After Effects Character Rigging
http://www.digitalbard.com presents After Effects Character Rigging.
Do you ever wonder how still images and illustrations go from being motionless graphics to video animations - full of life? I'm Angela, concept artist and animator at Digital Bard, and I'm here to walk you through one of the ways that we go about bringing a drawing to life.
If you look at this giraffe and imagine it as a marionette, where would the hinges and strings go? That's what we mimic when we animate it -- we create a "puppet" of the image. It all starts with breaking down the single image into pieces which sometimes includes adding segments that couldn't be seen in the image -- like the two other legs in this giraffe.
From there, it's brought into After Effects, where we can begin to rig it. Rigging a character is essentially creating their joints and bones. Each pin is placed on a joint, to give us control over the placement of each body part.
Now we need to anchor each joint to one another so when one part moves it will move the related parts. For example, when the knee bends, the ankle needs to move with it.
Now that the character has it's bone structure, we can set it into motion -- starting with key poses, adding break-downs, along with other little extra touches.
What just took me two minutes to show you, actually took about two hours to animate.
---
Digital Bard helps businesses and organizations increase sales, raise funds, train teams, demo products, build relationships and change minds, all through creative video and online marketing strategies.
HD shooting, digital editing and DVD authoring
Motion graphics, 3D Modeling and Animation
Virtual Tours and Company Profiles
Sales Videos and Product Demos
TV and Cinema Commercials
Seminars, Training and eLearning Videos
See samples and get inspired at http://www.DigitalBard.com. Call 240-566-5931 to schedule a free 25 minute consultation and strategy session. Serving the Mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia.