Blogs
Here is where I talk about other informations related to animation
Identify Overlapping Action In Character Animation
Recently, I received an email from a fellow animator. She request for some advise on overlapping action (follow through). Overlapping action can be challenging, especially in character animation. This is because applying overlapping action involves timing, correct poses and staggering animation with other segments. I've created 5 videos to help explain this challenge thoroughly.
read more...
Animation Student Feeling Demotivated
Recently an animation student emailed me regarding his struggle. He has created his demo reel and yet, he is feeling lost. I must say that he's demo reel is pretty decent for a graduate. Have you felt like him before, feeling demotivated? How did you move on from there? I've took some time and given him my advise. I'm so glad I did, because my email not only helped him, but made my day as well!
Mobile Game Design – Gameplay Case Study of Clash of Clan Vs Warcraft 3
Strategy games have evolved from desktop computers to mobile devices over the decade.
Previously, I talked about the gameplay of Clash of Clan and what makes it engaging.
This post will focus on comparing the gameplay of strategy games between two different platforms, Warcraft 3 as desktop strategy game and Clash of Clan as mobile strategy game.
These are design insights I've found after playing lots of popular strategy games for many years. I make use of these insights to help me improve my own mobile game design which I'm currently working on.
I'll start off with drawing similarities on game mechanics, followed by comparing 7 game elements found between both games.
As in app purchases (IAP) do kill mobile game design, I'll be ignoring aesthetic and monetising aspects for this comparison exercise.
Let's dive straight in.
read more...
How To Design A Mobile Game? Case Study: Clash Of Clans
So you want to design a mobile game but you have no idea how to start.
This case study looks at Clash of Clan (CoC) to explain what you need to know before creating your own mobile game.
Then I'll show you how to design a mobile game starting with game play.
Let the fun begins!
3D Animation Short Course In Singapore
Want to create your own 3D animation but not sure where to start?
June school holiday is here! Take up a 3D Animation Short Course In Singapore!
Create your very own exciting 3D animation in this June school holiday!
Free Learn To Animate Ebook upon sign up!
Scroll down to find out more!
How to Start a Walk Cycle Animation in Maya
In this article, I'll talk about the 3 areas that get you started in your walk cycle animation in Maya:
1. Understanding the key to realistic walk cycle animation
2. Preparing a character rig for a 3d walk cycle
3. Blocking a walk cycle animation
It is not easy for beginners to create a walk cycle from scratch. Whether you are learning 3D animation in an animation school or on your own, this article will guide you from the foundation.
Let's dive straight in.
Animation Case Study: Fat Character Pushing Box
A pushing box animation exercise demonstrates the appropriate application of forces. This test a student's eye for detail and understanding of forces in order to create a realistic animation. Thanks to Shekhar for sharing his animation case study on fat character pushing box practice with me. I'm very happy to provide him with 4 tips to improve on his fat character pushing box animation.
Animation Timing and Spacing Problem
This post comes from Shekhar and he shared his animation timing and spacing problem with me over the email. I split the questions into two parts for a better understanding. read more...
4 Free Animation Software For Mac
Animation software isn't cheap if you are planning to learn it. However, you can always practice with some free software that comes with drawing and animating capability. I've searched on the internet for free software for Mac's Maverick OS that you can consider if you wish to learn to create your own cartoon video.
How to create Good animation, for beginners! Animation Cheat Sheet included!
What makes a good animation? The word, good, itself is too vague to begin with. As a beginner, although we are happy to see that we can make something move, that is not what we want and definitely not where we end. We want our animation to look good, look great or even WOW! So let us start with understanding our definition of the word good. read more...
Learn To Animate with Observation eBook
Learn to Animate with Observation eBook is a fundamental learning about creating your animation to Life. The purpose of this ebook is to guide you in your observation skill and identify what is good and what needs improvement in your animation.
Why the creation of Learn to Animate with Observation eBook?
When I first started learning animation in 2002, I faced the same problem as beginners read more...
Student’s Animation Portfolio
I had a student, Tom, who had recently completed his animation portfolio. I am very proud of him and I would like to acknowledge his effort in this post.
Over the past 2 years, with consistent 2 hours weekly of contribution to his animation skill, read more...
5 basic tips to creating realistic animations
Realistic animations are what fascinates the viewer. The audience is able to fully enjoy the content and the story behind the animation because the motion is believable. One way to make our animations realistic is by adding force in the movement. read more...
4 main types of animations to enjoy and learn to create
In the current creative industry, there are 4 main types and style of animation you can learn to create. Expose yourself to these 4 genres of animation so you can better understand and appreciate animations in different form.
