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Body Mechanic

Weight, timing and the anatomy of movement.

Body mechanics is the foundation of every 3D animator. This is where a character’s believability is won or lost: the way it carries its weight, moves, starts or stops a motion. Studios hire animators on their ability to make a movement readable, accurate and alive. This module teaches you exactly that.

For twelve weeks, you are individually mentored by professional feature-film animators. You progress through three hands-on exercises of increasing difficulty, from a walk cycle to building a complete action shot, each designed as a genuine demo reel piece.

*To guarantee quality individual follow-up, our classes are limited to 6 students and seats are reserved in priority for full-year programs. When a class is not full, we open the modules individually, on demand.

Syllabus

What you will cover

Animate a humanoid character believably by mastering weight transfer, balance and the fundamentals of movement, up to building and exporting a complete action shot.
Three exercises

1. « The walk that starts or stops »
The walk cycle, with the added difficulty of a start or a stop. You learn to organize your workspace in Maya, create meaningful key poses, manage weight transfer and apply the 12 principles of animation.

2. « Moving a heavy and/or balanced object »
An exercise focused on reading weight. You learn to make an object’s mass believable, use constraints, clean your animation curves and fix your spacing.

3. « Building an action shot »
The synthesis exercise. You go from isolated movement to a complete animated shot: staging, camera animation and export of a polished video, usable in a demo reel.

Want to know more about the syllabus?
Contact us, we will walk you through the full program and answer all your questions.

Included

What you will get

Studio conditions

An experience close to a real feature-film production.

Live classes

Live sessions with a working mentor, in small groups.

Pro demo reel

Shots tailored to what recruiters expect.

Certificate

A certificate of completion for professional training.

3D Animation

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