Character Animation

intro to 3d animation the bouncing ball animation -

First brought in a sphere and moved it to the side . To key the ball I clicked where I want to on the timeline first. Secondly, I moved the shpere infront of the last red key line and then I pressed s to key my position. Click, move , press s

(The red line shows its been keyed)

To add squash and stretch to the ball I first keyed it. bouncing up and down. The translate y, x and z key frames were all deleted in the channel box. I started by the copying start key frame value to the end key frame aswell, for more smooth action. In animation preferences I set the playback speed to 24fps x 1. After this I used the graph editor to fix the key frames in translate y .

The set playback time was set to 20 and the set end time of animation was set to 20

Finally, I went to the start key and last key and used the transform tool to squash the object keying it by pressing s kaing sure translate y is selected . I then stretched the ball in the mid point and keyed it making sure pshere1 was selected in graph editor.

Lattice deformer , Sack of flour rig

First I started off importing the flour sack rig into maya by setting my project first.

Then moved the control rig in maya and experimented with different poses . After this I selected the rig arm by pressing (ctrl and shift)and legs and then keyed it pressing s

Animation preferences set to 24fps x 1. I then started to key the rig rotating it in different positions moving it around

Inverse kinematics/ animation output

Working with arm fk rig to animate it. Shift left click on Null in outliner to expand it.

Fk - forward kinematic , joints rotate in hierarchy to animate,. Forward Kinematics setup (forwards motion)

(Arm forward kinematic rig)

IK-Control Rig H used to animate arm/hand placement. Inverse Kinematics, move the hand and the rest rotates to follow.

(Arm Inverse kinematic Rig)

Head Turn: and posing

I did a basic head turn and pose here to get familiar with the controls

Assignment1: basic weight mechanics (bouncing ball)

For this assignment I wanted to show a basic squash and stretch animation so I downloaded this ball scene then animated it. I then moved the ball up in tranlslate y . right clicked in translate y press key selected , then changed it back to 0 so the ball can move down.

Then brought the ball up halfway whilst have auto key on . After this I edited the translate y using the graph editor for amore sharper bounce using break tangents, using middle mouse button to move individual point. Made a few more bounces aswell

Then used the graph editor to make more bounces

Now I applied squash and stretch to it then playbast it using skydome lighting. went to view and turned off nurb curves

Final playblast

Ball download reference :

click here

Analysing work:

I could've improved by rendering out the scene with a surface rather than a playblast . Also I couldve created an obstacle course to move the ball around

Assignment 2 : character animation

I wanted to show the character moving its head and throwing a ball over its head whilst its moving side to side and blinking.

Firstly downloaded the updated version Elevenrig_v1.2

Then showed the head moving side to side by selecting the head control and move tool then pressing s to key after slowing moving the head in a certain direction

I then moved the head up so that it can have a weight effect when turning side to side

Finally below is the technique I used to add blinking to the character

Video on how I Fixed the textures (went to windows rendering editors then hypershade)

Next is a tutorial on how I did the ball throw to the hands

Final playblast of character animation for assignment 2

Assigment 3 : animating to 11 second sound clip

my idea is to have a character walking then producing dialouge and then a ballon floats up in the air whilst talking

I downloaded the eleven rig in week 6 walk folder and then animated a walk . After this I created the lighting setup with a backdrop and two area lights , as a test to see the lighting

Area light 1 : using the values/ preferences below below

Area light 2 :

The lighting came out well

I then downloaded the eleven rig lip sync and started to animate it to the audio. After this I added a skydome light and animated expressions in my characters face.

