Animation class – The basics of replacement animation and making your character talk.

Hi Steemit!

This week I’m going to be explaining replacement animation to my class. This is some of the stuff I do with my first years so that they have the basics down before they create their first animated film later in the year.

Replacement animation is very important in all animation mediums but you will see it most commonly used in stop motion animation.

For replacement animation, you need to create a library of various elements that are interchangeable. These are replaced on a frame by frame basis when they are needed.

One of the most common needs for this method is for lip syncing.

Lip syncing is when you create a series of mouth shapes and assign them to a sound. These are usually broken down phonetically so that your character has a huge range of facial movement and can say anything you want them to say. We figure this out using a “dope Sheet” (weird name). First you record speech for your character, then you time how long your character takes to say each word. You then break that word up phonetically. This way you can see just how long each mouth shape needs to be used on your character.

Example of a dope sheet below:

Another good use for replacement animation is to allow your character to blink.
Blinking is very important for your animated character. You want them to appear natural, like they have a life of their own. For your character to be believable to an audience you need to pay attention to those little details and mannerisms we all do as humans.

Here is a very basic instructional video to show you how to get your character to blink in stop motion:

3D Printing

3D printing is a fairly new technique that is used in many modern days stop motion films. Laika, the studio that created films such as Coraline, ParaNorman and Kubo and The Two Strings use this technology to create all of their puppets facial expressions, merging very traditional principles with modern, extremely accurate technology. Firstly, the animators model each facial expression and mouth shape using 3D software such as MAYA, they then send this information through to a 3D printer that will print out the shape as a physical piece of plastic. You can print as many different expressions as you like. You then place and replace these mouth shapes repeatedly to give the illusion of movement to your character.

Below is an example of a library of heads created by Laika for Paranorman using a 3D printer:

This process can also be used to create a full body, not just facial expressions.

Below is an example of a full body 3D print:

This is one of my favourite example videos, using replacements created on CGI modelling software and a 3D printer to create replacements that animates seamlessly in stop motion. This film breaks down what goes into creating an animation cycle and how it transfers from a virtual environment through to a physical environment

Title: Bears on stairs.

For more animation geekery please follow my blog

Thanks Steemit!

Charlotte :)