How To Animate A Dance Like A Boss

A fun approach to understanding character body mechanics

What you’ll learn
How to choose your reference videos
What to look for in your reference analysis
How to plan your animation
How to animate your shot fast and still get great results

Requirements
Basic knowledge of animating in either Blender or Maya

Description
If you are struggling with character body mechanics then this course is for you as I will show you my animation workflow when dealing with relatively complex animations as is the case of dances.I will begin by introducing the character rig that we are going to be using for both the Blender and Maya platforms, I will demonstrate how she works and all the controls that she has available for you to use, this is an essential part to help you plan your animations effectively as you will be familiar with your “tool” and what it can and cannot do, after we are familiar with our animation rig, I am then going to do an animation breakdown of the Amapiano dance that I created, I will share with you how I choose my reference videos, what I look for, my thought process and planning before jumping into a 3d software. You will see my preferred scene setup and good animation practices that will help you to be an effective animator and problem solver. Finally armed with all this knowledge you will then get to see all the principles and tips given in the Amapiano dance being applied in animating the Pole Dance. You will witness the creation of the pole dance from scene setup, blocking , blocking plus until we reach the final finished dance.

Overview
Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Introduction

Section 2: Gamu Rig Controls Demonstration

Lecture 2 Gamu Maya rig controls demonstration

Lecture 3 Gamu Blender rig controls demonstration

Section 3: Pole Dance Animation

Lecture 4 Amapiano Dance Breakdown

Lecture 5 Scene setup and Blocking start

Lecture 6 Blocking pass timelapse

Lecture 7 Blocking pass recap

Lecture 8 Blocking plus pass timelapse

Section 4: Finishing up

Lecture 9 Blocking plus pass recap

Lecture 10 Wrapping up and farewell

Animators struggling with character body mechanics, or a hobbyist who just wants to create a cool dance animation.