Wow, we're doing a lot of walking in class right now!
Not only am I getting plenty of gym time this semester, but I'm also gettin' familiar with the art of movement in the digital sense!
So, we are jumping right from walk cycles of the human variety to walk cycles of the animal variety. Straight from bipeds to quadrupeds... And boy, has it been a wild ride!
Okay, so where to begin?
So, this week's assignment was to turn in a quadruped walk or run cycle. I was able to finish a walk cycle and am going to try to work on a run or idle some time this week!
So, what did I do with this here walk cycle?
Lemme show you!
Meet Koko! He's my little buddy this week and boy oh boy was he a ball to animate! Not only does he have eyelids and funky fresh controls, but he's also very expressive and cute! I had a great time working with him this week!
Now, I know that this is more likely than not, not a completely finished product, so I am entirely open to feedback from my teachers, as I want to improve my craft! You don't stop learning until you stop, after all! And I'm committed to learn as much as I can!
So, obviously, I would like feedback regarding the positions of the legs, rotation, and hip movement. Hip movement especially is something I have greatly struggled with, so I am excited to hear from my teachers regarding that.
So, this is the progress of my animation. Obviously, there is still progress to be made, but I like showing the leadup to the work I present, so here it is!
I did play around with the Graph Editor for this one, trying to make the legs move naturally. I also edited the tangents, much like my Boney rig, to give it a more natural feel.
But yeah, I tried a few new, interesting things. From moving the snout to moving the ears and eyes, there was a lot going on in this animation. So, again, I'm looking forward to implementing on it even further!
But as the salesmen always say... But wait, there's more!
Prior to going with the Koko rig, I tried a few other quadruped experiments and I would love it if you saw them!
This is the first iteration of a Hyena Walk Cycle that I'm still working on! While it's jerky and a bit janky, this was actually the first walk cycle I worked on for the project. It is rigged with joints, not NURBS curves, so each part of the body was moved individually. Fun times!
I would like to continue to work on this character, as I had a lot of fun making her move! Also, I really like hyenas, so I'm always happy to animate them!
Next in line is a definite Work In Progress...
So, in Kingdom Hearts, there's a little kitty that carries a fish in his mouth. That kitty is ultra-adorable and I found his model online, so of course I wanted to animate him.
Unfortunately, the model was not rigged, but I tried to challenge myself to do it.
So, I tried rigging my first quadruped!
Which had slightly sad consequences... he doesn't animate right. I'm not sure if it's the topology of the model or my own rigging mistake, but his legs come detached from their joints. In fact, any body part I moved came detached from the joint.
So, he looks a little funky, but it was a shot!
So, without further ado, here was my first attempt at a quadruped rig and my first attempt at animating a kitty!
So, as you can see, he becomes a little paper-mâché-y when he moves. I would love to meet with my teachers to better understand the art of rigging because it is really fun! And yes, the kitty is weight painted and all the joints seem to be parented in a logical order.
I took a video of my setup, so if something looks off, I would be happy to learn more about the process! I'm always stoked to learn new things! We don't make mistakes here, just happy accidents! And this was definitely a happy accident (since he's my first quadruped rig- yay!).
Now, if you watched until the end of the rigging video, then you will see something interesting. A certain plane made an appearance as another rig I worked on. If you're a fan of Top Gun, then you probably recognized it... It was the iconic and awesome F-14 Tomcat! While my rig didn't perform as I wanted it to for my specific animation, I was able to cobble something together that you might like!
Cue Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins!
I want to eventually learn how to get the camera to follow the F-14 eventually, but this is good enough for me right now. The full animation shows it doing a vertical ascent and then barrel rolling, as it continues to climb. My clips only capture the barrel roll, as it is the most interesting part of the animation.
Eventually, I want to add a sound effect that travels closer to the viewer as the jet comes close to the camera, but I will work on that sometime this week!
Also, I would love to learn how to work more with the wings without the model deforming. A big issue I had with this rig was that it deformed when I tried to rotate the wings, so I just let them be. In reality, the F-14 Tomcat has variable wing angles, so pilots will often bring the wings in to make the plane more aerodynamic at high speeds. I wanted to show this, but since the wings are already pushed in, I just took the loss on this matter. It woulda been cool to see the wings quickly tuck in, but I'll have to seek help from my teachers on that conundrum.
So yeah! Plenty of walking and motion in the animation agenda this past month! While running at the gym is fun, running and walking in animation definitely have their respective learning curves. I just have to remember that I started out slow in my fitness journey and animation has been much the same. As I continue to improve, things will get easier. I just have to have patience and remain open to learning!
I hope you enjoyed my animations for this week! Thanks again for tuning in and seeing what I've been working on!
Excited to keep sharing more work with you all!
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