more human looking characters
 

Hi, I have just finished my first cartoon like animation, which was great fun. For my next project I wouldn’t mind doing a more real looking, or should I say involving characters that look more like people rather than cartoon characters. Kinda like Kurt’s ninja. Im sure you get the picture. Anyway iv been told that animating for this type of animation is really hard as it looks more real. Where with a cartoon character you can go crazy by having him/her do over exaggerated movements and have the characters pull all sorts of faces. I just wanted to hear what other animators think about this, because I have notice that when it comes to games like the new mortal kombat game, that the fighters in the beginning sequence are motion captured.

Well first off, to make realistic characters, such as a human face for example, you need to know basic anatomy of the underlaying muscles. Have a gander at this:
http://outlaws3d.co.uk/OutlawsImages/FaceMesh_01.jpg
(taken from my good friend jango's site). As you can see the edge loops around the eyes and mouth. If you look at an anatomical picture of the face, the muscles under the skin is exactly like that. Making it great for facial animation.

Heres a picture of the muscles of the face:
http://blueprints.onnovanbraam.com/b...ull-muscle.GIF

Secondly, exageration is good! But not too much. Simply put, you dont want the character do to the most realistic walk ever, that makes it a bit boring. See, a walk, and subtle changes, like a jump in his step, or a slump of his back can set the emotion of the character.

Hope this helps. Post here, or PM me if you need anymore information.

Thats great. i should be starting on this animation soon. As soon as iv started modelling the character i will let you know how its getting on, coz im sure im going to need help. thank you