Blocking is an
animation
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
technique in which key
poses are created to establish timing and placement of characters and
prop
A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...
s in a given scene or shot. This technique is most commonly used in
3D computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...
, where it is sometimes referred to as ''Stepped animation''.
Blocking is often the first step in the
pose-to-pose style of animating, as opposed to the
straight-ahead style of animation (though it sometimes plays a role in straight-ahead as well). Blocking poses are not necessarily exclusively
keyframes. Blocked-in poses may also include important in-betweens, extremes, and breakdowns necessary to establishing the flow and timing of a particular shot.
In 3D, the animation curves of a blocked shot are often created using "stepped" or "square" tangencies, which provides no
interpolation
In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points.
In engineering and science, one often has ...
between animation poses. This allows the animator to see the poses of the animation without any strange and/or unintentional automatic interpolation. While this is sometimes problematic due to
gimbal lock
Gimbal lock is the loss of one degree of freedom in a three-dimensional, three-gimbal mechanism that occurs when the axes of two of the three gimbals are driven into a parallel configuration, "locking" the system into rotation in a degenerate t ...
, seeing the poses in this way allows the animator to adjust the timing of an animation quickly, without the distraction of the
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...
's automatic interpolation. In some cases, interpolation in 3d animation is avoided all together to create the illusion of 2d animation with 3d models. Instances of this occurs in the animated movie,
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and in the game,
Guilty Gear Xrd
is a fighting video game sub-series by Arc System Works and part of the ''Guilty Gear'' series. ''Guilty Gear Xrd'' was developed using Unreal Engine 3, with cel-shaded graphics in place of the series traditional hand drawn sprites. Following t ...
.
See also
*
Blocking (stage)
In theatre, blocking is the precise staging of actors to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera. Historically, the expectations of staging/blocking have changed substantially over time in Western theater. Prior to the moveme ...
References
Animation techniques
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