#move summit

Following on from yesterday's post, another interesting presentation came from Victor Paredes of Moho. Moho is an animation software that does quite a few interesting things with vector art. Two things really caught my eye; the first was pairing recorded "actions" to control bones, causing really smooth 3d motion for 2d objects. Full on head turning for 2d characters can be pretty challenging, but Victor made it look effortless.

The second was "Line Boil", which reanimated the art applied to vector lines, giving it a really nice, natural, hand-drawn look. There's a certain stiffness associated with vector art, and this completely masked it.

Popped down to Edinburgh for the MOVE Summit, a series of talks on the UK Animation industry. The Thursday portion began with a talk from Christopher McDonald from Framestore, showcasing the technological pre-production (or "Previs") done for movies, with Wicked Part 1 as the example.

They start by using overhead "Blocking Maps" to figure out the space of a scene, where each character is going to stand, position of objects, camera locations, field of view, etc. Then they make CG mockups of characters and locations, using concept art as a base, then animate based on the director's vision. It's sort of like the next step up from storyboards.

This helps them gauge the spacing and stage setup required to pull off practical effects ("Techvis"). For example, the scene where Glinda is sailing to the university, the camera is underwater, showing her hand beneath the water's surface. This means that for the camera to be below her, the actual prop boat needed to be several feet off the ground, something they might not have caught if they just started shooting.

The MOVE Animation Summit 2025 returns with a packed three-day line-up of guests and speakers from the global animation, VFX & CGI sectors

Scotland’s vibrant animation sector is gearing up for the return of its flagship event, the MOVE Animation Summit 2025. This highly anticipated gathering will bring together industry leaders, practitioners, and emerging talent for three days of inspiration, networking, and celebration of animation. Conceived in 2016 by Edinburgh-based animation studios Interference Pattern and Stampede, the MOVE…