Esoteric Software

[chrismweb]

I'd like to really make a set of animations shine for a 4 legged, cute animal(big head), based one of our previous games.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ackmi.fluffles

Does anyone have any references off hand for any animation/animated shows with cute 4 legged creatures?

The best I can think of offhand is "My Little Ponies", or maybe some of the old Disney clips of the big headed/eyed cat.

Any other ideas? I'm probably going to need to find a lot of references, if I'm going to have it look less rigid than normal.

Thanks!

[Søren]

Hmm that's a tricky one, but what I would do is find some reference of real animals and base it on that. Maybe some of the characters in The Lion King would be good to look at. Even they are all based on real animals.

There is some great reference to animating animals in The Animators Survival kit.

Like this here

If you don't already own that book I HIGHLY recommend it.

[chrismweb]

Thanks Shiu!

Yeah, I have heard that, and the Disney Blue and Green books are must have for any animator.

Out of curiosity, have you had more experience with traditional animation (with drawing all the in betweens), or more bone system type animation?

I had a friend who was a traditional animator that worked with Don Bluth, but even just the little bit I saw/ talked to him about, it seemed like someone with traditional animation experience would have an enormous advantage over someone who didn't.

(not that I want to draw 240 frames for a 10 second animation , thought it would be good practice)

[Søren]

You're welcome.

I don't have any experience with traditional animation. I originally wanted to get in at Viborg Animation School in Denmark, which is a really great place, but unfortunately it was way to expensive to get in there.
Most of my animation experience comes from 3D. Mostly I just push myself as much as I can and look at a lot of reference when I want to animate something. The headbands I did for the ninja example was some of the first real frame by frame animation I did and I had a ton of fun doing it. The project I am currently working on will require quite a bit of that kind of animation, and I'm really looking forward to it.
There are a few programs out there for traditional animation (so you don't have to use pen and paper), but you will be starting off with things like bouncing balls etc. Those can actually be quite a challenge to get right.