Animating a scene with Multiple Characters
Animating with multiple characters can often be a tough work and could be interminable. So most of the animators tend to avoid a multiple character scene. But not all know that it could be quite simple to work on.
The song "Can't Stop The Feeling!" from the Dream Works movie 'Trolls' is an excellent example of multiple characters scene. Most of the shots have multiple Characters in it.
What is the problem?
One of the most common problems is that we tend to take up more time than we require in order to animate the multiple character scene.
Next, comes the dilemma of which character to start from or how to start the animation.
Along with this come the complications of the scene is too clustered and so heavy that the animation process becomes slow.
Scrubbing the timeline becomes slow and preview the results becomes an issue.
Last but not the least is how to animate the side by characters of the scene.
What is the solution for it?
Here are some of the tips and tricks you can follow to solve the problems.
Primarily you need to plan your scene: If there is a scene where two characters are interacting actions with other and the rest of the characters are reacting to the action, you need to plan the action and reaction and then start to animate. Do not hesitate to look up for references, this will give you an insight of how your scene could be animated.
Isolate the characters you are animating. Using the proxy version of the characters or low poly version can make Maya work faster. If there are no low poly version or proxy version of the characters you can also turn 'off' the display layer of the characters that you are not working on, to make the scene less clustered and then turn it 'on' when required.If you get confused with the location of the characters you can replace the characters with a locator and then animate each character separately. The Locators will represent the location of the characters.
If scrubbing timeline does not give a good result try getting a playblast of the scene and save it for comparing with the next playblast. This also saves time and makes it easy to preview the scene.
After you are done animating with the main action characters then focus on the side by characters. Do not give very big and strong reactions to the character as this might make the audience confused. Keep the side by characters action subtle, so that the focus is on the main action. If you have a scene where every character is playing the same role, such as a laughter scene, where all the characters are laughing; you need to animate their laughter slightly different for each character. Watch out for already animated laughing scenes and you will have an idea of what to do.
Ask for help if you have any confusion with the animation, you could also ask for advice regarding the acting from your seniors or teachers or any other professional animators who are willing to help you.
Follow these 5 steps your complications with the 'time' will be swept away with these steps.
If you have more than 10 characters in your scene you need to have a really good graphics card.
NOTE - Following these steps will make your animation process easy but all depends on the animation and acting of the characters. You need to really focus on the best of your animation skills and you will find animation multiple characters scene easy.
HAPPY ANIMATING!