Mr. Blake's Art Diary - Part 2

As mentioned, here's part 2. Looking back, it's a bit weird to have so many links of Mr. Blake's site in one post, as if it's a mirror of his site. But that's why I'm linking to his site and not the final destination. Total disclaimer post but I just want to make sure that you guys go visit Mr. Blake's Art Diary, since he did all the research. Since this is part 2 the posts are getting older and older (2006), but that doesn't mean that they are obsolete.

- first up, "Matchbox", a maya tool that mirrors your character's poses. Follow the link for video demos as well.


- want to add some better lighting in AE after the render? Check out "Normality & Reality"

- "Elastik" adds squash and stretch options to your rigs

- "Sketch Pose" - this tool is awesome! I remember hoping that someone would do this (since I'm too retarded to so :) )


- "UI Editor" is a very handy tool for a character GUI


- "My Mental Ray" - all you need to know about mental ray

- this tool is awesome: "Copy Set Driven Keys" - name says it all


- head over to "Adelaide Grey's" production diary for an inside look of this is coming together

- "ezMark" sounds very cool. I can't test it here on this machine, but as long as you can step frame through your scene while using this tool, can only be awesome

If you are an animator and want to draw reference points on your monitor but don't like using markers, then this tool is for you! ezMark is a simple utility that lets you draw directly on your screen - on top of all applications. Some of the ways you can use ezMark are:

* Use the preset circle brush to trace your animation and check your arc
* Draw over your reference animation on screen to study them
* Doodle!

- you can't point enough to Keith Lango's site. Mr. Blake mentions "Breakdowns" but I highly recommend that you check out all his tutorials


- lighting tips

- mental ray tips

- Justin's "tweenMachine"


- great CG shorts, Mr. Blake got direct links to the movies and to the plog


- this was posted before but is another one of those that should get studied over and over. Great
hand poses. Tedious stuff to do but very important, check it out.


- 1994 article on "Animation Tricks":

Hesitation The final step of a proof is a sort of punch line to a scene. To get the viewer involved I don't just move the shapes directly in place; I sometimes make them pause a bit before final positioning to build up anticipation.

As you can see, still valid today.

- "Color Toy" is very cool tool, I also recommend "Color Schemer"


- "TWiki" - great collection of links to maya tutorials

- you might have seen those, but come on, go through them again: "Glen Keane Notes"


- Renderman references and tutorials

- Occlusion lighting tips

- maya dynamics tutorial

- oldie but goldie: "eyes"


- "logitech orbit cam" (funny)

- A classic and still awesome: "Ryan Film's Ryan vs. Dorkman" - official site here


- Google's "Sketchup" tool, free 3D modeling tool

- "Planning Animation" - great notes by Paul Mikulecky

- Want drawing lessons? 34 pages right here

- Itchy Animation's article on "Light Theory", which is coming out as a book soon

- Christopher Evans' huge muscle reference library, as well as many other tutorials and MEL scripts on his site


- great collection of animation tools, software and desktop tools


- awesome character designs by Jeff Merritt


- "MELwin" is a Maya UI creation and script editor

- "floating channelbox" script

- "Doron Meir's Acting and Animation" article (and more)


- Francois' studies of lighting

That's it. Once more you gotta love the web. All this information at your fingertips! A huge thanks goes to Mr. Blake and his blog, make sure you add his site to your bookmarks.