Every day presents a new challenge, and I get to use my creativity to come up with the best solution for the client. The motion graphics industry is on the rise, and there are always new skill sets to learn and add to your repertoire. Still, I find animation compelling, challenging and just plain fun. Instead of getting out my colored pencils and sketchpad, I’m calculating the area under the curve when I want an object to speed up or slow down a certain way. For instance, in my first animation, I found myself using the Pythagorean theorem to measure the length of a diagonal arch in a vaulted ceiling. Sometimes it’s simple arithmetic, but other times you wish you had paid more attention in algebra and geometry classes. Everything you do requires some level of math. It’s an accurate representation of animation. Look at the production process section of the infographic, where the images are all geometric and grid-like. If not, repeat the steps.īut wait, there’s more! The biggest adjustment I had to make as an animator was not the keyframes, the references or the scene rigging, but the math. Render out the scene (save every frame into a movie file).Keyframe the thing in a scene (prepare the animation).Use references to figure out how a thing moves.Accomplishing that requires a few distinct steps: Not only do artists set up a scene artistically using 3D modeling and illustration, but they also have to make it move and move in a realistic and not-at-all-awkward way. Just take a look at the 13-step process in this infographic from Veetil.Īnimation requires artists to wear many hats - part character artist, part set designer, part director, part special effects coordinator and part gaffer. I loved animation - I grew up on Disney movies and Pixar animations - and always knew it was something I could do. Things were relatively simple then: come up with an idea and execute it using Photoshop or a traditional medium. There was more direct control, up to 100 undos if I made a giant mistake and, most of all, no mess to clean up. That’s why I started doing more art on the computer. It was too messy, and I was too impatient to develop it into a skill.

Sometimes I would add colored pencils or paint to the mix. If I could find a quiet space with my pencils, erasers and sketchpad, I was good to go. For as long as I can remember, I have been creating art.

Paint 3d animation