Jonathan Cooper - Game Anim: Video Game Animation Explained

Game Anim

Video Game Animation Explained

Game Anim

Video Game Animation Explained

Jonathan Cooper

CRC Press

Taylor & Francis Group

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2019 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cooper, Jonathan (Animator), author.

Title: Game anim: video game animation explained / Jonathan Cooper.

Other titles: Game animator

Description: Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, 2019. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018040843| ISBN 9781138094871 (pbk. : acid-free paper) |

ISBN 9781138094888 (hardback : acid-free paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Computer animation--Vocational guidance. | Video

games--Design--Vocational guidance.

Classification: LCC TR897.7 .C66 2019 | DDC 777/.7023--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018040843

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For Clara & Jade,

whose adventures in real life

inspire me in the virtual.

Contents

Its an incredibly arrogant presumption to write a book on your chosen field, but in the intervening decades between my first falling in love with video game animation and now, the medium has become something of a desirable career path (and no one else was going to do it). Ive seen animation grow from a one-person throwaway on small teams to one of the largest multifaceted disciplines on the biggest video game projects and an important prerequisite for any studio with even modest storytelling ambitions. And yet, due to the mediums relative youth, the real details of game development are not covered by online articles or video tutorials, which instead focus on the (still very important) act of animation creation itself.

As I finish up this manuscript back home on a trip to Scotland, I realize I was fortunate to have grown up not just with games but also with the means to create computer arteven more so because my hometown birthed some of the most celebrated video game series in the world. While game development always seemed like an attainable career to me, I understand thats not the case for everyone. Similarly, video game animation (and development as a whole) has for years been economically inaccessible to most due to the cost of animation packages and tools. But with the internet; social media; and, most recently, the democratization of development with free game engines, animation tools, and digital distribution allowing anybody with a computer to start developing and get games out to an audience, I feel the time is now right to get everyone up to speed on this exciting field.

Written over the course of several years (because Im very much still actively shipping huge games), this book is the result of notes taken every time I hit a new development phase and listed everything I considered important, regardless of the project. With this book, I hope to impart much of nearly two decades of knowledge working on a variety of game types in both in-game and cinematic roles in animator, lead, and director positions to make the reader as rounded a game animator as possible. All of this is based on personal experience so is bound to cause some disagreement, as not every studio approaches game development the same way, but the following pages are what I have found to work across multiple studios regardless of team size and culture, and should allow the game animator to focus on whats important (which goes far beyond just making beautiful animations).

I really hope you find this book useful, and I cant wait to see what the aspiring animators of tomorrow will create. The medium of video game animation is so linked to technology that we are forever reinventing processes and techniques, always making characters and worlds even more believable to entertain players around the world.

Jonathan Cooper

The associated tutorial Azri character is property of Matthew Bachnick and is used under license, and cannot be used for commercial purposes.

The Last Guardian: 2016 Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

For Assassins Creed pictures: 2007-2017 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassins Creed, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries.

For Prince of Persia pictures : 2003 Ubisoft Entertainment. Based on Prince of Persia created by Jordan Mechner. Prince of Persia is a trademark of Waterwheel Licensing LLC in the US and/or other countries used under license.

For Watch Dogs pictures: 2014 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Watch Dogs, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are registered or unregistered trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

There are too many talented folks Ive worked with over the years who have contributed to my own growth as a game developer and animator to mention. Special thanks, however, must go to Mari Kuwayama for interview translations, Sophie Brennan for rigging the featured Azri character, and the following folks who helped with image approvals and other advice: Alison Mori, Joel Macmillan, Etienne Allonier, Jay Hosfelt, Dan Tudge, Peter Bartholow, Jamaal Bradley, Joe Hixson, Jake Clark, Chris Brincat, Jay Britton, Max Dyckhoff, Michael Barclay, Wasim Khan, Jeremy Yates and Richard Boylan. Thanks also to Dayna Galloway for use of an Abertay laptop when I needed it most, and to Sean Connelly for being an all-round great publisher.