This week we learned about balance. It's a really important concept that can kill an animation if it's off. They talked more about the center line again. In a previous lecture, we learned that during a walk if you can draw a line straight down from the neck to the ankle that is supporting all of the weight, then the character is in balance. In this lecture they talked about how this center line moves around depending on how much weight is on either feet. If your weight is squarely over both feet, then the center line is from the neck down to the ground between your feet. Additionally, if you want to have a character in balance, the mass of your body must be equal on either side of the center line. If you want a character to move in any direction, you must first put him off balance by putting more of his weight on one side of the center line.

When analyzing reference footage, its helpful to find out where the center line is during the whole movement and to pay attention to how much of the character's mass in on either side. This week we watched some interesting footage of a person picking up a heavy object. The center line moved in the footage, but not in a way that I had expected. What I didn't realize was that when you are carrying an object, that object's mass combines with your mass. Thus in order to maintain balance, if the object is resided on one side of the center line, then you must put more of your body mass on the opposite side in order to compensate for the additional weight. I never thought of it that way, but it makes total sense. That concept is really going to help me in the future. Man! I am learning so much this term!

We continued with our shots this week, taking them from thumbnails to blocking. My thumbnails were fairly bare, so I needed to add a number of keys and breakdowns to get the motion right in my blocking. I also had to make some changes because I only have 4 posts in my thumbnails, but there are 5 posts in the actual set. I totally blew it. I quickly glanced at the set, thought I had it memorized, and a few days later started thumbnailing. I really need to pay closer attention to the set next time. If the set was drastically different, I might have been in trouble. Its a good thing that the set is just five posts and not some complex set with tons of props. Anyway, enjoy the blocking if you can. I'll be smoothing this one out all week and finishing any neccessary revisions by the end of the following week.