关于游戏动画师一天的工作生活
发布时间： 11:28:58
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作者：Harvey Newman
游戏中的动画总是存在一种神秘感。在我访问各所大学并与学生们进行交谈的时候，93.7%的人问的第一个问题都是“游戏中的动画师到底是做什么的？”
所以我认为是时候面向更多人，而不只是大学生们去谈论这个问题。于是我便决定在此分享作为一名游戏动画师的工作生活是怎样的。
我的名字是Harvey Newman，并且已经在这个产业中待了6年多时间。
现在我正为微软/Lionhead Studios工作，并致力于他们即将发行的《神鬼寓言：传奇》。我也在此获得了许多乐趣。
在我开始谈论动画过程本身时，我想先向那些刚接触游戏制作的新人提供一些基础内容。
关键帧vs动作捕捉
这里存在许多动画类型，而最常见的两种便是关键帧和动作捕捉。
在动作捕捉中，执行者的动作将被记录下来并转换成一个3D模型结构，而在手部关键动画中，所有移动的每一个关键都是由动画师手工制作的。
这里也存在程序动画，但这主要是由引擎所操纵，就像《小小大星球》或《Ragdoll Kung Fu》那样。
需要强调的是，我在本文中所提到的动画都是指关键帧动画。
世界上的每一间工作室都拥有某种类型的工作管道。虽然这些管道都不同，但其实理念都是一样的。管道是一个理念从A到Z的过程，而工作室中的所有成员都会基于某种方式去完成它。
基于你所从事的部门，在主要的工作管道中还分有一些“子管道”。
就像在我们的工作室中存在一个美术管道。以下是关于我们的管道如何运行的一种超级简单的方法：
1.作家或制作人将为游戏宇宙中一个特定角色编写脚本/故事。
2.然后角色将进入美术管道中，而美术师将想出相关角色理念。
3.然后这一概念将来到建模者的手中，他将把握美术师的设计要领并基于2D设计去创造3D模型。
4.之后便轮到操作团队，他们将添加基本架构并为动画师们准备好角色。
5.一旦操作团队完成了工作，我们便可以大展身手了。、
接下来让我们来看看作为动画师的我一天的工作生活。
fable legends(from develop-online)
在开始创造功能或故事的时候，我们的首席动画师将与制作人一起制定动画在哪里需要什么的计划。
所有的这些谈话都将围绕着引擎展开。游戏中的一切都将被量化为团队想要做的以及引擎能够处理的内容。而找到两者的中间点对于创造一款最出色的游戏非常必要。
与此同时我们的首席动画师还会提供给我们有关接下来将干什么以及哪些任务还未决定等信息。从而避免一些猝不及防的情况。
我们的首席动画师会列出一些现在以及短期内需要执行的动画内容。如果想要继续执行下一步工作，所有的动画必须先经过首席动画师以及游戏负责人的认可。这些动画将被划分成不同任务并分配给每一位动画师。
在Lionhead，我们拥有一个紧密的团队系统，我们每一次会组合两位动画师去致力于一个特定角色或功能的创造。
可以肯定的是游戏中任何需要制作动画的内容都会在某些时候分配给一些特定的人去完成。
一旦我的两人团队接收了下一个任务，首席动画师便会告诉我们每个人需要做哪些动画。我们也将根据任务的难度去划分工作。
现在我将开始着手动画制作。我们已经完成了讨论，管道中的所有人也都清楚这些动画都是游戏所需要的。
我将与首席动画师和团队伙伴一起坐下来讨论一些问题：
哪个动画？
首席动画师便会告诉我我将致力于四个转向攻击（游戏邦注：即角色将在相应创所旋转）。通过我们所使用的引擎（Unreal 4）和我们的代码团队，我已经知道了这些，而我们只需要制作四个旋转动画便可以了：向左转180度，向左转90度，向右转180度，向右转90度。
如何优化？
之后首席动画师便会告诉我基于其他制作人所设定的前提他希望我的动画如何进行优化。也许制作人已经知道这些动画将如何运行了。如此我便能够基于一种完成的状态而进一步优化动画。但如果这是为了测试而制作的动画，我可能就需要确保它不那么完善。
完成了动画并且将它带进游戏后，如果它未能像预期那样有效运行的话将会直接被丢掉。
所以现在的我便知道自己该做出怎样的动画以及需要如何优化它们，但是我还需要明确自己需要花费多长时间才能完成它们。
多长时间？
在Lionhead，我们将知道每个角色制作的最后期限，但是我们也可以在截止日期范围内安排自己的时间去决定我们在特定动画上需要花费多少时间。
带着所有的这些信息，我认为自己需要花费4天时间去完成动画制作。即每个动画一天。如果时间有余的话我可能还会多加一天时间，以确保自己能够创造出最出色的动画。
注：因为所有的动画都是不同的，所以时间安排也有可能不同。就像有时候你一天可以完成四个动画，但是有时候你却需要花费四天时间去完成一个动画。
scrum是每天都会进行的一种会议，在这里来自不同部门的团队成员将致力于游戏的同一个部分，并就他们之前所做的已经接下来要做的事而一起更新剩下的内容。
在这些scrum中，我们通常会花四天时间去执行上述所提到的工作。这时候每个人都处于同一个层面上。允许有人拥有更多信息或者需要更快获得动画，而我们便可以在这里讨论什么是可行的以及如何更好地传递各自所分配到的任务。
scrum之后我将平静地回到自己的位置上，因为我和搭档都很清楚我们在做什么以及如何在做这些事。
现在是时候制作动画了。我们将经历参考–&草图–&功能–&优化的过程。
在决定需要花费多长时间去制作动画时我便需要考虑到所有的这些步骤。
因为动画处于制作过程中并且即将完成，所以我会不断收到来自首席动画师关于动画如何优化才能更有效地实现目的的反馈。而我们也会不断做出调整直至得到预期的动画效果。
现在我已经完成了动画并是时候让其他scrum团队成员去评估它们了。为此我们进行了每周或两周一次的会议。
我们聚集在一个有着较大屏幕的房间里并开始评估我的工作。当与之前的动画，视觉效果和音频结合在一起观看时，新动画的问题便会显示出来，不过这些都是可以调整的问题。在评估后我会回到位置上并根据我在会议上所作的记录以及我们所讨论的内容去调整动画。
