‘Body Mechanics‘ is a term used to describe the way in which we move, and hold our bodies as we sit, stand, lift, carry, bend, and sleep (Physiopedia, n.d.), and when animating, our ultimate goal is to relay this movement in a realistic and physically accurate way, which increases believability, and creates emotion by making our character feel alive and relatable.
Therefore, in preparation for my first weight lift animation, I set about gathering together a range of references that wouldn’t just enable me to understand and replicate how weight, force, balance, and momentum all work together in a character’s motion, but to also script and plan the key poses within my animation.
Looking online for inspiration, while I discovered many useful resources, the following live action and animated references primarily influenced my final outcome:
1. Weight Lift Animation Exercise – nahkoten, showing an appropriate pre-lift stance with the feet gradually moving further apart to provide a wide base of support, and the sheer effort and determination needed to physically lift and move heavy objects. Adding realism, this animation also relays personality, and contains good examples of secondary movement in the sway of the hair and clothes.
Source YouTube, 2019a
2. Lift Box Animation Reference – K A I J U, where the actor first walks up to the box, creating anticipation he pauses pondering how to lift it, and unbalancing, staggers backwards. This live action reference too provides excellent posing, showing a strong line of action, how the actor’s mass affects their balance and stance, and how his weight shifts with each step or movement.
Source: YouTube, 2019b
3. Weight Lift Animation – Philip Lol, a short, but effective animation which conveys the marked differences between a regular walk cycle and one while carrying a heavy weight.
Source: YouTube, 2018
Having completed this initial research, as I’ve never felt particularly comfortable sketching (on account of my ASD the results always feel too scratchy and imperfect), I instead created a written plan detailing key posing that could then be used as a script to capture real-world references to hopefully help me achieve more balanced body mechanics and movement in my animation, where the audience ‘believes the character moved, and not that I moved the character’ (Gilbert, 2010).
As before, a family member was happy to assist in acting out this script, lifting a 15kg box to add authenticity to the movements and realistically show the weight shift involved, while I recorded the action from three different aspects.
Weight Lift (Front View)
Weight Lift (Side View)
Weight Lift (Perspective View)
The next stage was to then begin animating, by blocking out my key frames. However, a little disappointed with the positioning and timing in my class exercises below, although time-consuming, before starting, I first revisited my tutorial materials, and watched the additional resources suggested by our tutors – Keith Lango’s James Brown Dance Tutorials VTS48 to 57 on process blocking in 3D animation (YouTube, 2019c), and Jesse Baumgartner’s ‘Good Idea’ project, which covers rough pose blocking through to rough animation passes (YouTube, 2014).
Weight Lift Class Exercise – ‘Snow’ Rig (Perspective View)
Weight Lift Class Exercise – ‘Snow’ Rig (Side View)
‘Rain’ Stand to Sit Class Exercise
(Instructional videos available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3-QyjKQWWaIw6-RzPwgC0Vf0nrhTFl8S)
Once the initial blocking pass had been completed in line with the plan above, in-between poses depicting the movement and acting in my real-world references were then progressively added, which increased the number of key frames in subsequent blocking passes, and smoothed the action. However, as 3D software blends between our key frames for us, to ensure my animation accurately conveyed the intended movement, and that the appropriate timing was maintained, while I wanted to shine, it was important for me to not become carried away during this process, and in doing so, lose some vital key-breakdowns; a mistake I’d made at this stage in my first assignment.
Having received positive tutor feedback for my previous vanilla, female walk cycle, to save a little time, this was repurposed in this latest animation, and to provide contrast, the posing and timing amended towards the end to reflect the stance and slower movement of the character carrying the heavy box.
Several techniques were also used to give the box the illusion of weight, such as the character leaning backwards with the box held close to her centre of gravity – the arc in her back also creating a more dynamic line of action (YouTube, 2012a), and implying that the box is so heavy that additional support is required, once lifted, the box shown angled backwards resting against her hips and lower torso.
Source: YouTube, 2012a
However, the main way in which the box’s weight was relayed was by anticipation. One of the 12 principles of animation, anticipation increases believability by communicating to the audience what is going to happen next, and explains the motivation and thought process behind it (Aminian, 2024), or as the animator Richard Williams puts it, how we prepare for the action, in that ‘we think of things, and then we do them’ (Williams, 2001).
Therefore, creating anticipation, the character is seen to prepare to lift the box in different ways. Firstly, in line with the example provided in ‘The Animator’s Survival Kit below, she pauses to first assess the size and weight of the box, and in a quizzical fashion, appears to ‘think’ how best to lift it.
Source, Williams, 2001
Anticipation is then used to convey the weight of the box, by preparing for the lift in the following ways:
- Transitioning into an appropriately staged, widened, pre-lift stance, emphasised by her rocking from side to side, her feet gradually moving further apart to provide a wide base of support, and her feet shown angled outwards to increase balance.
