Harvey Newman

I’m Harvey, animation director, consultant, YouTuber & founder of Proxima Studio with 20+ yrs in Game Dev. Passionate about empowering devs to reach new heights. Links: 🌐 www.harveynewman.com 📹 youtube.com/@harveynewman 🎓 learn.harveynewman.com Ask me about animation or game dev, anytime!

The new Anim.Works is here. I think the identity is kind of cool, so the changes are small: a smaller logo, a much clearer banner showing what’s next, and FrameSide beta pinned for anyone who wants to test it. Full video: https://youtu.be/ouzTOwQ8QLI #animation #gamedev

Where have all the animation jobs gone? Staff roles have been dwindling, but I don’t think the work has disappeared. It’s shifted, and where it’s shifted to kind of changes how you should think about applying. Full video: https://youtu.be/ZpjEMj0bFGM #gamedev #animation #gamejobs

15 minutes until the premiere. No suit. No markers. No stage. A phone against a plain wall, taken all the way into gameplay in Unreal 5.8. Alex Moon shows every click. I give the honest verdict, including the one thing it cannot do. Sponsored by Epic Games. https://youtu.be/uUxmMBTtnKM

Keyframe is now FrameSide. My fault, I think. My friend Chris Zurbrigg already makes a brilliant tool called Keyframe, so we renamed ours to keep things distinct. His is software based, ours is browser based. Full video: https://youtu.be/ouzTOwQ8QLI #FrameSide #Animation #GameDev

Deep dive on Unreal markerless motion capture tomorrow, a collab with Alex Moon and sponsored by Epic Games. We spent a few weeks on this one and it came out pretty sick. Join us for the premiere, 4PM UK / 11AM EDT / 8AM PDT https://youtu.be/uUxmMBTtnKM

No paid credits yet? Your job is to produce proof. As an entry-level animator or designer, show studios you’re ready to start tomorrow. Make at least three pieces that look like the job you want, at the level of the studio you’re aiming for, and keep going until they can see it. https://youtu.be/Z

Summer has been kind of quiet for new rigs and plugins on Anim.Works. If you’ve got something high quality and production ready, I’d love to see it. There’s a submission form at the top right of the website. Full video: https://youtu.be/ouzTOwQ8QLI #animation #gamedev

The games industry jobs are still out there, they’ve just shifted into a new kind of dynamic. I see it every day through Rekindled and my contacts. I made a PDF with the steps from my video. It won’t fix everything, but hopefully it gives you a boost. Experienced or not, good luck.

Adobe got sued by the FTC for making it incredibly hard to cancel a subscription, and they’re not the only ones. People are cancelling more and more, so companies keep putting barriers in the way. I just cancelled all my Adobe subs, and I think subscription fatigue is the real story. #Adobe

FrameSide now reviews 3D animation in 3D. Orbit raw mocap, play, pause, draw over it and drop comments live, exactly like video reviews. We kept saying wouldn’t it be awesome, so we built it. New update from Anim.Works #FrameSide #Animation #Mocap #GameDev

In 2019 I made a video about the reality of being an animator. I made it because I was frustrated with my job. It's still the most watched video on my channel. I've just gone back through all six things I said in it. Four still hold. Two are gone. youtu.be/E24Kz-ONxuc

In 2019 I made a video called "The Reality of Being an Animator" and it's still the most watched video in the channel. In 30 minutes I will release an updated version for 2026 to see how much things changed and what the reality is in comparison. www.youtube.com/@harveynewman

FrameSide now supports 3D assets. Drop in a model, rotate it, and draw notes straight onto it. Each note is saved with the exact angle you drew it from, so you can keep rotating and annotating. Handy for riggers, modellers and animators, I think. #animation #gamedev #FrameSide

The first two comments on our Keyframe video were both “I’m not paying for a subscription.” When a small team builds something different for the community, it’s deflating. I think there’s a better way: I see where you’re going, here’s my support. #gamedev #indiedev

