Putting soul into animations: methods for creating unique first-person animations

What the talk is about

Oleh Karakutsa, an animator, presents three unconventional ways to give first-person animations a unique character; the talk is about ideas rather than technique. First, a "pattern principle": the tip of a weapon draws a curve as it moves, so if idle, walk, run and shooting share one base symbol, the weapon gets a coherent identity; swapping a circle for a figure eight changes the motion completely. Second, a writer's technique: invent the character whose hands you animate, with motives and emotions, so even a simple action gains personality; blocking makes adapting the idea to a genre easy. Third, unusual references from nature, from the sea to stones; with stones he shows how observation yields movements for drawing, holstering, firing and reloading. Useful for animators working on first-person weapon and hand animation.