Animating Eggs

Omlette from Frank G on Vimeo.

Over summer break I have had another attempt at animating for the 11 Second Club competition.

Here's a reason why animating eggs is not so silly (imagine being paid in GOO!):

Screening Night Showreel

This is the showreel of some of my work collated for the end of year screening. It contains 5 EAPS = jump, walk, dialogue, punch and kick. There's also a bit of Flash animation and traditional 2d work from the Tropfest film we made in 1st year. This is goal is kicked but there is a lot more animating to be done.


Screening Night Showreel from Frank G on Vimeo.

Combining 2D & 3D elements

This is a further installment in the 2D to 3D connection. I started this exploration a few months back with a Flash animation. This is my second attempt at a dialogue sequence using Maya.


2D 3D Fusion from Frank G on Vimeo.

Surfrider Foundation Australia ~ Community Group Project

As part of Jane's classes Roman, Dan, Noel and I made an interactive web animation for Surfrider Foundation Australia, for our community project assignment. It has now been modified into a short film:


Surfrider Foundation + animation students = film from Frank G on Vimeo.

Brisbane International Animation Festival 7

Mr Chipman Gravyarms invites you to "Where's Chipman" him at BIAF 7. BIAF 7 starts Tuesday October 28, 2008. See your groovy media for details. Get yer tickets!


BIAF 7 from Frank G on Vimeo.

Adobe After Effects - Titles Exercise

AfterFX - exercise from Frank G on Vimeo.

Animation Workout Troll

Today the troll grew a head and some legs. This is an 'animation workout', an in-class exercise to work on animation principles.

Animation Workout Troll from Frank G on Vimeo.

Flash Showreel 2008

I've had a go at building a showreel aimed at applying for a Flash/2D animation job.


Flash ~ 2008 Showreel from Frank G on Vimeo.

Shudder tests - using a 'graph editor'

This time I converted the shudder frames into a motion tween, as I am working in Flash. I selected the motion tween and opened the "Ease In / Ease Out" tool and created a shudder using the chart. This is animating via graphs and mathematics, rather than "by eye".










shudder ~ using Flash's 'graph editor' from Frank G on Vimeo.
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shudder ~ graph editor ~ tiny shakes from Frank G on Vimeo.

Shudder Test

As part of an animation "workout', we've been told all animators should be able to animate a shudder. I haven't got this one correct... yet. It is a heavy object landing shudder. Most recent attempts are at the top of the pile.


shudder ~ maintain object volume from Frank G on Vimeo.
shudder experiment ~ overshoot style from Frank G on Vimeo.
shudder - WIP from Frank G on Vimeo.
shudder_solidball from Frank G on Vimeo.
shudder from Frank G on Vimeo.

Animation workout ~ heavy jump ~ WIP

A work in progress. Allegedly every animator should know how to animate a shudder and know where to apply it. In this workout, the shudder is meant to imply weight.


Heavy Jump ~ timing/spacing ~ WIP from Frank G on Vimeo.

Animating in 3D using a 2D Flash animation as a guide

I'm learning a lot (the hard way) about animating in 3D compared to animating in 2D.

Don't let the computer be the animator! It's a tough struggle and teaching me about persistence.

Here is the 2D Flash animation I'm working with and a 3D 'blocking pass' that I'm just starting to break down. Keeping the arcs and spacing in the body turns are a real challenge.


My Son has a Gift - 2D from Frank G on Vimeo.


My Son has a Gift - 3D blocking pass from Frank G on Vimeo.

My Sun has a gift

The 11SecondClub has a monthly competition. The dialogue is from the July comp. I tried to take a simple character design and focus on the animation performance. This was a test run with just the main character's head. The colour idea came from the Adobe "Kuler" web site. When I played the animation, it made me think of a planet talking about his sun. Inspired by Chuck Jones.


Solar Pow Wow from Frank G on Vimeo.

Home made peg bar - animation and scanning

We have a hole punch at school that matches the pegs on our light boxes, so I go to school and punch 500 sheets of paper (recycled)at a time.

Last summer holidays I ran out of punched holy animating paper, so I made my own peg bar out of a plastic ruler and some sawn off paint brushes, and taped it onto the light box disc. The home made pegs matched a standard 2-hole paper punch you'd find in any office. The result isn't as stable as the 3-peg hole punch that matches the animation disc pegs, but it still worked and kept me "moving forward".

The benefit of making the peg bar from a thin plastic ruler was that I could take the peg bar to my scanner and tape it on. So when I scanned my drawings into the computer they stayed 'registered' (in place, held by the pegs). That sped up the scanning and kept the animated movements to the ones I had drawn, not movements due to the drawings being out of alignment.

At school we make registration bars for the scanners out of thin plastic rulers. We punch through some plastic with the animation 3-peg punch. Collect the punched out plastic bits. Then glue them in place on the thin ruler. The punched out bits are only a few millimetres thick but thick enough to register the drawings being scanned in alignment.

Gran - line test

I had a good look at the "Gran Scuttle" line test (below), and realised that Gran just launches off into the walk. I guess that covers the physical action I'm after. But it doesn't show her thinking or preparing for her scuttle. In this line test, I've added a rough background to give her a motivation (get to the gate). The obstacle that she has to overcome is her own age limited physical restrictions. Her infirmity. So she takes 4 seconds to: Do a walking stick check, take a deep breath and ... place her stick (ready for the first step).


gran prepares from Frank G on Vimeo.

11SecondClub - January Entry

The 11SecondClub is an online animation contest. Competing animators have to animate an 11 second dialogue.

It is beneficial to enter as other animators give feedback on work. My animation scored 3.7 out of 11 and was placed 44th out of 85 entries.

Anim8 - Scene 8 - Creepy Customer

Anim8 Scene 8 - Creepy, staring guy from Frank G on Vimeo.

ANIM8 - Cat With Many Skins

In 2007 a collaboration of 1st year animation students at SBIT decided to make a film.

The result was "Cat With Many Skins".

The story was based on a 19 year old shop assistant who starts to realise his part-time job is becoming his permanent gaol.

The final film did not make the cut for the Tropfest competition, so it is available to view.

My sequence is the one with the creepy staring guy as the messenger.