- Indicating that the box is so heavy it cannot be immediately lifted, instead the character needs to reach over, and to tilt and joggle one side of the box at a time to allow her hands to be placed underneath.
Next, when animating the box finally being lifted, as ‘nothing moves without a force either driving or pulling it,’ (Gilbert, 2010), it was important to reflect the laws of physics involved, and in order to relay good body mechanics, to show weight shift, and maintain the character’s centre of gravity throughout – apart from of course, when on lifting the box too quickly, the speed, weight and momentum makes the character overbalance and stumble backwards, before then stepping forward again to widen her base of support, and regain her balance.
Here, as advised in the Alexander Williams tutorial below, to ensure the movement is more believable, she also takes at least two steps backwards before stopping (YouTube, 2012b),
Source: YouTube, 2012b
If animating a weight lift yourself, and perhaps struggling to figure out the location of the centre of gravity in a certain pose, I’d recommend checking out the ‘Animator Island’ blog post below, which I feel helped me to better understand and employ this concept in my final animation.
Source: Garcia, 2015
The final stages, were to then add personality through acting, expression and posing which would enable the audience to connect and empathise with the character, and to implement secondary movements using principles such as slow in and slow out, overlapping action/drag and follow-through, that would add realism, and create arcs of motion that were pleasing to the eye.
Again, another ‘Animator Island’ resource proved very informative, and helpful.
Perfect Posing – 1 – Listen to the character… and to physics
Source: Ferdinand, 2013
Although animating in 3D, online resources such as the following Alan Becker YouTube tutorial, and completing the 2D weight lift, and head turn workshop exercises below, also provided important information and understanding to assist with these tasks.
Source: YouTube, 2015
2D Weight Lift Class Exercise (Physics and Performance)
2D Head Turn Class Exercise (Use of Secondary Animation)
Adapted from: Newtown, 2016
https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/animation-for-beginners-how-to-animate-a-head-turn–cms-26487
Finally, after one last check to assess the overall timing and flow, I submitted my initial animation pass to SyncSketch for tutor feedback.
Initial Animation (Front View)
Initial Animation (Side View)
References:
Aminian, P. (2024). The Power of Anticipation: Building Tension and Suspense: Pixune.com. [online]. [Accessed: 16 November 2024].
Available at: https://pixune.com/blog/anticipation/
Engländer, F. (2013). Perfect Posing – 1 – Listen to the Character… and to Physics – Animator Island. [online]. [Accessed: 19 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.animatorisland.com/perfect-posing-1-listen-to-the-character-and-to-physics/
Garcia, A. (2015). Principles of Animation Physics: Part 4 – Animator Island. [online]. [Accessed: 19 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.animatorisland.com/principles-of-animation-physics-part-4/
Gilbert, W. (2010). ‘Animation Tips & Tricks: What Makes or Breaks a Good Body Mechanics Shot? Animation Mentor. [online]. [Accessed: 13 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.animationmentor.com/blog/animation-tips-tricks-what-makes-or-breaks-a-good-body-mechanics-shot/
Newtown, P. (2016). Animation for Beginners: How to Animate a Head Turn. evanto tuts + [online]. [Accessed: 21 November 2024].
Available at: https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/animation-for-beginners-how-to-animate-a-head-turn–cms-26487
Physiopedia. (n.d.). Injury Prevention and Body Mechanics. [online]. [Accessed: 12 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.physio-pedia.com/Injury_Prevention_and_Body_Mechanics
YouTube (2012a). Animating Weight – Alexander Williams. [online]. [Accessed: 16 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VZljvWvF-Y
YouTube (2012b). Animating a Box Lift – A Character Lifting a Heavy Object – Alexander Williams. [online]. [Accessed: 16 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEyOKsN-kiY
YouTube (2014). Good Idea Progress- Jesse Baumgartner. [online]. [Accessed 16 November 2024].
Available at: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxkcA37hyFuzICwrVrAkn4EcYb0SLfF9d
YouTube (2015) 5. Follow Through & Overlapping Action – 12 Principles of Animation: AlanBecker Tutorial. [online]. Accessed: 21 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxphYV8W3E
YouTube (2018). Weight Lift Animation – Philip Lol. [online]. [Accessed: 13 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lo6hlFSgck
YouTube (2019a). Weight Lift Animation Exercise – nahkoten. [online]. [Accessed: 13 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4J-mpiMUzQ
YouTube (2019b). Lift Box Animation Reference – K A I J U. [online]. [Accessed: 13 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egDRS_6Ga8E
You Tube (2019c). VTS Animation Tutorials. [online]. [Accessed: 15 November 2024].
Available at: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUXOZBYo_-RVUdL8tzr8oMZKNLMW5G0Le
Williams, R. E. (2001). The Animator’s Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber. [online]. [Accessed 15 November 2024].
Available at: https://archive.org/details/TheAnimatorsSurvivalKitRichardWilliams