At animation school in Viborg we’ve now entered the four week Animation Basics module. Here’s a collection of exercises from the first week.

The quintessential animation exercise: bouncing balls (in spaaaaaaace!). Actually I think it’s important you get this down allright before moving on to less simple stuff.

We had a go at the classic Luxo Jr lamp. The way it works is we get these ready made rigs, and then we get to play with them. So I didn’t model this, but I spent a helluva long time trying to make it shine and glow like a lamp, and that wasn’t even part of the assignment!

We spent two days animating a sack of flour. Yes, you may laugh. We also made it dance…

Meet Hogan. We will work a lot with this rig. He’s a bit funny, like you can see his neck throgh his mouth and stuff. But as I played with him I found him quite expressive. You can make him do just about anything. He’s like a digital puppet. The exercise was to make 7 poses for 7 characteristics/feelings. Can you tell which ones they are?

So you enjoyed Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones? Here’s the one you’ve been waiting for:

My patient teacher David Tousek helped me quite a bit with the hair, the UV maps, the lights, setting up the shot etc. Thanks Dave! Can’t wait to learn how to animate the little bugger (Super Lego Man, not David).