December 16, 2004

Reference Anyone?

Doing good animation isn't just about planning ahead. It's about doing your research. Often I'm surprised by how something moves in real life. One of the best examples about video reference is with the bird in Pixar's: A Bug's Life. Apparently a bird was flying around outside the studio in Redmond. One resourceful animator grabbed his video camera, ran out and video taped the bird. That one videotape bounced around all the animators who animated the bird in the film. The results were fantastic! The bird could have been animated in a hundred different ways, but I think the refrece helped the animtors pick a way that had perfect "True To Life" timing. When you watch it it just feels right.

If your looking for video reference on the web, here's a couple that I find useful:

The BBC has released their stock video collection on line. You have to sign up for a free membership, but it's worth it. They have tons of reference video. You can even buy the photage if you'd like:

http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/customer/index.jsp


Also Yahoo has a just started a video search. I find it can be useful:

http://video.search.yahoo.com/

If you know of more please let me know!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

A company called Rhino House have a DVD product called 'The Animal Motion Show: A Visual Reference for Artists'

http://www.rhinohouse.com/

I've not used the products myself, but they look useful. There are two DVDs in the series, both priced at $60. There's a short video demo at the website.

As for the BBC, they've announced a "Creative Archive" project that will make available to the general public free video clips that can be downloaded and used for personal film or video projects. I believe the clips can only be incorporated into non-commercial work. However, that won't be a problem if you're merely watching the video as reference. Here's the original story (March 2004) on the BBC's website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3525455.stm

Anonymous said...

The Internet Moving Images Archive also offers free clips for download:

http://www.archive.org/movies/

Ethan_Hall_2006 said...

I have those Rhino House DVDs. I would recommend them highly. They're put together really well. They even used a fast camera to cut down on motion blur. They're a bit pricey but well worth it. I hope that Rhino House puts out more DVDs, and I hope one day they include a human in their animal selection. It'd be cool tha have that on hand.

Mike said...

Getty has got a lot of great footage.

http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/frontdoor/defaultfilm.aspx

Mike said...

Getty has got a lot of great footage.

http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/frontdoor/defaultfilm.aspx

Mike said...

Getty has got a lot of great footage.

http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/frontdoor/defaultfilm.aspx

Anonymous said...

I've got the ultimate!

www.pom.tv

There are no animal references available yet but they have a huge variety of human reference available, nice format and everything.

Anonymous said...

Principles of Motion is the king! They have 9 DVD's out, character rigs to accompany them and more DVD's to come.

The price is very competitive as well, almost half the price of their competitors. The layout is sweet, and it's fast and easy to navigate.

http://www.pom.tv