Reference Workflow Breakdown

 Over the past week I feel like I've finally cemented a good workflow for reference footage, and I wanted to share that process with you.   

 So, my reference workflow prior involved having a video, either from the internet or recorded myself, and I played that on my second monitor while animating in Blender. I would make some keyframes and poses, but usually there was a fair amount of “winging it” involved. With more complicated motions, predictably you can end up in what I call “no mans' land” very quickly, and I definitely have spent my fair share of time there (usually the only way out of “no-mans' land” is brute force, luck, or a hard reset).   

 Recently, I've decided to get more stringent with my process.   

 Step 1: Obtain reference footage.   

  Since I'm not yet ready for my super-sexy face reveal, we're gonna use something from the internet. Let's take this example of Neo kicking some flunkies from the hit film, Johnny Mnemonic.   

  Step 2: Identify and Extract Key Poses

  Personally I use Premiere, but you could use your video player along with the snipping tool. The key poses are usually going to be the "extremes", the points where the body changes direction.  

If you are using Premiere, the hotkey for frame export is Ctrl+Shift+E. Name them sequentially. 

  Finally, you need a good way to view these images side by side, so you can easily see the changes. For this, I use PureRef ( https://www.pureref.com/ ). 

  Now that you've got your reference set-up (ideally on a second monitor), you can open Blender and make your markers. 

  Step 3: Animate! 

  To start, I just set all the poses next to one another. We can worry about spacing later. Just enjoy the process of getting the poses just right; I also wouldn't worry much about adding "personal flair." Get the poses in first and THEN start adding your flair. Think of animation like modeling; posing like this is the same as starting with a cube. You don't add your subdivisions until later. 

 I'm not gonna give this all the polish it deserves, since I have a Succubus to animate (and very soon a tickled Jill, though I guess there IS one more day left in the poll) but I think you get the idea. You have your basic cube, now animate! 

  I can't overstate the importance of reference. Let me know if you have any questions on here or in my Discord! Always happy to help.

  Take care and stay safe out there!