John Knowles

Into the Ocean: Character Animation Essentials in Blender 3D

<p>Hi Adailton, this is looking great! </p><p>I really like the variety of timing that you have used. The snappy turns followed by the slow drifts work really nicely. You're also doing a good job of handling that long dorsal fin.</p><p>My main suggestion for improvement is with the tilt forwards that comes as the fish accelerates off. At the moment this is very snappy. That's not a bad thing but it feels as though the fish pops into place a bit unnaturally. You just need to ease the end of this rotation slightly so that it feels less abrupt.</p><p>Hope that helps.</p>

Thanks for the feedback, John. I tried to apply what you suggested regarding tilt, and I updated the animation accordingly. It's fascinating how subtle changes can produce significant results. With practice, I hope to improve both my perception and execution. <br />One question I have is how to apply the concept of exaggeration without compromising the naturalness of the movements.

Great job on adjusting the animation! You're right, sometimes a tiny adjustment can make all the difference. Often it takes a fresh pair of eyes to spot things that we've missed but it does get easier with practice.

Fantastic question about applying exaggeration whilst maintaining natural movement! Obviously the degree of exaggeration that you apply will always depend upon the style that you are working in. A fish that is supposed to appear photorealistic will have almost no exaggeration whilst it is possible to go quite far with a more cartoony style. It is possible to think about it in a similar way to character design. When designing the fish we first identified all of the key characteristics of the species. These were the things which had to remain to keep it identifiable. After that, we could exaggerate all of the individual shapes to quite an extreme degree whilst the species would still be identifiable. Motion can be broken down in the same way. By analysing reference you can get a feel for what is natural. For example, how does the fish use the fins and when? Does the fish move using short fast darts or is it slower and more confident. Once we know what is normal, we can exaggerate those elements. A naturally nervous fish might be animated in a way that is even more extreme with rapid darting movements. We can even play with things in a more exaggerated and unnatural way to bring out a certain personality provided that we always layer in some of the natural traits such as the correct use of the fins to give believability.

Hope that helps!

That makes sense. I will take this principle to my next animations. Thanks.

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