of animating... but these are precisely the bits that make us worry !

When I find myself worrying I'm often asking myself these questions:

• Does this bit fit with the rest of the shot ?
• Is there a more interesting way I could do this ?
• Is this action entertaining enough ?
• Does this really contrast to show any character ?
• Is this cliched ?
• How am I going to get this character to move to where he needs to be and look good ?
• Is this going to disrupt the pace of the shot ?
• Is this actually going to look any good when its animated ?
• Is my point going to be clear enough ?

These kind of thoughts are strong enough to make us want to switch off and do something easier. Like watch TV.. but I found something recently that really helps me through this.

Get away from the computer, and think objectively about what needs to happen. Its SO EASY to worry and waste an evening scrubbing back and forth through your poses trying to think of what could happen, or what should not happen. Just going over and over what you've already done.
The only real way to solve this is to get a pencil and paper and just have fun thinking about what would be really entertaining at that point.

These are the basic idea generators:

• What is the character thinking at this point ?

This is the real golden ticket. This is the blood and guts of what makes animation work or not, and its also the easiest starting point to help you think of ideas about what actions to animate. I always find that just by imagining myself in the character's scenario - that I suddenly get lots of ideas just from my own experiences. They serve as great starting points - then you can adapt those ideas you had to match what the character would do ( and not yourself ).

• What would I like to see ?

If you were in the theatre watching your shot ( but as animated by someone else - you've never seen this shot before ) , what would be really cool to see ? what would look really interesting ? or thought provoking or surprising ? what would you want to see if you were watching that shot for the first time ? not knowing what was going to happen next. What would you like the character to do to satisfy the way you feel about him ? This is really the nuts and bolts of filtering out whats entertaining.

• What does it look like ?

When I`ve filtered out a few acting choices using the 2 starters above - I find it really helps to act them out. In fact I find that acting it out is the best way to understand "what is the character thinking" .. act it over and over, with the webcam recording, and you will find that different acting choices evolve naturally. Things you would probably never have thought about on paper will start to happen as you act out ( i don't just mean body movements - but also actual actions that you would do it that situation ) - the key is to try and lose yourself in that moment and imagine yourself there - smelling the smells, feeling the rain, whatever it is that would effect how you act.
When you have a good basis, you can extend the idea to how your character on screen would act, and not yourself, but getting your own acting down first is the crucial step.

what about creatures / monsters / animals ? ( basically things that dont look like you ! )

All of the above still work. You will find that getting video reference of similar animals will help you a lot, just because you will see things you didn't think of or expect. I usually find that just taking the time to imagine myself in the creatures scenario is enough to generate ideas.

So that's it. I find that if I follow these three steps above I usually come out the other end of a frantic "worry fest" feeling much more confident, and with good solid ideas of what to do next. The most surprising thing is that its often clear as day what the right acting choice is, just because exploring by acting out ( in your mind or on video ) lets you understand what happens naturally, and not just pondering on what "moves well" or what "fits" or what will "look good".

Little box of tricks

Here's something I really recommend. I've been building a book of images that inspire my animation... mostly images of dynamic and well crafted poses, or characters that emote certain attitudes or ideas. I've found it hugely useful when planning the animation I`m currently working on at home.. so much so that I intend to fill the whole book and take it with me as ammo whenever I need to animate anything.

All of the images are from the Internet. I built a template page in photoshop that's set to the size of the pages in the book, then all I have to do is fill it with clippings from stuff I find, print them out, and stick them in.

One of the best things about this process is the exploration. You get to see some of the mind blowing talent that lies almost anonymously on the Internet, and you get to learn a little from these great artists, and capture it.

My plan is to fill another book with my own drawings... but that's for another day.


( note: this work isn't my own. As I add to this blog, I will update my links to where these little gems were discovered )