Eric Goldberg Created a "Disney Legend"

Animation legend Eric Goldberg has been officially created a "Disney Legend" by the Walt Disney Company.

Becoming a Disney Legend means receiving the highest honor that The Walt Disney Company can give to an individual.

The award started in 1987. It celebrates people who have made a significant and lasting impact on the history and legacy of Disney animation. 

I worked under Eric's direction both on the feature film Pocahontas and later on the cartoony "Looney Tunes - Back in Action", animated in the snappy Warner Bros style.  

Comic Timing

Eric taught me a huge amount about comic timing - and especially about "smear" drawings; he showed me how much you can get away with by tightening up the timing of your animation.

"Smear frame" tutorial with "Willy"

Smear Frame Tutorial

Last year I created a "Smear Frame" tutorial - largely based on what I learned from Eric. 

"Smear Frames" simulate motion blur in super-snappy animation, in the style of the old Tex Avery or Chuck Jones cartoons.

But how do you do a Smear Frame in 3D animation, using Maya character rigs? Watch our free tutorial to find out.

Eric Goldberg - Master of the Smear Frame

The master of the smear drawing is animation legend Eric Goldberg - who boarded and animated the "You'll never Have a Friend Like Me" sequence from Disney's Aladdin. a masterclass in cartoony animation. 

Looney Tunes

I worked under Eric's direction both on Pocahontas and on the cartoony "Looney Tunes - Back in Action", animated in the super-snappy Warner Bros style.  Eric taught me a lot about comic timing and smear drawings; he showed me how much you can get away with by tightening up the timing of your animation.

Smear Drawings in 3D Animation
But how do you do a smear frame in 3D? In the short tutorial below I show to to create some simple primitive objects to create super fast smear frame animation.

Smear Frame Tutorial in Maya

You can find the "smear frame" tutorial at our Vimeo and Panopto Tutorial channel here.

Work Method

Follow the steps below to create a two frame "smear frame" in Maya. 

1. Start by animating a character leaving the scene in a hurry. In this case we're using the cartoony "Willy" rig (if you can't find a copy, email it's in UG Shares). The animation for this is in a separate tutorial.
2. Get Willy into a nice anticipation pose (top right) so we know he's about to exit stage right.
3. Remove Willy from the shot 
4. Create/Polygon Primitives/Cylinder. Create two cylinders, and shape them into a turquoise smear - like the middle image on the right
5. Then one frame later, create a new Polygon Cylinder, and shape it into the bottom turquoise smear on the right. 
6. One frame later, have a blank screen. Willy's gone. 
7. That's it!

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