Post 19 - Euler Nightmares

As my animation sequences are becoming more dynamic and challenging, I have just stumbled across a major issue. This is a common problem that any animators suffer from. This is known as Gimbal lock. This occurs when an item (i.e. wrist control) is rotated passed a certain point. This can lead to crossing of axis (which is a nightmare when editing in the graph editor) and the mesh being influenced by the controller becomes warped.

Gimbal lock destroys lives

One method around this is to key every frame during the axis crossing phase. Another is to apply an axis modifier, which allows you to switch the order of rotation (which can also be keyed). This however cannot be done on my rig for some reason so I have resorted to key framing every transitional section (there weren't that many so was feasible). This has however forced me to use use 'gimbal' rotation rather than 'local' as it allows the animator to clearly see how the rig is being manipulated.


I have begun working on the next sequence which involves two rigs in the same scene and I have also created another tweaking pass for the walk cycles. When I have finished the ext animation, I will be putting them onto YouTube and emailing Joe the links for more feedback.


To improve the walk cycle, I also found this simple but effective video, which shows spine movement etc.




Skeleton walk - LINK