A famous animator's suggestion about blinking

Mike Caputo:
It is important to point out that the way of blinking in real life is not the same as that of actors and animators. Here ed Hooks to interject, but in real life we blink because we need to. The actors blink to achieve dramatic (or comedic) effects. In a word, your character will blink only when it helps to convey the action of the plot.
The idea of whether to use synchronous or asynchronous blink of an eye depends entirely on the animator, the director, and the current story point. I laugh that some people are sending messages around looking for the "law" of such things. For me, a simple character should do anything that fits the character, anything that fits the animation style, anything that conveys emotion, plot or story points, doesn't it?

Avernir Sniatkov
I see some interesting theories about winking, in a book about film clips called "in the Blink of the Eye." I believe the main idea is this: we blink because we need to get our eyes wet. The frequency of the blink depends largely on the speed at which the eye becomes dry, depending on a number of factors, such as air humidity, wind speed, personal psychological status, and so on. The choice of the blink of an eye is subconscious. But it is better to not interrupt the eye to perceive valuable visual information. That is, we look in one direction for a period of time and get "enough" information, we blink and transfer points of interest. After analysis, sometimes in the process of thinking, we blink to separate a thought from the other.

Marion Gothier
I agree, there is no rule, but in some places the blink is better:
1. When a thought process was completed, or a decision was made I heard a film editor say that he likes to make cuts in the blink of an eye, because blink is the signal of the end of the character's mind.
2. In the middle of the head rotation process.
3. As long as the eye is quick to move the time to try each one, do not blink of the quick remonstrance upward look, it is really difficult. Time Mastery: Experiment. Eyelids can be opened from one frame to the next, and the faster they open and close, the more alert the characters appear to be.
In the blink of an eye: Pixar's animators usually shift their eyes from one frame to the next, I suppose, to make the blink look less stiff? It's a very different style, sometimes it makes the blink more noticeable, but it's a favorite type.

John Siciliano
I like to use the blink of an eye as part of the preparatory action for the head rotation. For example, a character can rotate his head to see another direction or change the focus of sight. Another place I like to blink occasionally is when I say "P" in sync, I don't know why, but if I'm synchronizing my lips and I feel like my character needs to blink to be vivid, I'll add it there. For some reason, I noticed myself winking at the mirror when I was reading the dialogue in front of me, or trying to blink when I was in that particular pronunciation. Try saying "Peter Piper thug" and you'll see what I mean.
Think about it.

Shawn Kelly
Everyone said well, I would like to add two words. For me, I usually blink in these places:
1. behavior or emotional need. (Nervous, shy, sad, more blinking.) Angry, interested, curious, boring, less blinking.
2. As people have said, in order for your brain to handle fast-moving visual information, we blink. So it's better to blink in a quick head rotation or to change the focus of the eye. If you listen to one person and then turn to another, you usually blink when you change your focus.
3. I think this is very interesting. Someone told me a book (sorry for the title), and a film editor discussed how he edited the film. Basically, he makes a cut in the blink of an actor's eye or where the viewer's natural "feel" should blink. His whole theory is that when we are sober, our brains are watching movies, and our eyes are editors, and our eyes are "splicing scenes".
That's why we blink when we think about process switching and eye direction changes, and so on. Anyway, this is his theory.

As for how to animate the blink, here are some of the experience from the animators here, I used many times:
The blink of an eye, but the actual closing of the eyes still occurs in the same frame. This is both a vivid offset and does not make the eyelids look cartoon (but it's cool, of course) that Pixar often uses.
Basically, it's like this:
The 10th frame has both eyes open.
11th frame The left eye begins to close.
12th Frame The right eye begins to close.
The 13th frame two is completely closed.
14th frame left eye completely open.
15th Frame right eye completely open.

No matter how it is, it is obviously not difficult. But these things are said to be good for me, it looks real. You'll also notice a little bit of speed in the frame count, which is normal for the blink of an eye. If you turn around and slowly close and open, you will get the effect that this person is tired but has a strong early beating spirit. If you slow down, you'll let the character look at the clip or cry like a stick. The person who grinds or under W sleeps. And fast in and out I see a bit frantic.

Carlos Baena

I don't have much to add ... Everyone is too strong. I think the eye is one of the most important things in any character except body language. Blink ... I think the part about the eye/blink/eyelid in the "Llusion of Life" is really the words of wisdom. There's really some interesting information in it, which is the blinking part they're talking about:
"In the blink of an eye, the eyelids should have a thick feeling." There is only one slow out intermediate frame between each limit position, the blink of an intermediate frame should be smooth animation, neither change the angle nor quiver. A wink of suspicion, confusion, or amazement usually with a little squint. Blinking is a powerful tool for lightening the vibrations that go into keeping the picture. A simple addition of blinking in a position can give the character a fresh feel. ”

The other thing I'm going to do is prepare one or two frames for the blink of an eye. It's not very significant, but I really think it's different when you have a close-up. When our eyes are fast-skimming, the pupil will. The hips are hidden ... I also noticed that there was a wink. Eyelid is not in the same way open and close, we sometimes slow into slow out ... I noticed that we would keep more than one frame in the blink of an eye. Depending on the role of the thread state you can adjust the blink time of the eyelid. Let a character close the eyes three frames and 10 frames are different concepts. It tells you the character's heart ... Or it's personality. Also, repeated blink of an eye can tell the audience the role of the thread state ... I think. I'm not sure if my writing is meaningful. But for example, I remember a scene in the movie "Thegreen Mile" where Tom Hanks and David Morse talked to him in Michael Jeter's room. There was a moment when, as I was thinking about the subject of their conversation, Tom Hanks seemed to be very mad at the blink of an instrument, and I found it worthwhile to learn. Some actors are really good at acting in the eyes and it's worth learning. Jack Lemmon is a good learning reference, especially in "Glenngarry Glen Ross" or "the apartment".

Ted Young.

When we unconsciously blink, it is because our eyes are dry. But the frequency with which we blink depends on our emotional state. The more consciously we focus on "seeing" something, the easier it is for us to blink. So snipers watch his enemies and girls daydream about her fairy kingdom, blinking more often than a person sits in a boring office meeting in the middle of the room, and a fan rarely blinks when playing his favorite video game.

So even these unconscious winks depend on the state of character or character. As a primary rule, I would say that a sitting person blinks every two seconds. But I also want to say that an animated character wink is often not fixed. Unless your character is as real as a photo, the best way to apply the unconscious blink is when the character is not doing too many things actively. It adds some energy, but even so it just adds one or two winks. Anyway, hopefully it will help.

Chris Bailey

I usually blink when an action starts and ends, and when the eye turns. Don't make it a good idea to have no blinking for too long (3-4 seconds). Or your character to do a target view that is not fixed. You can also mix in a half wink and blink two times to create an informal look. I've heard that some local politicians have been trained to blink a certain number of times per minute (not to be sure), because too few times they look dizzy (Steve Forbes) and too many times too winter to gauge they are nervous and unsure about themselves.

Tim Hatcher

I like to avoid the blink of the right and the same as the left. I would use subtle, almost imperceptible differences to help me avoid perfect symmetry. This makes the blink look more natural and less blunt. For example, the middle frame (in closed and open frames) can make the eyelids of the left eye slightly higher than the right one.