Blender is top notch now, even Oscar-winning shorts are made in it. But the numbers don’t match the accolades. 2 to 4 million monthly users, only about 10,200 donate. In a room of 200 users, one of them pays anything. Kind of wild when you think about it. #Blender #Animation

The Anim.Works dashboard has had a proper rework. Click your name and you’ll find your membership card, mentor sessions, courses, orders and licences in one place. I think it’s much clearer than before. What would you like to see added next? anim.works #animation #gamedev #animworks

Every rig on Anim.Works now has a live 3D preview in your browser. Not a video. Rotate it, zoom in, drag it around and look at it from every angle, then add to cart if you like it. What would you check first on a rig? https://anim.works/product-category/animation-rigs/ #animation #rigging

Rockstar steers you with a head turn. Pass a door edge and your character looks to the side, a design cue towards a point of interest rather than player input. You can ignore it, but most people follow. I think this is where those 600,000 animations went. #GameAnimation #RockstarGames

This bag pickup is a really clever bit of animation. Upper body only, a snap point as the hand vanishes, then physics and a blend back into the walk. I think it's the small details like this that make a game feel alive. Major kudos to Rockstar. #GameAnimation #GameDev

Plugin pages on Anim.Works got a big upgrade. You now see a live video instead of a thumbnail, so you get a feel for what a plugin does before you install it. There's also an install guide, compatibility info, an FAQ and reviews. #animation #maya #gamedev

That famous backflip isn't janky by accident. I think the engine is guessing your jump direction and trick before takeoff, then flips into a swim state in the water so quickly there's no time to blend. Kind of fascinating when you look at it as an animator. #gamedev #animation

The X-sheet is back, and this time it can't break your animation. Vertical timesheet as a nod to the old 2D animators. Pick a range, retime it, play the whole shot retimed, then flip back to your original timing. It's just a layer on top, so nothing gets destroyed. #animation #gameanimation #Frame

I've never been as scared in my life as when I decided to go independent after 20 years in AAA. The biggest fear is not the money. It is putting all your eggs in one basket. Now I do more than one thing on purpose. Tim Harford calls it slow motion multitasking. Video is up.

Animation isn't dying, I don't think that's the real story here. Mario Galaxy hit a billion, Hoppers had Pixar's biggest original opening since Coco, Toy Story 5 is close behind. The issue is new ideas don't get the marketing push sequels do. Not an AI problem. #Animation #Pixar #FilmIndustry

I think what's happening to games right now is about to happen to film. Smaller teams making better, more creative movies, much faster, and it's already starting. Backrooms and Obsession prove it, more creative than most of Hollywood's last five years. #Filmmaking #Hollywood #IndieFilm #Animation

Nate's going through the Nubian rig on Anim.Works and found a spring control on the hair chains, a float from zero to one giving you dynamics for free. Push it to one though and it goes floppy. Same trick lives on the armor too, loads of detail for little effort. #rigging #maya #mgear #animation

Pete Docter, Pixar's chief creative officer and a genuinely brilliant animation director, just said the world still sees animation as kids' stuff because 90% of what the industry makes is goofy babysitter material, his words. I think he's right, and it's on us to change it. #Animation #Pixar

Nate Thomas is reviewing Nubian's rig and tools on the Anim.Works. What you see is his honest reaction, the springs, the dynamics, the picker, the weapons, all of it. Exactly what you'd get picking it up from Anim.Works for £5. #Rigging #Animation #GameDev #CharacterAnimation #AnimWorks

Rockstar art directed 600,000 animations for GTA 6. Not generated. Not procedural. Directed by a team, one at a time. I put the Extended Look through dailies and went frame by frame. The backflip everyone is arguing about is the least interesting thing in it. https://youtu.be/Q2CkklkFJ2U

