In the animation production process throughout the semester, I believe that pre-production is a crucial stage for ensuring the project’s smooth progression. To create an engaging and lively story, the script should particularly focus on character personalities and their animated expressions. For example, if I want to design a humorous character, I need to integrate humorous elements into the story as it develops, building the plot around funny and amusing actions.

For instance, I designed a silly pigeon character that might leave its gun on the table and drop things all over the place while carrying them. These details not only enhance the character’s personality but also add an element of humor to the plot. Additionally, it’s essential to have a complete storyline that ensures continuity and coherence from beginning to end.

There are also many details in facial animation. Previously, I used to think that the focus was on the lip movements, but I later realized that this is just an important part of it. The body’s motion path, hand movements, and eyebrows are also extremely important.

The creation of lip movements is completely different from what I imagined. First, it requires adjusting the jaw’s opening and closing according to the rhythm of the speech. The jawbone rotates and moves, so it’s best to avoid using translation in the initial stages.

Then, adjust the range of contraction for the corners of the mouth and the upper and lower lips; the difference between “e” and “o” is clearly reflected in the mouth corners. Finally, use other smile controllers to create details.

The key is to focus on the content within the camera’s frame and angle; anything outside the shooting range doesn’t need to be animated. There’s no need to cover every detail.

In my opinion, body mechanics are the most important part of animation. Their priority follows the order of center of gravity, legs, upper body, arms, and head.

At the initial stage of creation, it’s essential to control the rhythm. By using blocking, you can create keyframes and adjust the timing to achieve a smooth overall rhythm, which can be considered the skeleton and framework of the entire animation.

Next, focus on the body’s center of gravity and footwork, avoiding any sliding foot issues. When displaying the center of gravity independently, the overall rhythm will resemble a bouncing ball.

In the final phase of refining details, the movements of the head and weapons can be tracked using tools. Like the tail of a small ball, they should follow the body’s motion and should be presented in as smooth an arc as possible.

Lip animations play a crucial role in the creation of facial expressions.

They not only synchronize with dialogue to produce corresponding words but also work in conjunction with the eyes and eyebrows to create emotionally rich facial effects.

Previously, when creating individual animations, I had already produced lip animations that matched the lines.

Teacher gave me a lot of suggestions regarding the details of the mouth. For example, with the “o” sound, the degree of lip rounding varies. When the sound is blended into a transition, the lip shape is relatively smaller, whereas a standalone “o” requires a greater degree of lip rounding.