how to draw a transformation

sargumphigaus · Post by **sargumphigaus** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:21 am

Okay, so i'm attempting to animate a creature mutate into something terrifying, but after hours upon hours of attempting to try and make it look fluid and convincing, I'm met with only utter failure and frustration.

This is basically the jist of it. The characters body begins to bloat out to at least a quarter of the size it started out as from there I can innitiate the transformation...or at least i think i can. The bloating i'm attempting to do is as if the characters skin (Fur actually) was too tight to contain the blob monster that's hiding inside the character.

I know it's a really wierd request, but I figured I'd try anyways. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm about to swallow my pride and scrap the whole idea, which is depressing because I've placed over twelve hours of spare time into experimentation with trying to get it right.

sargumphigaus · Post by **sargumphigaus** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:22 am

oh and, I've been trying it via switch layer style frame by frame, if that helps.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:34 am

It always helps to imagine how this would have been done the old way, in live action. There would have been an actor in an inflatable upper body suit, there would have been a monster which would step in.

Have the man and the monster in separate groups. In the man's group create a mask with lots of points, you'll need it later. Bloat the man's body with point animation - this is easy. Then animate the mask so it creates "cracks" in the torso. The monster should be visible through these. Do a switch or a fast transition and you're basically done.

It helpüs to plan this out roughly to have a reference for the timing: the faster the better.