Creating a Finished Character Animation in Blender

Learn how to sketch, animate, and render a character in Blender, and create a fully rendered animation with dialog and complex facial movements.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Using the exercise files
• Prerequisites

1. Where it All Begins, Storytelling, and Planning

• Listen to the dialog clip and sketch it out
• Create a video for your reference
• Sketch out the animation framework

2. Meet Arthur

• Set up the Blender interface for character animation
• Get to know Arthur and how character rigs work
• Explore Arthur's face and how facial rigs work
• How to troubleshoot common errors in Blender

3. Character Animation

• Block out the character's key poses
• How to effectively apply the concept of timing
• Prepare the animation for viewing and sharing
• The importance of feedback
• Begin the rebuilding process

4. Refine the Details

• Tweak the body movements
• Adjust the appendages
• Manipulate the complex face with a few controls
• Work with the dialog to match the animation
• Clean up key frames with the Graph Editor
• Polish off the end result

5. A Brief Overview of Render Settings in Blender

• Use Cycles to render the final animation scene
• Effectively light the animation
• Final rendering and post-production

6. And It Never Ends

• Where to go from here