Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In this video, I dive into the archives to find one of my first student animations from Animation Mentor. Looking back with years of experience at studios like Blizzard and Archetype Entertainment, I break down the "C+" grade mistakes I made and show you the professional workflow to fix them.
We’ll cover why "brute-forcing" keyframes on every frame leads to jittery motion, how to simplify overacted beats, and the technical side of cleaning up arcs in Maya. Whether you are a student or a working pro, these cleanup techniques will help you work faster and produce smoother animation.
What you’ll learn:
The Blocking vs. Spline Trap: Why a good blocking pass can fall apart during the polish phase.
Cleaning Up Jitter: How deleting 80% of your keyframes can actually make your animation look better.
Pantomime Acting: Reworking a scene to make the character's actions and accidents clear to the audience.
Technical Workflow: Using world space vs. local space to save hours of counter-animating [51:34].
[00:06] - Introduction and reviewing old student work.
[01:17] - The original "Domino" concept and reference.
[05:32] - Refining the blocking and adding "Blocking Plus" poses.
[07:08] - Analyzing the original 19-year-old video reference.
[14:15] - The mistake of "brute-forcing" animation on ones.
[17:44] - Identifying issues with body involvement and weight.
[20:16] - Starting the Maya cleanup: Deleting unnecessary keys.
[25:22] - Comparing the "Handmade" vs. "Simplified" motion.
[34:47] - Reworking the acting beat for better clarity.
[51:34] - Pro Tip: Switching arms to World Space for easier cleanup.
[56:10] - Final thoughts on keeping it simple.
In this video, I dive into the archives to find one of my first student animations from Animation Mentor. Looking back with years of experience at studios like Blizzard and Archetype Entertainment, I break down the "C+" grade mistakes I made and show you the professional workflow to fix them.
We’ll cover why "brute-forcing" keyframes on every frame leads to jittery motion, how to simplify overacted beats, and the technical side of cleaning up arcs in Maya. Whether you are a student or a working pro, these cleanup techniques will help you work faster and produce smoother animation.
What you’ll learn:
The Blocking vs. Spline Trap: Why a good blocking pass can fall apart during the polish phase.
Cleaning Up Jitter: How deleting 80% of your keyframes can actually make your animation look better.
Pantomime Acting: Reworking a scene to make the character's actions and accidents clear to the audience.
Technical Workflow: Using world space vs. local space to save hours of counter-animating [51:34].
[00:06] - Introduction and reviewing old student work.
[01:17] - The original "Domino" concept and reference.
[05:32] - Refining the blocking and adding "Blocking Plus" poses.
[07:08] - Analyzing the original 19-year-old video reference.
[14:15] - The mistake of "brute-forcing" animation on ones.
[17:44] - Identifying issues with body involvement and weight.
[20:16] - Starting the Maya cleanup: Deleting unnecessary keys.
[25:22] - Comparing the "Handmade" vs. "Simplified" motion.
[34:47] - Reworking the acting beat for better clarity.
[51:34] - Pro Tip: Switching arms to World Space for easier cleanup.
[56:10] - Final thoughts on keeping it simple.