一旦我提交了动画，它便是我们在游戏中会看到的内容。而这时候我将会转向自己的下一个工作上。
这便是游戏动画师一天的工作生活。至少是我一天的工作生活。不过不同工作室也会有不同的工作方式。但有一点是可以肯定的：作为动画师，游戏产业的确是一个很有趣的工作领域，而如果你是一名充满抱负的游戏动画师，你一定能够在此找到自己的立足点。
（本文为游戏邦/编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）
Insight into the life of a games animator
By Harvey Newman
There has always been a sense of mystery in regards to animation in games. In my travels to universities, during talks and chats to students, the first question they ask 93.7% of the time is: “What exactly is it like to be an animator in games?”
Well, I thought perhaps it was time for me to reach an audience bigger than just the confines of the universities. So I decided to contact the good folks at Develop, who have kindly allowed me to ramble about what life is like for a games animator.
Hopefully this quick read will explain what goes on inside the studio from an animator’s standpoint.
My name is Harvey Newman, and I’ve been in the industry for over six years now.
I am currently working at Microsoft/Lionhead Studios, on their soon-to-be-released franchise Fable Legends. I’m having a lot of fun.
Before I start talking about the animation process itself, let me lay the ground a little bit for those that are new to games production.
Key frame Vs Motion Capture
There are many types of animation styles, but the two most common are Key Frame and Motion Capture.
Motion Capture is where the motion of a performer is recorded and transferred onto a skeleton/rig of a 3D model, while hand key animation is where every single key of all movement is handmade by the animator.
There’s also procedural animation but that’s is mostly handled by the engine - think LittleBigPlanet or Ragdoll Kung Fu.
When I speak about animation in this article, I am referring to Key Frame Animation.
Every studio around the world, has some kind of a work pipeline. These pipelines differ, but the idea is the same. A pipeline is a process in which an idea or concept goes from A to Z and everyone in the studio touches it in one way or the other in order to bring it to fruition
Within the main work pipeline, there are “sub pipelines”, depending on the department in wich you work on.
In my case, we have an art pipeline. Here’s a super simplified way of how our pipeline works:
1.A writer or producer writes a script/story for a specific character within the game universe.
2.The character then goes onto Art who come up with the concept of the character.
3.This concept, then goes to the modellers who grab the designs off the artists and create a 3D model from the 2D design.
