Creature Animation Advice

         Most creatures in movies these days are animated. Like dinosaurs and gigantic apes. We don't just have them laying around domesticated and alive to use in movies. Monsters are also animated, as well as things like the Hulk or Groot and things with many arms. Creature animation is a big deal.

        Alvise Avati didn't start animating until he was 32. He had originally decided he wanted to work with computer graphics, and while some of it had animation it wasn't solely animation. He has animated scenes in movies such as King Kong and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol No. 2, and focusses on creature animation mostly. If you watch his showreel you will see a ton of creature work, all ranging from different quality. You can watch his improvement just like that.

         He tells about how he got to where he was, and how he changed his mind a lot before settling on wanting to animate. One of the most challenging movies he has had to work on was Avatar. He had to animate a six-legged creature, which was difficult in itself seeing as any James Cameron movie is hard to work on. He learned that the big picture always comes first, that chunks of animation may be cut because they are details that are not necessary for the story. he also learned that research is important for any multi-legged creature. He went in to animate the thing with only a fraction of an idea of how it worked and wishes he had spent more time researching and understanding how it would move.

        Avati says that creature animation means a large variety of wide variety of animation techniques. There are many forms of creature animation, from photorealistic like in Life of Pi or giant alien monsters like in Pacific rim. No matter what there needs to be a grasp of body mechanics before animating whatever your creature is. There also needs to be little attentions to detail, special touches that really give it an oomph. But that only comes with time and experience, or else it would not be as special. He says that students must know body mechanics because it is the most important in creature animation. If they don't look almost 100 percent believable they will be distracting to the viewers. The shot you are making also has to look interesting, entertaining, and appealing. So spend a lot of time on body mechanics and performance.

        Creature animation is a difficult art, but grasping certain dynamic can really help you out. So get out there and get knowledge of body mechanics and appeal and make the best possible animation you can to stand out.

        I liked this article. It was interesting to see talk about just one certain field of 3D animation because I do not see that often. Avati gave some good advice that was short and sweet and easy to understand.

        I also really enjoyed his show reel. I have seen a lot of movies that he's had bits in and never realized. Especially Waterhorse. I know that Waterhorse doesn't have the most realistic animation, but it is cool to know about someone who did some of the animating for it. Creature animation seems like such an interesting art to pursue, even if it is difficult.