Key All

One big player in my workflow is Key All, I key all for as long as possible, only breaking the rule when everything is working and I need to add detail and lipsync. Now, people ask why? and how on earth do I make things drag and offset without actually offsetting individual keys on various controls. Well it took a long time to work this out but offsetting keys for me generally doesnt work. My character ends up moving more mechanically and looks like parts are moving on their own. What's worse, when offset is done too early (and some people do it in primary), I completely lose track of what my keys are; which one is my storytelling key pose? which frame is my true breakdown? In the end, I end up with a messy scene and mediocre poses. So here is what I do...

1. Think of my character as one unit. Like a bouncy ball inside a pillowcase. Energy is driven from one part and the rest moves along with it. No part ever stops moving until all of it becomes still. If the bouncy ball stops, it still is moving ever so slightly because the pillowcase will pull on it as it settles.

2. So with full body keys, build the key poses. Add in the breakdown just before the new key pose and for now, make this breakdown a simple, inbetween down pose.

3. Moving holds can be built by keying where you want the hold to end, hitting spline and choosing a point in the overshoot and copying it to the moving hold key. This is using the computer's natural calculations as a tool, and it will successfully move the body in the right direction but ever so slightly. Auto tangent the whole thing and flatten the moving hold key.

How to offset neatly.

4. So here is where it gets interesting, you want the body to go into your nice key storytelling pose, but you want the head to delay. With your lovely slight moving hold, go to the beginning of the moving hold key and rotate it slightly. You now have drag on the head.

5. Offsetting arms and hands. You want the hands to go into a new pose at different times. With your first storytelling key pose (which is the end of the previous moving hold), move the right hand up slightly, remember what is driving what, so if it's the hand, move the shoulder and elbow too. In the breakdown key, have the right hand move down, while the left hand just starts to move. In your next storytelling pose, move the right hand to it's final pose, while the left hand moves a lot. With a new full body key a few frames into the moving hold, have the left hand come to it's final pose. Both hands should move slightly in the direction it was travelling till the end of the moving hold. Now the hands are offset, and you only had to create 1 extra key which is called 'easing in'. I'll try and load some pictures here to show what i mean.

6. Brows, mouth shapes, fingers and even tails can all be done in the same Key->Breakdown->Moving Hold->Key poses. With the whole body slightly moving, and deliberately choosing what should drag, this method is really powerful and your character wont ever come to a jarring stop.

Keying All is a way to keep your scene alive and clean. It's using what's there and taking control of what should be driving what. It's also excellent for retiming action and adjusting any posing should there be any feedback changes (without destroying what you have already).