Body Mechanics

Learn the Principles Behind Complex Movement

Make the Next Move in Your Character Animation Career

In the Body Mechanics animation course, dive deep into the physicality of animating bipeds, including full body walks. Begin by honing your observational skills and understanding of human anatomy in relation to posing and mechanics. Once you understand the source of realistic motion, you’ll learn how timing and spacing choices can take your animation from realistic to stylized. Finally, add polish and shine to your animation.

12-WEEK COURSE

$2,499 USD

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Pro Animators Mentor You to Be Successful

Our mentors are the heart and soul of Animation Mentor. They are professional, working animators from studios like Pixar, DreamWorks, and Industrial Light & Magic, who will teach you the ins and outs of production-level animation. Continue your journey in the Body Mechanics animation course, the second of our Core Character Animation Courses.

Martin Hopkins

Senior Animator
DreamWorks Animation

Martin Hopkins has been a professional animator since 1994 and has a background in 2D animation as well as 3D. He joined DreamWorks on the Bee Movie and went on to work on major hits including the How to Train Your Dragon series.

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Don Kim

Series Director
Pipeline Studios

Don Kim is an accomplished storyboard artist as well as an animator, and started his career at Disney Animation. Over his 24+ year career, Don has been an animation supervisor, series director, and storyboard artist for well-known television productions like Hotel Transylvania: The Series and The Backyardigans.

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Mario Orlando

Senior Animator
Industrial Light & Magic

Mario Orlando has been a professional animator since 2005 and is currently a senior animator at Industrial Light & Magic. He was previously at ILMxLab, a Lucasfilm immersive entertainment studio that creates interactive, virtual storytelling. Mario is a 2015 graduate of Animation Mentor.

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Choose Your Mentor

Once you've applied and been accepted into Animation Mentor, you can choose your mentor and register for class.

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Studios that Hire Our Character Animation Students

On-Going Rig Access

STAN

STELLA

STEWART

STEWIE

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Personalized Mentorship

Our mentors are working professionals with years of experience under their belts, and they’re passionate about training the next generation of animators. In this course, you will learn from your mentor in live sessions as they share insights about what studios are working on and what qualities they look for in an animator. Your mentor will work directly with you to grow your skills, sharing weekly 1:1 feedback and reviews to help you improve your animation.

Studio-Level Animation Tools and Assets

We teach our students how to work in a studio environment so they are ready for jobs when they graduate. This training starts from day one, with exclusive access to professionally designed assets and character rigs. We ensure that they learn using the same tools and animation workflows that professionals use in their day-to-day work.

Course Requirements for Body Mechanics

Course Details

LIVE Q&As | Weekly 1-Hour Q&As

LECTURES | 12 Pre-recorded Lectures

ASSIGNMENTS | 3 Animation Exercises

ACCESS |Over 150 hours of additional content

SOFTWARE | Autodesk Maya

HARDWARE | Meet Minimum Requirements

AGE | 18 Years or Older

LANGUAGE | Taught in English

Skills You Need Before You Start

This character animation course requires you to have a working understanding of, and experience with, Autodesk Maya software. If you don’t you can take our Maya Basics Workshop.

What You’ll Learn

Now that you have the basics down, it’s time to focus on Body Mechanics. In this course you will:

Use anatomy and physiology to animate a convincing full body walk cycle
Learn and explore different animation workflows, adapting them to more complex characters and ideas
Animate a biped character using proper mechanics to maintain the relationships between the hips, chest, head, and limbs
Explore physicality by adding personality and character to your animation, integrating key storytelling components in each shot
Film clear video reference, study the source of realistic motion, and learn where to deviate in your animation in order to further your story

Animation Mentor Interest-Free Payment Plans

Animation Mentor offers interest-free payment plans. Payment Plans allow students to distribute the $2,499 USD tuition into flexible payments throughout the school term.

^$333
Per Month

$500 to save your seat and
6 monthly installments of $333.

^$500
Per Month

$500 to save your seat and
4 monthly installments of $500.

^$625
Per Month

$624 to save your seat and
3 monthly installments of $625.

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FAQ for Body Mechanics

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What is body mechanics in animation?

Body mechanics is a term that describes how elements of the body work together to move a character. For example, to pick something up requires more than just moving just your fingers. The fingers, hand, arm, elbow, and shoulder all work together to get the job done. When we animate characters, we have to understand the basics of how body mechanics work in order to move our characters in a realistic way. Check out this blog post for more details.

What is character animation?

Character animation is the act of taking a fully modeled and rigged character and animating their movements and expressions with the help of a digital tool or animation software, like Autodesk Maya. At Animation Mentor, our students learn keyframe animation.

What Body Mechanics Students are Saying

AM is Higher Quality than My Degree

I had already graduated with an animation and visual effects degree before attending Animation Mentor. I thought I had the basics down until this class, where the quality is orders of magnitude higher. My previous education hadn’t taught me like AM does, and I feel I’ll grow much more as an animator because of it.

AM is a Great Experience

AM has been a great experience. I really feel excited about working in the industry every time I attend a Q&A or start working on a new assignment.

My Mentor Was Amazing

My mentor was an amazing teacher. She discussed everything and anything anyone ever wanted to know. The course had a good balance of poses and actual animations and I loved the physicality assignment!

I Love the AM Community

I love the AM community! Other students are always very helpful with feedback and my mentor gives very detailed and helpful critiques. The support team has also been very accommodating and awesome.

Proud of What I Created

I’ve seen such a drastic improvement in my work in just a few months. This course started with a walk cycle that really helped me understand all the nuances of movement in animation. As each new project went by, I found myself seeing a lot more small details and by the end I was proud of what I had created.

Everyone Helps You Succeed

The best part about Animation Mentor is that everyone here is helping you succeed. The mentors, peers, and alumni are all very helpful and positive. Because of that, I feel like I continually keep growing into a better animator.

Be Patient with the Learning Process

My mentor has been amazing. This semester was challenging and the learning has come with lots of hard work. He was always there to remind us to be patient with ourselves, and the learning process.