I did this because I want there to be a bit more freedom of movement in my animation than a basic 2D anime studio rig will allow. I am aware however, having chosen to create an animation largely about antlers, that I have some fairly complex shapes to rotate frame by frame in a third dimension.
To serve as a guide for this rotation I created a basic 3D model in SketchUp, just something to identify mass, based on an existing image of the 2D anime studio rig that I had previously made for a walk test of the character.
Once the 3D model was built, I made a quicktime of it rotating and essentially just rotoscoped that footage using a style that may be something more like the finished article that I'm looking for.
Although I probably won't be using this 3D model, rotoscoping technique for the final animation, this exercise can be used as reference when I do come to animate something like a head turn for example.
