- In graph editor, hips should be like a bouncing ball. When the hips are looked at from the front view it should be an infinity symbol .
- The feet should stomp when they hit the floor.
- The fingers should overlap subtle.
- The toe should have a flick the foot touches the floor.
- Hair will also be overlapping
Animation Principles to include:
- Overlapping – Fingers, Hair
- Slow in & slow out – the feet as they come into contact with the floor. Like a stomp.
Detail should be so subtle you don’t know what it is that makes the animation but without it will look strange.
Animators should be better than a simulation.
atools instal
Arc Traker Tool
Overlap in graph editor
Baking – Separate the the animation from the rig to copy on to another rig using locators.
The difference between FK & IK controls on a rig
When I came to spline and polish, I was intimidated from all the lines in the graph editor. It looks very overwhelming. This was the task where I was going to have to learn how to use the graph editor better/not be intimidated.
Ask out tutor said “The graph editor is you best friend and worst enemy.”
I was advised to start with the hips first. They should be smooth on the graph editor.
I then made sure there was a toe roll. Once the feet has stomped then the toe will come into contact with the foot after. This gives a sense of gravity to your rig.
I wasn’t feeling too confident in my splining so I decided to test the render but I wasn’t going to fully render the animation until I had done a better job at the splining.
The render looks very dark, so I need to increase the daylight.
Here was a gradual line for translate X as the animation is going in a straight line. Luke had shown me that I don’t need to be worried about deleting a few points so that I can get it as straight as possible.
1st Spline & Polish Outcome
As you can see, there is an overlapping of the toe roll and there is also slow in and out of the feet so that there is more of a stomping movement. I have add in some overlapping of the hair but I think it is too subtle.
After having contacted my tutor about not feeling like the splining and polishing had gone so well, Luke made a video which explained in further detail where the problem lay and what I needed to do to improve. It started with the hips. There was a break in the motion trail, this meant that there was too much movement in translate z on the graph editor.
I have circled in blue where the hip rotation has broken. It should be smooth up and down.
I have now smoothed out the hip rotation so it is a consistent wave from A to B.
I started to really hate the pink floor and walls I had made for the staging. So I decided to use the stage from the asset library. I added in the pattern used from the rigs shirt on the poster board behind. I soon realised it was too much and too big so I deleted the boards and the top of the stage because the animation was dwarfed in the staging. This undermined all the work I have done. I also was test rendering the animation because the rig looked over exposed.
I settled for just the bottom part of the stage and a simple cloud background. This looks quite dream like and unnatural but I thought this style was fine because the walk was a bit of a dream like strut.
I had rendered this animation at least 5 times and this strange hair simulation seemed to be happening. Eventually I asked Luke who helped me get rid of it. It was very frustrating not being able to solve this issue.