baronstrap
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Reference Workflow Breakdown
🕑 Added 2020-03-30 20:36:43 +0000 UTCOver the past week I feel like I've finally cemented a good workflow for reference footage, and I wanted to share that process with you.
So, my reference workflow prior involved having a video, either from the internet or recorded myself, and I played that on my second monitor while animating in Blender. I would make some keyframes and poses, but usually there was a fair amount of “winging it” involved. With more complicated motions, predictably you can end up in what I call “no mans' land” very quickly, and I definitely have spent my fair share of time there (usually the only way out of “no-mans' land” is brute force, luck, or a hard reset).
Recently, I've decided to get more stringent with my process.
Step 1: Obtain reference footage.
Since I'm not yet ready for my super-sexy face reveal, we're gonna use something from the internet. Let's take this example of Neo kicking some flunkies from the hit film, Johnny Mnemonic.
Step 2: Identify and Extract Key Poses
Personally I use Premiere, but you could use your video player along with the snipping tool. The key poses are usually going to be the "extremes", the points where the body changes direction.
If you are using Premiere, the hotkey for frame export is Ctrl+Shift+E. Name them sequentially.
Finally, you need a good way to view these images side by side, so you can easily see the changes. For this, I use PureRef ( https://www.pureref.com/ ).
Now that you've got your reference set-up (ideally on a second monitor), you can open Blender and make your markers.
Step 3: Animate!
To start, I just set all the poses next to one another. We can worry about spacing later. Just enjoy the process of getting the poses just right; I also wouldn't worry much about adding "personal flair." Get the poses in first and THEN start adding your flair. Think of animation like modeling; posing like this is the same as starting with a cube. You don't add your subdivisions until later.
I'm not gonna give this all the polish it deserves, since I have a Succubus to animate (and very soon a tickled Jill, though I guess there IS one more day left in the poll) but I think you get the idea. You have your basic cube, now animate!
I can't overstate the importance of reference. Let me know if you have any questions on here or in my Discord! Always happy to help.
Take care and stay safe out there!
Comments
BaronStrap
Agreed! You really need that base to draw from. The body often moves in literally the opposite way we think it does.
Kocho-kun
new information and put it into your brain. now that ive actually been practicing drawing actual human beings through observation rather than the fuzzy memory of what i think something is supposed to look like, just that little change has improved my artwork and understanding immensly
Kocho-kun
its so reassuring to see other people emphasize the importance (if not necessity) of reference images. i had been dra wing for a long time but only in the recent months have i finally understood in order to actually learn something new you have to go and get
