Animation Principles on Rainplace.net

[D.T. Nethery]

Animator Mike Nguyen has been posting some great tips about animation principles on his blog http://www.rainplace.net/
recently (check the archived posts too) .

Mike is the owner/director of July Films in the L.A. area . July Films is working on completing the independent animated feature "My Little World" .

http://www.julyfilms.com/

[hisko]

Thanks, that's a good one.
Does anyone know a good site/book/article about animating realistic eyes?
I have no trouble animating them in full shots, when they are so small that it's easier to give them convincing expressions, but in close ups it's much harder, and I feel I haven't got complete control there.

[grumbleboy]

Someone once told me (or I read somewhere) to remember that the eye is a big ball--we're only seeing that visible slice of it--and to treat the movement of the iris/cornea/pupil as it would act across the surface of a ball. Apparently it helps to pencil in the entire orb to visualize the movement.

[Anim8tor Cathy]

This is a great link - thanks for sharing it. I really like his take on animation. Very instructive!

[hisko]

Someone once told me (or I read somewhere) to remember that the eye is a big ball--we're only seeing that visible slice of it--and to treat the movement of the iris/cornea/pupil as it would act across the surface of a ball. Apparently it helps to pencil in the entire orb to visualize the movement.

That's true, but in real life it's even more complicated because the iris is semi-transparent, so the pupil isn't allways in the middle. In animtion that looks pretty weird, so now I just improvise untill it looks good.
But I can't find anything on internet about it, and it is so important for all acting (in realistic close-ups I mean).

[ZigOtto]

... Does anyone know a good site/book/article about animating realistic eyes?
I have no trouble animating them in full shots, when they are so small that it's easier to give them convincing expressions, but in close ups it's much harder, and I feel I haven't got complete control there.

not fully answering to your request, but here're some posts from Kevin Koch relative to eye movements,
the 5th post, titled "Flavored Blinks" is quite interesting though.

[hisko]

not fully answering to your request, but here're some posts from Kevin Koch relative to eye movements,
the 5th post, titled "Flavored Blinks" is quite interesting though.

[/quote]

Thanks a lot, Zig. As soon as I have time I will study it. Looks promising.

[Sierra Rose]

[/quote]
not fully answering to your request, but here're some posts from Kevin Koch relative to eye movements,
the 5th post, titled "Flavored Blinks" is quite interesting though.
[/quote]
I found this link very interesting and useful. He's a real "nuts and bolts" guy.