11SecClub_April_Competition

00:00 / 00:11

where I got audio file from

as I imported another eleven rig into the scene I turned the camera so the character can walk from another direction

I then made a balloon , imported it into my circus scene, then positioned it to the hand . To attach it to the hand I clicked the ballon shape then shift clicked the hand control and went to edit parent

Now I have to render my scene then put in after effects. to get better render I pressed ai sky dome in outliner , then went to the skydome attribute editor and changed the sampling slider to 8

Final Render

intro to 3d animation the bouncing ball animation -

First brought in a sphere and moved it to the side . To key the ball I clicked where I want to on the timeline first. Secondly, I moved the shpere infront of the last red key line and then I pressed s to key my position. Click, move , press s

(The red line shows its been keyed)

The set playback time was set to 20 and the set end time of animation was set to 20

Finally, I went to the start key and last key and used the transform tool to squash the object keying it by pressing s kaing sure translate y is selected . I then stretched the ball in the mid point and keyed it making sure pshere1 was selected in graph editor.

Lattice deformer , Sack of flour rig

First I started off importing the flour sack rig into maya by setting my project first.

Then moved the control rig in maya and experimented with different poses . After this I selected the rig arm by pressing (ctrl and shift)and legs and then keyed it pressing s

Animation preferences set to 24fps x 1. I then started to key the rig rotating it in different positions moving it around

Inverse kinematics/ animation output

Working with arm fk rig to animate it. Shift left click on Null in outliner to expand it.

Fk - forward kinematic , joints rotate in hierarchy to animate,. Forward Kinematics setup (forwards motion)

(Arm forward kinematic rig)

IK-Control Rig H used to animate arm/hand placement. Inverse Kinematics, move the hand and the rest rotates to follow.

(Arm Inverse kinematic Rig)

Head Turn: and posing

I did a basic head turn and pose here to get familiar with the controls

Assignment1: basic weight mechanics (bouncing ball)

For this assignment I wanted to show a basic squash and stretch animation so I downloaded this ball scene then animated it. I then moved the ball up in tranlslate y . right clicked in translate y press key selected , then changed it back to 0 so the ball can move down.

Then brought the ball up halfway whilst have auto key on . After this I edited the translate y using the graph editor for amore sharper bounce using break tangents, using middle mouse button to move individual point. Made a few more bounces aswell

Then used the graph editor to make more bounces

Now I applied squash and stretch to it then playbast it using skydome lighting. went to view and turned off nurb curves

​

Final playblast

Ball download reference :

Analysing work:

​

I could've improved by rendering out the scene with a surface rather than a playblast . Also I couldve created an obstacle course to move the ball around

Assignment 2 : character animation

I wanted to show the character moving its head and throwing a ball over its head whilst its moving side to side and blinking.

Firstly downloaded the updated version Elevenrig_v1.2

Then showed the head moving side to side by selecting the head control and move tool then pressing s to key after slowing moving the head in a certain direction

I then moved the head up so that it can have a weight effect when turning side to side

Finally below is the technique I used to add blinking to the character

Video on how I Fixed the textures (went to windows rendering editors then hypershade)

Next is a tutorial on how I did the ball throw to the hands

​

Final playblast of character animation for assignment 2

​

Assigment 3 : animating to 11 second sound clip

my idea is to have a character walking then producing dialouge and then a ballon floats up in the air whilst talking

I downloaded the eleven rig in week 6 walk folder and then animated a walk . After this I created the lighting setup with a backdrop and two area lights , as a test to see the lighting

Area light 1 : ​using the values/ preferences below below

​

Area light 2 :

The lighting came out well

I then downloaded the eleven rig lip sync and started to animate it to the audio. After this I added a skydome light and animated expressions in my characters face.

where I got audio file from

as I imported another eleven rig into the scene I turned the camera so the character can walk from another direction

I then made a balloon , imported it into my circus scene, then positioned it to the hand . To attach it to the hand I clicked the ballon shape then shift clicked the hand control and went to edit parent

Now I have to render my scene then put in after effects. to get better render I pressed ai sky dome in outliner , then went to the skydome attribute editor and changed the sampling slider to 8

Final Render

Area light 1 : using the values/ preferences below below