Animate a Sneeze With "Monty"

Animate a sneeze with Monty

In this beginner animation tutorial, we show how to animate a sneeze with Monty, the green pea.

A sneeze is an explosion of air, so we want a big anticipation, and then a big sneeze. 

For extra points, attach a hat to Monty's head, and animate it flying up in the air, spinning and landing again (you will need the Parentmaster plugin for this).

Thumbnails

Timing a sneeze with Monty

Start with the thumbnail sketches on the right hand side, sketching out the key poses and the rough timing for the shot.  

Animators should always thumbnail their work - here is why.  In this shot there are three basic poses: a start pose, an end pose, and a middle pose.

Work Method

Frame 1 - pose Monty in the start position

Frame 3 - a slight anticipation, take Monty down a little

Frame 23 - key pose, lift Monty up and close his eyes - anticipation

Frame 26 - Ahchoo! Monty down, in the squash position

Frame 30 - Monty up again in the stretch position

Frame 35 - Monty down again

Frame 59 - Ease into final pose

Monty Sneeze

Free "Monty" Rig

We will use the free "Monty" rig, a green pea with legs, which you can read about here, and download for free from Highend3d.com. 

Sneeze Audio

Download a sneeze wav file (Maya works best with wav files) from the web. I used "Young Woman Sneeze" from this page here, but you can use any sneeze you like. 

Monty Sneeze Tutorial

You can find the Monty Sneeze tutorial below. As with all our videos, they are password-protected. If you're one of our currently enrolled students (or recent Escapees) just email us for the password at alex.williams@escapestudios.com

Sneeze Part 1: https://vimeo.com/video/1016775510

Sneeze Part 2: https://vimeo.com/video/1016775597

Sneeze Part 3: https://vimeo.com/video/1016775665

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