Discover How to Bring Your 3D Characters to Life with Cinematic Animation Techniques

Join Dartanbeck for Learning Animation, Rendering, and Editing in Daz Studio and DaVinci Resolve.

Date: Sunday July 27th Time: 20:00 BST (London) / 15:00 EDT (New York) / 12:00 PDT (Los Angeles)
45 minutes FREE – followed by an exclusive course members-only 45-minute session.

About This Free Intro Session

If you’ve ever wanted to do more with your DAZ Studio characters than static scenes… this is for you.

Join us for a free, live 45-minute session with Daniel Beck, the creative mind behind some of the most compelling animated sequences in the DAZ Studio ecosystem. In this preview class, you’ll get a taste of what’s possible when you start using cinematic thinking, storytelling principles, and Daniel’s proven workflows—even with just a few seconds of animated content at a time.

The second half of the session will be available exclusively to full course participants, as we kick off the course.

What You'll Learn in the Free 45-Minute Introductory Session

This session includes a sneak peek into Week 1 of the course, Intro to Concepts, including tips to overcome the common challenge of “where do I even start?”

• Watch a brief demo in DaVinci Resolve using the provided assets.
• Learn about the three most common mistakes animators make (and how to avoid them):
• Discover real-world filmmaker techniques to build more cinematic, modular animation workflows.
• Preview essential rendering methods (e.g., layered elements, matte backgrounds, vignette-style setups).
• See examples of short, focused animation that respects attention span and speeds up production.
• Get an overview of the weeks ahead in the course.
• Tour the Course Downloads Pack (Animation Kit) contents.

Why Join the Full Course?

Starting July 27th, 2025 — 8 Weeks Live with Daniel + 2 VIP Bonus Sessions

The full 8-week course goes far beyond button-clicking. It's a journey into cinematic storytelling for DAZ Studio artists who want to animate compelling characters, structure impactful scenes, and build efficient workflows for finishing projects.

Why This Course is Different

Most animation courses teach features.
This one teaches flow.

You’ll not only learn how to animate and render—but how to:

Actually finish your stories—with a sense of satisfaction

• Think like a director, not just a technician
• Use fast, flexible tools like Animate2 and DaVinci Resolve (Free)
• Focus on results by reusing and remixing short action clips
• Build your own animation library to save time and unlock creativity (and we will GIVE you a library to get started quickly)

This is for You If...

• You’ve used DAZ Studio for stills but want to do something more dynamic
• You enjoy storytelling but don’t want to learn Maya or Blender
• You want to create animated promos, trailers, or visual stories—without overwhelm
• You’ve tried animating but got stuck, distracted, or abandoned projects halfway
• You’re motivated by seeing real results, not just theory

What You'll Be Able to Do by the End of the Course

Share your final animated short online—and be proud of it!

• Design, animate, and render emotionally engaging characters
• Edit and sequence scenes using DaVinci Resolve (free version)
• Build your own animation library and reuse assets efficiently
• Add background actors and camera work for extra cinematic flair
• Work through creative blocks with practical, productivity-based techniques

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Course Curriculum Overview

Week 1 – Intro to Concepts

• Identify and overcome 3 common beginner mistakes that hinder cinematic animation workflows.
• Explore how rendering in modular layers (foreground, background, characters) improves flexibility and quality.
• Use DaVinci Resolve to begin compositing elements, building a scene timeline, and exporting for video.
• Review and organize the Course Download Pack, which includes animated clips, backgrounds, music, and more.
• Begin hands-on learning with a short animation assignment using any course assets or personal content.

Week 2 – Working for Success

• Build and reuse a customizable Base Scene to maintain visual consistency and speed up production.
• Set up a main character (materials, clothing, assets) for fast, repeatable use in multiple scenes.
• Personalize motion capture clips using Animate2, Bone Minion, and tools like LimbStick.
• Improve efficiency with multi-camera setups and modular storytelling inspired by film editing.
• Establish naming conventions and a file catalog to stay organized from scene to final export.

Week 3 – Building the Story
Develop your story foundation—genre, tone, music, setting, and characters.

Week 4 – Drawing Emotion
Convey emotional weight through small, effective character animation choices.

Week 5 – Directing Action

• Customize motion capture and animate dynamic sequences your audience will remember.
• Explore parallax movement, alpha layering, and camera choreography for visual impact.

Week 6 – Background Actors
Use Genesis figures to add immersive depth to your environments.

Week 7 – Writer’s Block (and How to Beat It)
Stay productive even when your creativity stalls. Learn how to keep moving.

Week 8 – Bringing It All Together
Assemble your finished scenes into a cohesive short with confidence and clarity.

VIP Course Level (Upgrade Option)

• Exclusive extra VIP Animation Asset Pack
• Gain a 1-1 live call with Dartanbeck to further your project(s)
• Two additional weeks of advanced tuition, including exploring realism, getting more believable.

About the presenter : Dartanbeck

Dartanbeck began his Digital Art journey by painting game tiles for tabletop fantasy games. He then became a texture artist for 3d game characters for a world-wide gaming community from which he has received several Hall of Fame awards. This immediately sparked his desire to create digital animations in the form of movies or shorts and has been dedicated to that pursuit ever since.

Now as a Daz 3d published artist, he has released several environment kits for Carrara software – specifically designed with animated movie makers in mind, plus released two character animation packs.

Dartanbeck is currently animating using Daz Studio and Carrara software and is having a lot of fun and success with it. Throughout his animation projects, he loves to share his experiences to help others to succeed as well.

His animation workflow includes Daz Studio with a collection of add-on plugins, Carrara 8.5 Pro, PD Howler, Affinity Photo, DaVinci Resolve, HitFilm and Magix MusicMaker Premium.

Dartanbeck lives in a small fishing city in Wisconsin and loves the changing seasons and has always been at home in the wilderness. He has spent his career chiseling custom stonework, designing and building cliff extensions, waterfalls, ponds, walls, patios… even custom outdoor furniture made of stone. He is also a performing musician.