A note on rigging
Rigging is crucial to create animation effects where the character is not anchored firmly on to the ground, or onto another surface. If you want your character, or props, to fly, jump, float or fall, you’ll have to rig it – that is, you’ll have to fix it in some way to stay in place.
Rigging can use anything from fine invisible thread or fishing wire to flexible aluminium wire to specially made rigid armatures to hold a character in place.
I really like fishing wire, as it’s practically invisible, so doesn’t show up in shot. The disadvantage is that it can be difficult to control, and you really need to focus on the mounting framework you use to hold your thread.
Other students on the 3-Month Course in Bristol preferred to use heavier rigs of aluminium wire. These tend to be more stable when you animate, but need a lot of work in post-production (in this case, PhotoShop) to remove them from the shot.
