Post 04 - Project Update Part Two: The Tech

In the last post, I wrote about changes I have made to the project brief, the inspiration that I will be looking into generally fleshed out my updated idea and why I have altered it. This post will be concerned with the technical side of the project and what would be at my disposal for animating.


I have finally decided to use Maya as supposed to 3ds Max as previously stated. This is because there are several animation tools available in Maya which are reasonably new and I feel that exploring these would be very useful to my development. Below is a list of some of the tools which I plan to research and use:

Graph Editor

A common animation tool for CG animators and one which is the key to the 'TIMING and SPACING' principal of animation. I currently have a selection of Ghomon Workshop DVDs which will aid in my understanding of how to use it's full potential. 

Motion Trails

Maya have recently made some advancements with the flexibility of editing keys and animations by using motion trails. A motion trail allows the animator to do what the Graph Editor does, but in the viewport. This acts much like the trajectory tools in 3ds Max, but has incorporated a series of tools such as beads in order to alter the motion path. This on top of being able to use non destructive animation layers allows for much more freedom and a real-time solution. 

Human IK

The Human IK solver can be used to re-target motion capture data plus other animation applications. This originally came from Motionbuilder but has made its way into Maya 2012. It is a quick and easy way to create a control rig with both FK and IK as well as a Full Body IK. This would be a great tool to use and will allow me to use a FBIK rig solution. In addition, auxiliary effectors can be created (and keyed) so that rigs can hold and use itmes (i.e. holding a weapon, or pushing another character in the scene).  

Trax Editor

An interesting tools, which allows the animator to save out animations as clips. Once stored, these clips can be blended with other clips, as well as edited at a later date. This allows for the same file to be used to animate different sequences as supposed to having to save out multiple copies of the same 'default' file. 

Sequencer

A tool that I have only just found out existed. This tools works in a similar way to that of the Trax Editor, but is used to organise multiple cameras in a scene and edit when these cameras are active in any given shot.

Graph Editor demonstration - LINK

Human IK - LINK

Motion Trails - LINK

Trax Editor - LINK

Sequencer - LINK