Beginner

Keyframes hold information about where your object is in space in the layout and time on the timeline.

 

The timeline shows you where your Keyframes are in your Animation

 

Allows you to manipulate Keyframes, a very important tool to animate your objects.

Helps you to smooth out your animations.

 

Great tips on what buttons and keyboard shortcuts you use in the graph editor.

 

Shape keys are Important for Animation

Can be used to animate lip sync or make poses

 

NonLinear Animator for animation (just like in softimage) Built into blender

 

Intermediate

It takes a bit to setup your objects, but PolyFord animates his objects using the autokey feature for realtime feedback of his Character. He shows how to smooth the animation in graphs, and also to use proportional editing to massage the graph.   He also uses this technique for the camera.

 

 

How to make a Product video - Derek goes over how to use an audio file in Blender and how to sync up your animation to the music.  He makes an awesome phone commercial.

He shows you how to make a phone, and animate the phone, and some lighting for the shots.  The Product Animation page is here.

 

Drivers allow you to automate animations

 

 How to use the pose library. Wow, helps with animating phenomes  2021, Blender now has a pose Library built in.

 

 

Really informative, PolyFord builds the object, and parents the leg to the body, and uses ik, and then used the noise modifier on the body, and sets constraints.  Great tutorial on animating a simple creature.

 

Advanced

This technique takes a bone, and adds a secondary motion to another bone.  Very good for say making the gun wobble when the mech takes a step, or the head rotate a little.  (Involves graphs, and baking the motions)

Look like this school is good.  Their students show good technique.  Doing little skits like this with Audio from your favorite movie is a great way to practice Animation skills.