Hey guys,
I was looking around the web, and I found two DVDs for learning animation, in A:M. The Anzovin: Animate! DVDs and Jeff Lew's DVD. I was wondering which one you guys would recommend.

I have both sets and I'd give the Cristin's CD's a slight nod over Jeff Lew's DVD although if you can afford both and/or are looking to learn everything you can - get both! Jeff's DVD presentation is better, than Cristin's screen captures, but he tends to "dink" around with the animation a bit more (perhaps giving more insight into what he's thinking for some - but for others this will prove somewhat tedious), in contrast, Cristin tends to shortcut from initial work to her final work. Cristin's CDs are with a newer version of A:M, while Jeff's are a little dated, but this doesn't invalidate any of the principles he's teaching. One factor also might be the type of animation you want to learn about - Jeff's better for fighting and action, whereas Cristin teaches more subtle acting points. Cristin's geared towards shortcutting some of what you'd accomplish by buying and reading the "Top 10" animation texts, whereas Jeff, is teaching slightly more from an industry perspective. Jeff is the more experienced animator of the two, FYI. Before I studied both of these video classes, I was thinking (wrongly) that animation should ideally mirror real life (where possible), now after both of these classes, I have learned that exaggeration and entertaining movement is at the "heart of the art"!

Hello:

I own BOTH sets. the Jeff Lew DVD AND the ANIMATE! CD set so I can comment on both.

Both CDs are excellent for teaching you the basics of Animation. Jeff Lews' DVD is only 1 disc ($49.95 US at time of this writing). and I feel I was rushed when he explained how to animate. When Jeff was making his Animation DVD he was focused on creating the disc to be a multi-application (Training DVD that teaches basic animation principles and was geared to multi-application level. IE: you can use A:M, Maya, Lightwave, etc). Jeff DID use A:M to show his principles though.

Anzovins' ANIMATE! series are 3 fully packed discs ($80 US at time of this writing). With 3 Discs there is LOTS more room for Animation Tips and Tricks. The series coveres each basic principle of Animation in MORE detail of each principle of Animation.

An example "excerpt" from both (excerpt paraphrased): Jeff Lew DVD talks about the Graph editor and how powerful it is, and how you should LOVE it. Anzovins CD SHOWS you about animating in the graph editor, creating keys in various ways, cleaning up messy control points in the Graph Editor, tweaking curves and how a curve reacts with the animation.

Jeff Lews' Disc has a section where he tweaks an animation and you can see EXACTLY how he animates, but Anzovin offeres a video that covers the basic pre-planning stages, Things to consider before animating, and a sample of Cristin (the creators) Live-Acting a scene she later animates and like Jeff Lews' animation portion, she quickly covers how to animate the live-acting. Even though Jeff covers the animation process in more detail, Cristin teaches you WHY you move the character as you do and she QUICKLY animates the character with less comprehensive step-by-step animating. If you pay attention to the instructions she shares you will understand how she gets from start to finish with little problems at all.

Personally if I were to start over and pick EITHER Jeff Lews DVD or Anzovins CD Set I would stick with Anzovins set (even though it is only $30 more. but it covers 2 or 3 times more information).

Pay the extra $30 and go for ANZOVINS ANIMATE! CD series and you will get a more comprehensive training from it, and I am sure that you will not regret the purchase!

Anyways, Hope this helps you along your journey through the complex learning curve of Animation-in-Motion.


-Larry B

One last note: Jeff Lew produced a DVD and Anzovins ANIMATE! Series is a CD with the sample files, Quicktime MOV videos, etc..