This is absolutely incredible footage. What a treat to see such graceful movement to study and enjoy. Notice the timer in the top left and how still the head stays throughout despite the incredible speed. Amazing.

Cheetahs are the fastest runners on the planet. Combining the resources of National Geographic and the Cincinnati Zoo, and drawing on the skills of a Hollywood action movie crew, we documented these amazing cats in a way that’s never been done before.

Using a Phantom camera filming at 1200 frames per second while zooming beside a sprinting cheetah, the team captured every nuance of the cat’s movement as it reached top speeds of 60+ miles per hour.

The extraordinary footage that follows is a compilation of multiple runs by five cheetahs during three days of filming.

For more information about cheetah conservation, visit causeanuproar.com

Have you clicked the ad above to get your exclusive On Animation discount yet?

I recently signed up for Rhino House to better study creature locomotion. It was recommended by fellow animators with lots of creature experience. The best part about the site is that it’s not just a catalog of animal videos from around the internet, but rather a tailor made (for animators) collection of specific videos on behavior, locomotion, and subtleties with a built in set of tools for analyzing the motion frame by frame.

Check out the following videos for an overview of the site and its features:

At Rhino House we provide animation references and tools created by animators for animators.
Rhino House is a vast reference library, a dynamic ebook, and a set of cutting edge tools for students, educators, and professionals in the animation industry. We have everything from bouncing balls to human walk cycles male and female, to animal motion and behavior, to facial expressions. It’s an ever growing database that will help animators achieve today’s industry standards. In fact, Rhino House reaches beyond just animation and is useful for rigging and modeling as well. Our resource hub is currently tapped by many film and game studios all around the world, and used by both online and traditional schools. Rhino House is where animators go to discover a better way to video reference.

There`s already a huge collection of videos on the site for both humans and a variety of animals, but something tells me this is only the beginning. Stop by and sign up to support this amazing project and help it grow. Use the coupon code “onanimation” and receive 50% off a one year subscription!

Here`s an example of how effective Rhino House reference is:

Check out this wonderful compilation of screen test footage and final footage from Star Trek. It’s amazing how dull and lifeless Tom Hardy’s final performance is in comparison to his incredible screen test. When it’s just too great actors doing their thing, look at what they come up with.

Good slow-motion body mechanics reference for running. One of the runners in this video is Tyler Christopher, but they get his name wrong. I went to school with this guy from elementary to high school. Good to see he’s doing so well.

Source: Ivan Gozali

I haven’t posted any acting reference in a while. Here’s some good reference from ‘The Departed’ to help you out with eye darts and blinks in intense moments. I love this reference because there’s no dialogue, just listening and thinking. This is the kind of stuff animators LOVE. Well, I do anyways. The files are big because it’s HD, so I zipped them. Click the image below to download.

Here’s a nice clip from ‘The Town’ that’s a great example of changing emotions

The girl starts out very flirtatious (playing with her earring, smiling, pressing her lips together). She’s never met this guy and she’s putting on the usual “I’m interested” act.

Then he starts talking about the 20 dollar bill. She gets a little confused, she’s never heard this one before, but then she genuinely starts to get more interested. The smile she starts to use now is more genuine than the one she had before. This is a subtle change of emotion – she’s went from I’m pretending to be interesting to I’m more genuinely interested.

Finally he mentions the oxy (drugs) and she realizes this person is not who she thought he was, she instantly starts to avoid eye contact, slouches down in her seat, you can feel her getting a little nervous/worried.

Before you have a change of emotion, its helpful to build up a different emotion first, basically its anticipation but with feelings. If you were to animate a character jumping, you would first anticipate them down. The same concept can apply to emotional changes, if you want to have a more drastic change, have the character go from two opposite emotions. (anticipations are usually in the opposite direction of the main movement). So if a character is going to be frightened, have them start more happy/calm. If they are going to laugh from a joke, maybe they start upset/mad. Creating contrast in your emotion change will make for a more interesting animation.