You can't feel a movement by watching someone else do it, right. Diana Donado on why real animators still stand up and act it out themselves, anatomy and all, instead of just copying YouTube reference. Book a session with her on Anim.Works ➡️ https://anim.works/mentor/diana-donado/ #Animation #Ga

Rockstar says GTA 6 has over 600,000 animations, and a team art directed every single one. Not generated. Not procedural. Directed. Premiering shortly: I put the Extended Look through dailies, frame by frame. Join me https://youtu.be/Q2CkklkFJ2U

Sony's shareholders don't care about your shelf of physical games, they care about PlayStation sales. Digital winning over physical is just shareholder logic in a boardroom, first party titles exist to sell consoles, not out of sentiment for discs. #Sony #PlayStation #GamesIndustry #GameDev

The most complex rig I've ever put my name to just went live. Nubian started as a custom model and rig for my Motion Capture for Games course, and after enough of you asked where to get it, Emilio Serrano and I built it out properly. Full controls, automatic lighting, just £5 on Anim.Works.

Studios kept asking us for licensing paperwork, so we built them a home for it. New business page on Anim.Works with terms of service and multi license info for rigs, plugins and courses. Have a read and get in touch if your studio's interested. Join us on Anim.Works #AnimWorks #GameDev #Animation

CDPR just gave The Witcher 3 a free next gen overhaul, new combat, new animations, a full visual refresh, and handed it to everyone who already owns the game. I'm replaying it this week. This is how you build loyalty. #Witcher3 #CDPR #GameDev #GamingNews

Sony's silence on axing PS5 discs keeps widening the gap with players. CDPR took the opposite path after Cyberpunk went wrong, they got in front of the camera, admitted the mess, and spent years fixing it. Now players trust them more for it. #Sony #CDPR #Cyberpunk2077

If you've got no paid credits yet, your job isn't to show potential. It's to show proof. Three finished pieces that look like the job you want beat twenty unfinished ones every time. More in the full video, with a free PDF by level: https://youtu.be/ZpjEMj0bFGM

New video is out. The work hasn't disappeared. Studios still want the shots, they just don't want to hire the staff to do them. Where it went, how to get it, split by level, plus a free PDF you can print: https://youtu.be/ZpjEMj0bFGM

Premiering in 20 minutes. Last year we lost about 9,000 games jobs. This year we hit that number by August. And yet there's never been more co-dev and freelance work floating around. Both are true at the same time. I'll explain why, and there's a free PDF. Join me in chat: https://youtu.be/ZpjEMj0bF

"Not that bit, the OTHER bit" over a screen share, every animator knows this pain. FrameSide presenter mode fixes it. Share the link as owner, hit present to take over their screen, draw live on a frame, and they can hold Option to point back. Both people finally on the same page. #Keyframe

You can draw straight onto your reviews in Keyframe now. Blank canvas, any colour, proper brush and thickness control, layers if you need. Every board saves into your project. Upload an image, point arrows at exactly what you mean, done. Built by Anim.Works. #Keyframe #AnimWorks #Animation #GameDev

Anim.Works Keyframe is free for the next month or two. I want animators and reviewers actually in it while it's still being shaped. Draw on shots, onion skin, compare versions, live review sessions, image sequences to video, PDF export of comments. Just needs an Anim.Works account to join the beta.

This is where it all started. Saw a LiDAR camera built for mocap and my non technical brain went, well that has to work, doesn't it. Self driving cars use LiDAR to read the world at incredible speed, so why not motion capture too. Met the MOVIN team, proper lovely people. #Mocap #LiDAR

This one's free. Ila is a character rig from Noah Lee, full of personality with a distinct Indian look that sets her apart from most rigs out there. Noah's an experienced technical animator with a couple of rigs already live on Anim.Works. Worth checking out. #Animation #CharacterRig #AnimWorks

New video is out. I cancelled all my Adobe subscriptions last month and it took me over a month to get out of one. Then I looked at Blender's numbers and realised the small players are the ones paying for our subscription fatigue: https://youtu.be/RbozswKeJTo