Hello Peeps & i trust u guys have had a wonderful year so far, cuz i have. Today i‘ll b talking on d above so that newbies wi d desire to learn animation can take a cue & mk life a bit easier for themselves. These were things i didnt know but dived into anuways bcuz of my passion for d art. Thank God it worked out for me, otherwise wetin i for do? Ok, lets begin my fellow manhood newbies.

1) Passion n Patience: These P-squares r not ur average dancing twins, neither is any of em an ozokwor. Yet, u‘ll need them like crap. U must b passionate enough to push on & through during very tough times n b patient enough to wait for gradual results without been stupeed abt it. Both ingredients must be in the right proportions n mix for d ministry to move on. So if u dont have dz two, go n borrow, steal or buy cuz u‘ll need em.

2) Ying n Yang: See this as a calabar/chinese word n u may not b wrong. Its infact chinese n means Balance. Hot n cold, Hard n soft that is, anything with DIRECT opposites. Taking on animations in ds part of d globe means u r crazy enough to do anything bcuz d wahala wey follow am bros, no be here o! So in that same state of insanity, u‘ll hv to look for a way of been sane. The key is to always b happy, so whateva it is u need to do to keep u in dat state of suspension, bros eehhh, go do am.

3) Electricity & Finance:
Finance would b needed for little things like biscuit, n wateva it is dats small scale n will keep u sane. including n not limited to buying softwares n how-to dvds plus google n youtube. Add any other to d basket but these cannot b compromised.
On Electricity, bros if u de naija, u know as e de go na. case solved.

4) Computer
As far as this goes, the laptop or any other computer device dat can store at least 3hrs of light while modelling after ur gen or phcn goes off is what i reccomend. ram should at least b 4gig, min 500gig hdd, gpu is optional, a backup hdd would also b nice. And u can check on google or other pros for thr expert advice if u want to go higher.

5) Softwares
This one is tricky n i wouldnt want to cause anyy e-war cuz of it so here goes. It is true that the artist makes the software n not the other way around. This means, regardless of ur choice of software, what comes out of ur head n how creative u r is what would matter. This does not mean that they r all on dsame level because even d pros agree that there are industry standards. Industry standards dont mean others are not good. Its just that these are regarded as the benchmarks. Now while stil on this, we should consider “time“. This sub factor is one thing nobody has or can control & as such manually trying out all d softwares in a bid to pick one, like some artist would recommend should b avoided like AIDS. Truthfully, begining to know a software wont happen until about 6mths to a year. And we have more than 10softwares doing 3d. Now how long do you think it will take to go round all of them? A month or two is certainly not enough to study one software so leave dat thing. So how do u solve ds mystery? Visit Pro Cgi forums n hear what pros have to say about them. Use google n go dirty. Search for “software vs“ threads, what ur focus is in 3D eg visuallizations, modelling etc. Yeah, also check out d help forum n fan base as these tells how popular the program is. The more popular it is d easier u r likely to find learning it.

Ok, these are some factors i consider important, u cld add yours to make life easier for these guys. I‘ll b back with more later on.

“I‘ve got flying cops. I‘ve got flies in the ointment.
I got CHP in d air all over the course.
You add cops to the race and people get...
Racers should race, cops should eat donuts“- Keaton (Monarch) in Need for Speed.

Yeah, so i fire on the sequel to d post wi dz opener from d movie “Need for Speed“. There‘s a lot of msg in those lines n paramount of these is to be Extremely good at what you do.
To get here, you‘ll need to master those principles. Not just by heart but in application. Good acting skillz n everyday occurencies covers d other side. Williams thinks, its all in the timing n spacing. I think, its all in the eases. It will take time. YES TIME. But u‘ll get there if u keep to these simple rules mentioned above. Also, dont b scared of competition or criticism. Its a forum n its ok to fight. Not learning anything from it however is whats bad.
Keep Animating.

I concur... I would add The third P to the above mentioned p-square and is PRACTICE. so whilst you are passionate and patient, Practice unceasing too.

Tos87:
I concur... I would add The third P to the above mentioned p-square and is PRACTICE. so whilst you are passionate and patient, Practice unceasing too.

Yeah, nice one. But i think its silent within the two ps tho.

I agree that no method is completely right or wrong but may be ineffective. This point here is about videos and i would love to lay this matter to rest.
The videos that can help you in 3d will do that up till about texturing and maybe rigging. And this will depend on how good this teacher is. If its from lynda, digi tutors and other known cgi brands, then you are most likely to encounter very minimal problems. But this does not hold true for animating. To animate is to evolve, to change, to do something new, unexpected, true and identifiable. A butterfly doesnt fly like a bird and humans dont behave like monkeys. Being able to learn and tell the difference will be a must and a plus in this journey. You have to have a foundation and be able to reap things apart. Videos will most likely teach you what is in the videos. Videos wont make you into a sage.

Another thing is, stay away from mocap.