Character Animation DEVLOG 7 (Apr 21 - May 17)
- smcconnell224
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Setbacks
While trying to start work on my gameplay cycles, I ran into two major issues; one being that I wanted to use the same rig as I had for my final walk cycle. I thought this rig had great functionality. The issue was that the rotations on the arms didn't work correctly and needed to be fixed. I was able to fix this issue before, but when starting a new file the fixes wouldn't work. Even after attending a help session the rotations wouldn't work, so I had to find a new rig to work with. The other issue was that I was working on my project for Connected Games for most of April, and that left me a bit burnt out after that was done. Despite this, I needed to work on these animations and get them done.
Gameplay Cycles
I started by finding a new rig that did mirror correctly. I found one of a witch with an extra pair of spectral arms coming from her hat. I thought this would be fun to work with. I started by taking reference of myself doing some idle animations and walking to get a feel for the character. I started animating these, but I ultimately decided to take the animations in a different direction because I didn't think what I was animating worked well. I focused more on the idle first, because my train of thought was that I could build the rest of the movements based on the idle. One restriction of the rig I was working with that I didn't like was the facial rig. It was very limited, so I tried to incorporate as much as the rig would allow.
I was very happy with how the animation turned out. I also wish the rig allowed me to animate the hair and the dress, but with what the rig had I think it turned out well. After finishing this animation, I started working on the walk. I wanted her walk to look bouncy, and to achieve this I had her come up very fast and hang there slightly. She'd come down quickly but then quickly bounce back up. There is a very slight antic pose when she's down as well to really sell that bounciness.
I also animated her arms to look more floaty and her hips and knees pop a little bit to sell the movement. After doing the walk, I worked on the jump. I struggled a bit with it at first, because I wanted the character to look a bit floaty without her hanging in the air for too long. I think I did the ease in and out of the pose at the top of the arc well. I wanted the movement of her jumping to be quick. but because of that I think the antic makes her knees pop slightly. I think in a gameplay setting this wouldn't be as noticeable as it is on a loop.
After the jump I worked on the run which I struggled with the most. I started over three times trying to get it to look right, and it ended up looking either like a speed up walk cycle or an awkward floating movement when I tried to make it look more like a dash.
I left these animations for a week or so and then came back to them. I edited the run to look more convincing, and I'm a lot happier with what I ended up making.
It looks more like she is pushing forward very quickly. Her poses are more powerful and her legs and arms have very nice arcs to them.
Updated Walk Cycle
While I was reworking the run, I decided to redo the render on the final walk cycle I had finished a while ago. I think this render looks very nice and it adds to the feeling of the animation.
Next Steps
Now that I know how to animate I plan to use this in some of my portfolio pieces. I've been working on a model for a while now and I already planned to rig it. Once I do that, I can do some basic animations and create a demo reel of the animations I have done.
Comments