This is an animation exercise of body mechanics, refer to the following animation tutorial by
In the follow-up production, I have new other tasks to be produced. Therefore, this animation had to be interrupted this time. Due to the lack of completion of the animation this time, I will not add it to FMP’s portfolio.
This attack animation continues the attack mode of the previous claw attack. I changed the model (Link) and added a sword as a weapon.
Process
I simply adjusted the changes in attack rhythm, as well as some poses optimizations.
When making the animation of the cloak, I used a plug-in called OVERLAPPER, which is a software that can easily make overlapping, and it only needs simple operations to achieve very good results. I will frequently use this plugin in subsequent projects.
Finally, I also added a dark mode LINK without a cloak.
This week’s task is to make a three-shot combo that suits the character of “sham”. According to my observations, sham’s attack mode can be sharp claws, so I began to conceive of the attack action with claws.
To this end, I looked for a reference about combo animation, and finally I decided to use the following tutorial. Although she uses a sword, the attack mode is worth learning. The two frontal attacks plus the turning attack are very rhythmic，The final closing action was also very clean and tidy.
Reference
Process
Summary
Sham’s turning around is a difficult point in production. At the beginning, there will be a lot of inexplicable jitters. I need to adjust it many times with the curve editor to achieve a smooth effect.
After turning around, I also adjusted the timing to make it look like a heavy tear with claws.
Character walking animation is the most basic for Maya animation.I have made walk cycle animation as early as the term 1. Now, my graduate career is coming to an end. I need to make it again for review and consolidation, and also to test my progress.
Reference
The basic law of human walking is: the left and right feet alternately move forward, driving the trunk to move forward. In order to keep the body balanced, the arms of the upper limbs need to swing back and forth in conjunction with the bending and stretching of the two legs.
In order to maintain the center of gravity when walking, a person always supports one leg before lifting the step with the other leg.
Therefore, in the process of walking, the height of the head must move in a wave shape. When stepping out, the top of the head is slightly lower when both feet are on the ground, and when one foot is on the ground and the other foot is lifted and bent forward, the top of the head is slightly higher.
Also, in the process of walking, the stepping leg stretches from the ground to the front, and the knee joint in the middle must be bent, and the ankle and the ground are in a curved motion line. The height of this arc-shaped movement line has a lot to do with the manner and emotion of walking.
When the character walks, a very important point is the movement of the character’s chest , shoulders, crotch and legs, which is also the difficulty.
Chest movement
Y-axis: As the crotch is moving up and down, the chest will also move up and down under the drive of the crotch (small amplitude)
Tips: The timing of the start of the chest movement should be one frame slower than the start of the hip movement
The movement of the arm: It can be understood as a pendulum movement. It is worth noting that when the character walks, the arms not only swing back and forth, but also have a certain swing range inside and outside.
Process
This is the last part of Aang animation, reaching point B by attacking the target. My idea is to make a fist attack animation (in accordance with Aang’s character setting)
This tutorial gives detailed steps. Although its playback speed is very fast, I can still learn a lot from it.
This is the final version. After rendering, I added feedback on camera movement and object hits, as well as a little sound effect.
“On his initial jump up he stays looking down with his body bent for quite a while which loses some intention on the jump, he should probably be looking more where he’s going When he lands the feet kinda slide into another position which loses any feeling of weight being on them. I would have him land at the initial foot position, settle there and then do a small weight shift to move the foot to the next position. The diving jump off the top needs a lot more anticipation for such a big jump. The spacing on the fall is really even, he should be moving further each frame as he picks up speed. This will also let the landing feel more impactful. The time between the landing and the roll also make it seem a little weightless. The point of doing a roll like that is to turn some of the force into forwards momentum so it should happen sooner. The punches are feeling nice and weighty but then you lose the weight during the kick. It doesn’t really feel like it connects to the block much and lacks the anticipation and hold of the punches. At the end, all the body parts just arrive in their final pose at the same time which makes it feel very forced. I would do some follow through and overlap on different parts like the chest/head and arms to make this feel more natural.”
Feedback from Alan
I think I will continue to polish this animation in the future.
In the last stage, I made a jumping animation. So at this stage, my plan is to let the character fall from a high altitude and get up to prepare for the final attack animation. In order to make the falling animation, I searched for related tutorials and references. The key word I used was parkour.
Parkour reference
Parkour tutorial
In this animation, the buffering action when landing is difficult. The character’s hands supporting the ground to roll forward need to switch the arm’s IK/FK to achieve. For this reason, I also looked for a special tutorial to familiarize myself with IK/FK conversion.
Here are the steps I made…
key poses
This week’s task is to do a part of body mechanic animation.
First I created a simple scene with obstacles.
The goal of this animation is to make the character start from point A, pass through obstacles and finally reach point B in the whole process.
My idea is that Anng jumps from point A to the highest place, then falls from a high place，stands up to attack the cube, and finally reaches a three-stage animation of point B.
Step 1: Jump animation
Reference
Draft plan
During term3, I plan to focus on making a series of gameplay animations, including but not limited to different characters (such as warriors, assassins, magicians, monsters, etc.) stylised walking, running, jumping, body mechanics, combo attack, performance and death animation.
Prop settings
I have selected several models that I think are suitable for my project. They are all from the Internet, public learning resources and free of charge.
In term3, I used azri to make a series of actions, which is a very excellent model. Whether it is binding or weighting, it is very comfortable for users to use. In the next project, I will still use azri to create some female-related actions, such as female running and walking, attacks that match her personality.
This model has a lot of props, which is suitable for actions in different scenarios and for display of skills for different weapons.
Ⅲ. Aang
Ⅳ. Hunter
The purpose of choosing this model is to make game animations that can express heavy weapons. Expressing the weight of weapons is one of the purposes of my FMP.
Ⅴ. VI.
To prepare for boxing animation (characters that use fists as output skills).
