Esoteric Software

[Stinkhorse]

So I'm pretty new to actually doing animation myself. I've been around people who do it professionally for years and I know some of the lingo, and some of the base concepts, but knowing what a pencil is doesn't make you an artist. Are there any tutorials or write ups on the basics of animation that anyone here would recommend for someone who knows just enough to know he doesn't know anything?

[Nate]

Shiu might be able to provide some links. I'm not an animator either, but first be sure to read this:
http://esotericsoftware.com/spine-docum ... n_workflow
You rough out the major poses with stepped on, then come back and tweak things to look smooth, apply interpolation curves, etc.

[Søren]

Stinkhorse I'm doing a series of videos, but I'd recommend Richard Williams - The Animator's Survival Kit
There is a book but also a collection of DVD's haven't seen those, but I got the book and it's worth every penny.

As for workflow. Nate mentions it. The easiest way I find to animate is to block out the major poses using stepped mode, this way you don't worry about the tweening yet and you can focus on timing. Then you slowly add more in-between poses, once you have these added, you can disable stepped mode and go into detail.

[justifun]

As a professional animator i will second what shui suggested.

The single greatest book you could get it Richard Williams Animator survival kit.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Sur ... d+williams

It covers every topic you could want and has tons of pictures to go along with the information being taught