Subtitles of the Movie

Probably the biggest aide in our animation process at our studio is the pencil. Even if you can't draw, try roughing out the animation with storyboards of some kind, even if it's just a word representing an event in your animation. Work out your timings as much as you can in advance. If you're animating to a fixed soundtrack, get that audio as soon as possible. Create animatics. Animatics are simple animations with audio that help determine the timing and the flow of your piece before you start animating with all the final objects in your scene. In other words, plan and test before you start any real animating or modeling. This will save you hours upon hours. I've seen producers ask for what should be simple bumpers; transitions into and out of TV shows that sound exciting and elaborate but them you tell them that that amount of animation needs to take eight seconds to play properly and they say they only have three seconds. Then you have a problem that should be resolved before you set a single keyframe. Animatics could help prove a concept or solve a problem. They don't have to be complex. Most animatics are just stills moved around in After Effects or motion and you can very quickly get the feedback you need from any decision makers. The review process is critical. At our studio, animations are typically produced in four stages; animatics, rough 3D animation without textures or effects, fully-rendered hero stills and then final animations. Work smart, not work hard. Don't kill yourself trying to impress a client with your talent and expertise. You already got the job. Start out simply, then make it beautiful. So let's review our tips. Number one: animate to the Electric Image Format. Two; use Renderama as much as you can. Three; convert to QuickTime as needed. Four; standardize your workflow. Five; create templates. Six; structure reviews and start with storyboards and animatics. Finally, number seven, have fun. Try out new ideas and explore new techniques.