What is Animation Sherpa?
Animation Sherpa is vocational training created by Annie Award and D.I.C.E. Award nominated animator, Richard Lico.
Space Switching is the first available course covering Richard's unique personal workflow which he used to animate Moss, as well as his contributions towards Destiny, Halo and many other games.
Annies 46: Richard Lico representing "Moss" - Photo by David Yeh
What is Space Switching and what will I learn?
Gain access to 30+ pre-recorded, streaming lectures that will change the way you animate! Information you can't find anywhere else!
You'll learn how to speed up the animation creation process by simplifying your animation rig:
- Never counter animate again!
- Control rotation using a visual motion path.
- Make your animation curves much easier to understand.
- Create your own pivot points anywhere.
- Animate tails, ropes, or any chain of bones in minutes.
- Learn how to add missing rig features on top of any rig.
- Manipulate space and time to create overlapping action for free.
You'll improve your quality:
- Create visualization for the center of mass and use the center of mass in your animation!
- Learn how to put your rig into the proper space for easy feedback iteration.
- Easily add animation detail and nuance to your performances using anatomy and physics.
- Learn how to create more organic looking animation.
You'll learn how to generate animation using existing motion in your scene:
- Learn how to automate some of the animation process!
- How to automate secondary motion.
- Create automation for physical detail and overlapping action.
- Learn automation principals you can use to build entire movement sets and dynamic motion capture.
You'll learn how to write your own workflow scripts and gain access to many of Richard's personal workflow scripts:
- Learn how to script using the steps you take when animating!
- Gain access to Richard's scripts which include helpful comments for easy breakdown.
- Build a set of useful workflow buttons or hotkeys you can rely on regardless of the animation rig.
How will I benefit from learning Space Switching?
By the end of the course, you should expect:
- Regardless of your industry be it games, film, VFX, etc... You'll improve your animation quality and speed using a bevy of new concepts you can add to your existing workflow. Results that will bolster your career!
- You'll benefit from information you cannot find anywhere else, from the source. Your fellow animators may ask "How'd you do that?"
- A deeper understanding of technical concepts that work with any animation rig, which will allow you to better problem solve.
- Seeing animation in a new way that makes the process subjectively more fun!
- Lifetime access* means that this info will be available for you in the future. A resource you can come back to.
Is Space Switching right for me?
Space Switching is focused on 3D animation workflow training via pre-recorded lectures.
This course may not be right for you if:
- You're brand new to animation and want to learn the basics. One (1) year or more of experience using an animation package is ideal.
- You're looking for 1-on-1 mentorship or live classes. We keep costs lower than other online animation training sites by removing the live component.
- You're looking for game engine training. Though Richard works in the games industry using Unreal, this is not a course about Unreal or Unity engine use.
- You're a 2D animator looking to improve your process.
- You're looking for information on the principals of animation. This will be the topic of future courses.
- Your looking for a course on rigging. Though Richard does teach some basic scripting, this is an animation workflow course, focused on animators, that will not teach you how to rig a character.
Does this Richard guy know what he's talking about?
Online training is only as good as the instructor(s). The best way to determine the value of online education is to judge the results of the person providing the education. Judge for yourself:
Click Image to see Richard's Animation
Two-time Annie Award nominated, and DICE Award nominated Director, Animator and Game Developer.
20 Years of experience directing & animating over 12 shipped titles. From Halo: Reach, to Destiny 2, to Moss. If you've played games recently, you've likely encountered his work. His core strength lies in his ability to mix emotionally resonant characters with fluid gameplay.
Richard helped create two of gaming's most influential IP's, Moss and Destiny. As the original animator for both franchises, it was Richard who defined the animation style, animation tone, animation tech and characters. He has a proven track record for creating new worlds and filling them with fluid, appealing, interactive life.
Richard's signature animation style is well known. His unique animation workflow concepts and approach to character direction have been subjects of his highly rated lectures at venues such as the Game Developers Conference, Siggraph, Montreal International Game Summit, and more. This workflow is also the subject of his online school, Animation Sherpa.
Richard is an experienced leader with a proven track record of mentoring others. Many of his former students and co-workers have become key talent and leadership within the gaming industry.
Join Me In The Space Switching Revolution!
Just $349 for information you can't find anywhere else!
To learn more about Moss and how we were able to make it using this workflow, check out this PlayStation Lifestyle interview.
The free Baqir Rig is a simple animation rig for Maya and Blender. It’s provided via a standard NonCommercial License free of charge to accompany the curriculum at Animation Sherpa, for animation education and non-commercial personal use purposes.
The Baqir character model was created by Leo Ogawa Lillrank. The Maya rig was created by Richard Lico. The Blender rig was created by Pierrick Picaut. Its basic structure allows for users to follow along with the class structure and build their own space switching tools.
DISCLAIMER : The Space Switching course is not in Blender. The course is 100% in Maya. Blender rig is provided to support people that would like to take this class and apply the concepts to Blender.
Animation Sherpa does not offer Blender support or Q&A.
* Lifetime access = the lifetime of the "Space Switching" course. Upon closure of the course, access to materials will no longer be available. The duration of the course is indefinite.