Ironman’s Chest Plate Modeling with Maya (Preview)
This is a sneak preview of modeling Ironman's chest plate tutorial. Low poly modeling technique is applied in this video to encourage the fundamental idea of sculpting in 3D software. read more...
Animator’s Starter Kit – Ebook progress
It’s been sometime since I last posted and yes, I was busy. I’m busy writing out a e-book, titled Animators Starter Kit Learn to Animate with Observation. The name is not confirmed yet but feel free to give suggestion if you have a better name! I’ve given a lot of thoughts for this book as I really want to share my ten years experience in becoming an animator from scratch. read more...
4 Factors to Create Realistic Animation
4 factors to create realistic animation
There are many methods that will make your audience goes 'WOW!' when they see your animation. Making an object moves is an animation, but making an object comes alive is the toughest challenge and it can be very rewarding and satisfying. Here are 4 factors to create realistic animation, references, target, knowledge and pipeline. In this article, I'll use bouncing ball as an example.
Taking Animation to the Next Level
Animators need different skill sets to create good quality animation. However, to be hired as an animator, you need to have the minimal animation skills and standard. If you are a graduate and had send out hundreds of application with no reply, it’s high time to polish your demo reel. Here are 4 critical skills an animator should possess: read more...
Why is creativity so important and powerful?
Many times in my life, I come across things and events that makes me ask, “Why are things done this way when there is a better alternative?” I’ve worked for many companies who have their daily operation done in the orderly and conventional manner. These companies totally turned me off because I find that I can do those operations at a much faster and efficient manner just by giving a slight creative modification. read more...
Why are Japanese so creative? Secret Reveal !
Have you ever wonder why Japanese are so creative?
I was casually chatting with my student, J, about his future plan and I got to know that he is leaving for Japan to study soon. He is one of my drawing class student but he is only planning to take up Manga drawing as an extra curriculum activity when he goes Japan to study. So here is how the topic started.
Low cost 2D Animation Software for Beginners
Learning digital animation requires both animation and software skills. When we choose our animation software, specially when we are beginners, we do have some factors to consider before deciding on where to start. Almost anything in our life is possible until we start to talk about money & cents, and time. read more...
Reference Image 3D Modeling (Maya)
Reference image 3d modeling technique is to help modelers speed up their modeling process by 'drawing' over their reference images or designs accurately. With just 5 to 10 minutes to insert a reference image before starting to model a 3D object, you speeds up your production by 5 times or more! read more...
How to transform from Zero to Newbie animator? (Beginner’s Portfolio)
I have this animation student, Tommy, who is 16 years old. He is actually very timid and quiet because he doesn't talk much and he is always apologetic. He says "sorry" every other minutes for things he thought he did wrong. However, Tommy likes animation a lot and watched a lot of animes such as Bleach, Soul eater, etc. read more...
Learn to create bouncing ball flash animation for beginners!
If you are new to learning animation, this is the best tutorial to get you started! Every animator starts to learn animation by creating a bouncing ball animation.
In this video tutorial, I'll guide you to use an animation software called Adobe Flash (version CS4 and above) from creating the file all the way to finishing your bouncing ball Flash animation. So what are you waiting for? Start up your Adobe Flash and lets get started! read more...
Learn how to move entire Flash animation on the stage
Now that I've created my Flash animation on the timeline, I realized that I need to edit my animation by shifting the animation's position. The problem here is that when I move the first keyframe, the rest of the animation did not move together. It will be very tedious and time consuming to move the entire key frames manually one by one.
This tutorial will share with you how to move, scale and rotate your entire animation as one object in Adobe Flash (Works on almost all Flash versions). read more...
Animator’s Attribute
Animation is fun and entertaining to watch, but it is not easy to produce a good quality animation. If you are keen to become an animator, learn to animate with the following pointers read more...
Fireball Character Flipbook Animation Tutorial
Drawing a flipbook animation that involves human movement requires several steps. This fireball character flipbook animation tutorial shows you how to start drawing the skeleton poses, followed by the volume and eventually the flesh. read more...
What is Animation?
What is animation?
Animation is derived from moving pictures in the 19 century. In the past, people produce photographs to capture life images, events, beautiful scenes, human portraits and more. However these images are stationary. read more...
Stop Motion Animation with iPhone
Recently I discovered this iPhone app called Stop Motion Recorder. My initial intention is to create flipbook animation into video and this app turns out to be really easy to use. It has good features to help animators in creating fun and creative stop motion. While I was goofing around during work, I created my first stop motion video with my iPhone. Here is how it looks like: read more...
Useful Resources
About Nash Lin
Nash is a self taught animator, a fanatic gamer and a digital media coach. He has created many types of 2D and 3D animation. You will get to learn effective animation skills and tips with Nash. Continue reading...
