This week we learned the full workflow of pose to pose animation. The main focus was understanding the importance of key poses, the center of gravity (COG), offset timing, and inbetween frames. Through Franky’s demo, the tutor explained how each stage builds on the previous one and how to move from blocking to polish with clear structure and control.
I learned that the animation process includes several main stages:
- Reference and Analysis – Record a reference video with the same camera angle and study body balance, line of action, and overlapping parts.
- Key Poses – Set extreme poses such as foot contact and define the main timing.
- COG Control – This is the most important part that decides the character’s balance and weight. If the COG is wrong, the animation will look floaty even with good poses.
- Offset – Each body part should move slightly at different times instead of all together.
- Inbetweens – Add extra keys to smooth out the motion and make it feel more natural.
This workflow helps me understand where to focus my effort and prevents me from adding too much detail too early.
The main issue with my Franky animation was still about Center of Gravity (COG). The tutor said my COG curve was not strong enough and needed more exaggerated up-and-down movement to show the weight. When Franky turns around, I also need to pay attention to whether the head leads the motion or the COG leads the head.