Create an Animatic

This tutorial will take you through all the necessary steps to create an animated scene that focuses on an essential animation technique: the walk cycle. You'll create the material for this piece using a hand-drawn sketch of a character already scanned in and cut out in Photoshop, then bring the result to life with the help of a QuickTime movie of a Poser animation.

Note that such a complex animation would be an arduous process without such a reference materials, which prove valuable when your budget is limited and time is pressing. As usual, all the relevant files are provided.

As a final flourish, you'll learn how to duplicate and set each figure within a 3D space with an animated background. The imagery used in this particular piece comes from an animatic created for a London-based advertising agency. Animatics are proving very popular in film production and advertising, because they're a quick way to see how well ideas work - and relatively cheap to make. Ad agencies often use them to pitch to potential clients. Before an inch of film is shot or a dab of paint added to an animation cel, the client can see clearly how the piece will look, and make changes accordingly.

Click here to download the tutorial for free