Due: Thursday, April 7 @ 1:20 am

Upload completed projects (GIF or Video) to the Dance Loop Google Drive folder.

WIP Deadlines:

• Thursday, March 24: Reference Video & Thumbnail Sketches & song

• Tuesday, March 29:: Character set up in After Effects

This project is comprised of two parts; first you will design a simple character and set it up for animation, then move to AfterEffects to animate that character's dance loop.

Part 1: Movement & Character Design

Reference video & thumbnail sketches

• WIP Deadline:

Our first step will be to figure out the movement - which means it's time to dance! Find a reference video, as in the rolling raccoon example from the assignment presentation. If possible, practice doing the dance/ movement yourself, which will really help you understand it; best case scenario, set up your phone/ camera on a tripod and dance! Isolate the movement into a loop, and then narrow down the key poses; this will also help you figure out timing, and give you ideas for secondary animation and exaggeration. Try to find movement that has appeal - something that will keep people watching through multiple loops. This might be achieved through contrast, humor, a particular prop, or some other distinctive element.

Importantly, find a music track that accompanies your dance; you will edit your dance loop using this music.

Reference Examples:

Cat Wiggle

• Cat Wiggle reference

• Cat Wiggle Animation

Part 2: Animating in After Effects

While designing/ remaking your character, think about ways to accentuate the movement through the body itself - the dancing otter above, for example, accentuates the wavy movement with a long, thin body and a tail for secondary movement.

When you have something you'd like to move forward with, make as certain as possible it is set up with the necessary layers in PS/ Illustrator - don't be afraid to return to this as needed, though! Your methods of animation will vary depending on the needs of the movement; think about whether you'll need to use puppet pin animation or path animation in addition to animating the Transform properties (Position, Rotation, Scale). In general, the following is an outline of necessary steps:

Import your character file (Photoshop or Illustrator) with separate layers into your After Effects project. Make sure composition settings frame rate is 24 fps. Set the anchor point to the correct place on each layer, using the pan behind tool (Y). Set up the necessary Parenting relationships; this will vary with your characters, but normally some variation of this:

• Parent face/ ears/ hair to the head

• Arms & head to the body

• Hands to lower arms, lower arms to upper arms || feet to legs, (lower legs to upper legs), legs to hips/ torso

Your loop should be 1-3 seconds long, so set up your work area accordingly. Start by animating the body/ torso, setting keyframes for position/ rotation and making sure the last keyframe is the same as the first. If appropriate, keyframe the scale to add Squash & Stretch. Edit the animation paths in the viewer to get arcing movement, and as is usually the case, add easing.

Next, animate the legs. In our example Carrot character, we just animated the rotation with slight exaggeration of alternating legs, then used puppet pins to add bend.

One you've animated the body, arms and legs, add the extra details that make the dance pop - animate the face, add puppet pins for bending, and create secondary animation with hair, background, or props.

Inspiration:

• Gif Dance Party

Resources:

• Assignment slide presentation

• Digital Arts: 14 Character Art Tips

• Ross Plaskow's "How to Make a Cartoon in After Effects for Beginners" (NSFW)

• Fundamentals of Character Animation