Those of you who work - what is your job?

I'm a computer games animator. So I've studied movement and expressions for the last 20 years, maybe a reason I've been so good at masking all this time, even from myself. (This is different from feature animation, I do a lot of loops and cycles and movement sets). Though my speciality is creature stuff, as it overlaps my nature interest. I can also cover a tech animator role and I really got into python a few years back. I also work from home so I don't have to deal with other people apart from a few meetings.

Hi Cinnabar_wing   Study of movement and expressions turned into a career with correlates for masking.  Similar for me.  :-)

I spent a lot of time exploring human movement (including biomechanics) and interactions from a Western"biopsychosocial" perspective and Taoist philosophy and arts mostly providing insight into postural changes associated with emotional sets.  For me this turned into a career in physiotherapy.   More interaction with people fro me - a mixed blessing...

Can I ask where you draw your studies for the models of movement and expression you use in your art please?  I find this especially interesting :-)

For reference, it depends on what the anim is. For runs etc. just finding a video of someone sporty running, and creating a clip to analyse and step through frame by frame to work out what's happening. Otherwise we might video ourselves and push the poses, weight shifts, arcs if it's something like an idle. I have Richard Williams book, the Animators Survival Kit, and in uni we had a talk by Ed Hooks and have his book Acting for Animators. There are tons of resources on the internet too. Plus mirrors, I don't have alexithymia so I'm okay with pulling faces.

Plus I've worked with motion capture data, which is working with an actors motion. So moment and gestures is something I'm really aware of and find fascinating!

Jolly good Cinnabar_wing  :-) please let me know what you make of them :-)

Forgive the late reply, not a snub just I started a new contract last week so have been a bit wiped trying to get up to speed! 

Yes indeed there does seem to be as lot of overlap, though you have a lot more deep knowledge of the body, though I am very much going to look up some of the areas you suggest and would love to hear more!

Thanks for your answer Cinnabar_wing 

The (e)motion capture data is an interesting overlap to my studies which if you'll forgive me I'll ramble on a bit to you about as we share the interest.  hehe warning "info dump" about to take place.  :-)

My wife (who is a fine artist by training and practice) went to a cartoon workshop a few years ago - really enlightening from a facial emotion characteristic perspective!

I did a few very primitive flick books when at uni in context of gait analysis myself and routinely have come to use quick structural line drawings to illustrate and provide visual learning aids in my physiotherapy.  So I think we are kindred spirits perhaps?

So even tho' you haven't asked for it i'd like to share some of the places the study has taken me - hehe autism, you've got to love it...

One analysis of "motion capture" I picked up on is in relaton to acupuncture points/meridians or what have been called "muscle trains" in Western terms.   These systems model human movement and structure in a fashion of "tensional integrity" (the term "tensegrity" coined by Buckminster Fuller).    You might find these interesting and/or useful to explore :-) 

I found the Taoist/acupuncture one especially interesting as it models whole body postural sets that embody emotions - it is also encaptured in physical exercises which allow it to be used as a physical/emotional training system.

The scientific fields of emotional and cognitive embodiment might be interesting to you in this context.

You might also be interested in looking up "mirror neurones" as a study - it is, like a lot of theories, contentious however does shed some interesting angles on movement acquisition and purpose (including some analysis of autism in context too).

The study of human anatomy is especially interesting in context.  All that DaVinci stuff!  In the early 17th century the word "pelvis" was adopted in this context.  Meaning "bowl/bucket" the human body's centre of mass is in this - so where the pelvis is in the mechanics of the system and how it is aligned is especially interesting from a weight transfer and functional muscle utilisation perspective.

Gestures are indeed a fascinating area to explore too - i wonder if you have come across "mudra" - these are symbolic Hindu and Buddhist hand gestures used in ceremony, statues and dance?

Anyway,  I wonder if any of what I've shared "rings bells" (hehe hopefully not alarming) with you?

I'd like to chat/collaborate further in this - it is probably my biggest special interest! :-)

Best Wishes

Thanks for your answer Cinnabar_wing 

The (e)motion capture data is an interesting overlap to my studies which if you'll forgive me I'll ramble on a bit to you about as we share the interest.  hehe warning "info dump" about to take place.  :-)

My wife (who is a fine artist by training and practice) went to a cartoon workshop a few years ago - really enlightening from a facial emotion characteristic perspective!

I did a few very primitive flick books when at uni in context of gait analysis myself and routinely have come to use quick structural line drawings to illustrate and provide visual learning aids in my physiotherapy.  So I think we are kindred spirits perhaps?

So even tho' you haven't asked for it i'd like to share some of the places the study has taken me - hehe autism, you've got to love it...

One analysis of "motion capture" I picked up on is in relaton to acupuncture points/meridians or what have been called "muscle trains" in Western terms.   These systems model human movement and structure in a fashion of "tensional integrity" (the term "tensegrity" coined by Buckminster Fuller).    You might find these interesting and/or useful to explore :-) 

I found the Taoist/acupuncture one especially interesting as it models whole body postural sets that embody emotions - it is also encaptured in physical exercises which allow it to be used as a physical/emotional training system.

The scientific fields of emotional and cognitive embodiment might be interesting to you in this context.

You might also be interested in looking up "mirror neurones" as a study - it is, like a lot of theories, contentious however does shed some interesting angles on movement acquisition and purpose (including some analysis of autism in context too).

The study of human anatomy is especially interesting in context.  All that DaVinci stuff!  In the early 17th century the word "pelvis" was adopted in this context.  Meaning "bowl/bucket" the human body's centre of mass is in this - so where the pelvis is in the mechanics of the system and how it is aligned is especially interesting from a weight transfer and functional muscle utilisation perspective.

Gestures are indeed a fascinating area to explore too - i wonder if you have come across "mudra" - these are symbolic Hindu and Buddhist hand gestures used in ceremony, statues and dance?

Anyway,  I wonder if any of what I've shared "rings bells" (hehe hopefully not alarming) with you?

I'd like to chat/collaborate further in this - it is probably my biggest special interest! :-)

Best Wishes

Jolly good Cinnabar_wing  :-) please let me know what you make of them :-)

Forgive the late reply, not a snub just I started a new contract last week so have been a bit wiped trying to get up to speed! 

Yes indeed there does seem to be as lot of overlap, though you have a lot more deep knowledge of the body, though I am very much going to look up some of the areas you suggest and would love to hear more!