Saturday, October 6th, 2018 Posted by Jim Thacker

Master current workflows in VFX Animation for Television


The Gnomon Workshop has released VFX Animation for Television, an essential guide to current production techniques recorded by Elaina Scott, lead animator on The CW’s Supergirl.

Create a complete creature animation shot using current broadcast production workflows
In the video training, which runs for over five hours, Scott explores how to create a complete creature animation in Maya, using workflows current in broadcast work.

Using a free rigged dragon character created by Châu Võ Bá Trường, she begins by creating a believable movement cycle according to the mechanics of flight.

She then demonstrates how to import a camera track of the type that a VFX animator would receive from a layout artist, blocking out the path of the live actor in the plate and the rough timing of the dragon.

Having discussed how an animator would address client notes, Scott takes the animation to final, adding secondary motion to the creature to give it an extra level of realism.

For anyone hoping to work in production, the tutorial provides valuable insights into working efficiently, and how to achieve a believable performance, paying attention to physics and inertia.

About the artist
Elaina Scott got her first job in animation working on The South Park Movie: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, going on to work on The Simpsons and movie franchises including Iron Man, The Avengers and Transformers.

She currently works at Encore Hollywood, where she is animation supervisor for Supergirl on The CW, and also works on The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.

Pricing and availability
VFX Animation for Television is available via an online subscription to The Gnomon Workshop. Subscriptions cost $49/month or $490/year, providing access to over 300 tutorials, and there is a free trial available.

Read more about VFX Animation for Television on The Gnomon Workshop’s website


Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by Gnomon.