4.After that it goes to the Rigging team, where they add the bones and get the character ready for the animators.
5.Once the riggers finish their work, that’s where we come in and do our magic. There’s nothing like getting your hands on a freshly rigged character.
OK, now let me get in to a day in my life as an animator.
Our Animation lead, right at the start of a feature or story, will have a sit down with the producers to come up with a plan on what animations are needed, and where.
All of these talks revolve around the engine. Everything in a game can be quantified by what the team want to do and what the engine is able to handle. Finding a middle ground between the two is essential to make the best game possible.
Whilst this is happening, our lead will give us an idea of what we might be working next, and what kind of tasks are pending. Just so we don’t get caught off guard.
Distribution
Our Lead has a big list of animations that needs doing, now and in the near future. These animations were agreed upon amongst the leads and director of the game as being essential for the game continuity. These animations are converted into tasks, prioritised and distributed to all animators individually.
Here in the Lionhead we have a buddy team system, where we pair two animators at a time to form smaller teams and work on a specific character or feature.
You can be assured that anything that needs animation in-game is distributed to someone at some point.
Once my team of two receives the next set of tasks we’ll be working on, the lead will tell us which animations each of us should do. And spread the work evenly, depending on the level of difficulty.
OK, now I am set to animate. Things have been discussed and everyone in the pipeline has been given the green light that these animations will be needed for the game.
I sit down with my lead and my team buddy, as I have a few questions that require clarification (which is normal):
Which Animations?
So my lead tells me that I’ll be working on four turn attacks (where a character has to rotate on the spot). I already know that based on the engine we are using (Unreal 4) and our coding team, we only need four animations for rotates: 180 Degrees Left, 90 Degrees Left, 180 Degrees Right, 90 Degrees Right.
How Polished?
My lead then tells me how polished he would like my animations to be, based on the premise given by the producers. Perhaps the producer already knows that these animations are going to work. If so, I can polish things a bit more to more of a finish state. But if it is something that is for testing purposes only, then I have to keep it as loose as I can.
The reason behind this is once the animation is done and it is in the game it might not work as intended and be binned.
So now that I know, what animations I need to do, and how polished I need to make them, I need find out how much time I have to make them.
Here in Lionhead, we are given overall deadlines for each character from production, but we can plan our time within the confines of the end date to decide how much time we spend on particular animations.
So armed with all this information, I’ve concluded that I’ll be taking four days to complete the set. One Animation per day. If we are not in crunch time, and if at all possible, I might add a day to the deadline, just to make sure I deliver the best animations I possibly can, given the time.
Note: All animations are different and need to be assessed individually. Sometimes you do 4 animations in a day, others it takes 4 days to complete one animation.
A Scrum is a meeting that happens every day, where a team of people from different departments who are all working on the same part of the game, get together to update the rest as to what they have done the previous day and what they will be doing next.
In these scrums I have to say that I’ll officially be taking four days to do the work mentioned above. That way everyone is on the same page. Also if someone has more information, or perhaps needs the animations sooner, this is the place to discuss what is possible, and what can be done to better deliver the work assigned to me.
After the scrum I can go back to my desk with peace of mind that both myself and my colleagues know what we are doing and how we are doing it.
Now it’s time to animate. Going through the process of Reference -& Blockout -& Functional -& Polished
All of the steps above have been taken into account when determining how long I’d take on my animations.
As the animation is produced and nearing completion I constantly receive feedback from our lead on how it could be improved and/or serve its purpose more efficiently. We continually make these changes until the animation works as intended in game.
Ok, now that I’ve finished my animations it’s time to review them in game with the rest of my scrum team. We set a weekly or bi-weekly meeting for this purpose.
We gather the whole scrum in a big comfortable room, with a big screen (and sometime sweets) and start reviewing your work. When seen in context with previous animations, visual effects and audio, issues can be spotted with the new animations and these can be fine-tuned. If so I’d go back to my desk after the review, armed with my notes and I’d tweak the animation based on what we discussed.
If on the other hand I nailed it, and the animations work a treat the first time we see them in game. It’s time to move on and work on my next assignment.
And, that pretty much sums up a day in the life of a games animator. Or at least a day in my life. Different studios have different ways of working. One thing is certain: the games industry is a wonderful place to work as an animator, and if you are an aspiring games animator, you are in for a treat.
Hope you liked the article. If you have any questions, or would like to see more articles about animation, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments below.()
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