Its been a couple of weeks since my last post, but I have now completed another two animation sequences. These are called 'Death One' and Death Two.
Death One features the character being struck on the shoulder / side and consequently falling to his knees and ending face down on the floor. This animation features all of the usual animation techniques such as staggering actions, weights distribution and 'bouncing limbs' (i.e. limbs responding as they should to hitting a surface and continue to move/bounce). As my work is becoming more and more challenging, I am now looking more closely at some of the gaming references I mentioned in earlier posts (namely Resident Evil 5 and Halo Reach).
On top of this, I am now in the habit of recording myself acting out particular sequences. Both death sequences were created initially from looking at these recordings. Below are links to the sequences and below them are the other walk cycles, which I have now improved, using Joe's feedback.
Some of the things which have been tweaked include the following:
- Lighting stripped down
- Static 'two-point' camera set-up introduced
- Upper body motion toned down
- Regular walk hips and head/neck staggered
'NEW' Death One - LINK
'NEW' Death Two - LINK
Walk Cycle 2nd Pass - LINK
Minor Injury Walk Cycle 2nd Pass - LINK
Severe Injury Walk Cycle 2nd Pass - LINK
I have just finished creating the 'severe injury' walk cycle. I used the same principles as that of the previous cycles. The main difference is that as the walk is very much asymmetrical, the middle/ opposite position is more like two thirds into the cycle. This is to create the idea of a limp and that not much weight could be taken on the left foot. I think that this does work, but the head and neck have been difficult to get right. Some other changes I have begun to make include adding an orbiting camera, plus some spotlights as a harsh shadow was being cast when under default lighting.
I rendered these, uploaded them onto my YouTube channel and emailed my contact (for feedback).
He gave some good advice on looking carefully at the fundamentals and provided me with some links to the animation mentor website. I was lucky enough to have another contact, who also agreed to give me some feedback / tips: Joe Deucher; Technical Artist currently working for Rare in Derby. I sent him the same links to which he responded with some great feedback and a breakdown for each cycle.
Some key points that picked up on includes:
- Over exaggeration of head & upper body
- Flow: pause/stutter on the first walk cycle
- Symmetrical movement: break it up with more offsets and 'leading stride'
He also said that the orbiting cameras and the extra spot lights weren't necessary and a simple multi angle approach would be much more appropriate. So the first thing that I have done is to remove these extra elements and to deal with adding in cameras in the next few weeks. There were many other aspects and areas of improvement he pointed out and I found the response to be very detailed and constructive. The next step is to start work on the death sequences (two in total). These will be done at the same time as tweaks to the first walk cycles are established.
Severe injury walk - LINK
