In this intermediate After Effects workshop, we’ll design a character head, rig it to be animated, and start animating a short scene. We’ll be using a free script called DuIK Bassel 2 to assist us. We’ll also be diving into “expressions” (little snippets of code) in After Effects to help us automate and problem-solve as many things as possible. Automation is very valuable when rigging because you want to have as few manual things to tweak as possible when animating.

The main focus will be how to approach rigging based on what we need the character to do. What facial expressions does it need to make? Will it be speaking? How much will its head rotate? All of these things must be considered when designing and rigging a character. This 2-part class will be a jumping off point to give you the tools you need to rig your own character heads for animation.

About the Instructor

Mike Charal is a Toronto-based motion designer who enjoys communicating stories and concepts through animation. After graduating with an engineering degree, he felt there wasn’t enough room in engineering to express himself as creatively as he wanted to, so he began to learn about design and animation and hasn’t looked back. Having come from an engineering background, he approaches problem-solving (which there’s a lot of in motion design) with a technical slant. This has been especially helpful for technical things like character rigging. He has worked with companies in Canada and the US creating all kinds of videos in a filming, editing, vfx and/or animation capacity to bring their visions to life on screen, but most recently with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios rigging and animating character faces.

vimeo.com/mikecharal / @motionmig