Animated penguin

[David Bogie]

Animation of characters is both science and art. After Effects would be where you bring the pieces together and handle the mechanics. It’s not where you do the character development. There are dozens of excellent books on how to do animation. Once you decide on a technique you can actually use, then we can talk about how you’d do it in AE.

There are probably forty, maybe as many as sixty different ways to make an inanimate object appear to be alive and they can all be combined. Which ones you use depend on the stylization of your project. Scans, still photos, drawings, stock footage. What frame rate? Do you need super realism, photo realism, realism, naturalism, or abstraction?

You can easily google animation and visit tens of thousands of interesting sites where beginning filmmakers have posted their techniques and adivce.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Steve Roberts]

Here’s a general site: https://www.awn.com/

[Frank Thomas]

[david bogie] “Do you need super realism, photo realism, realism, naturalism, or abstraction?”

Well, I don’t think realism would be achievable. As far as I know, penguins can’t talk. But then, I’m a little behind when it comes to current trends in animal behavior.

[David Bogie]

It’s a not a trend in animal behavior, these are terms applied to the rendering capabilities of the high end 3d systems; if it can do undulating features, it’s probably super-realistic.
Oh. Wait.
You were being funny. Nevermind

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”