BA2: Animation Fundamentals

Research and Preparation for Animating Moom

Having had most of our Monday lectures now covering animation, how to use maya and being introduced to Moom I figured it was time to start doing some research into animation styles.

I found a lot of videos from other people who had also animated Moom but some weren’t great. I had to filter through alot to find some decent ones which I could study and use as reference and influence for animating my walk, jump and run cycles.

To update you on our projects, we are being asked to produce a walk, run and jump animation cycle using a pre made character. This will be my first time ever using this software on my own to produce work and I am a little nervous.

Here is a really good walk cycle I found by YouTube user gajjarchintan08...

  

The next video is by YouTube user brunovillart who has created a decent running cycle for Moom....

    

Finally, here is YouTube user utkarshvaidya who demonstrates a jump cycle with Moom...

    

Having watched these videos I tried to re create cycles of my own briefly to see if I could get anything to work...I couldn’t. It wasn't just Moom being awkward, it was me realising that I wasn’t becoming very good friends with maya and it’s animations.

I realised I needed more research into the cycles and I needed to look further into what we were being asked to do so I could fully understand and create cycles that were of a half decent nature. 

The Walk... 

I know that alot of people have also found this blog called “IdleWorm” http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml  but it really is very helpful when trying to grasp the walking animation. It goes through key frames, how the body looks at different points of the walk and shows you the possible outcomes which was really helpful, as well as step by step guides. 

This lead me on to finally being able to create a half decent walk cycle...

    

I think the legs of the walk are a tad static but I just can’t alter them without Moom’s hips becoming really deformed and me having the change his stance altogether which makes the walk look very different. I am happy with his arms and I am pretty proud of the way his hands flow through the walk cycle.

 

The Run...

Having finally completed my walking cycle (after many, MANY failed attempts and rubbish outcomes) I felt confident enough to dive right in and produce the running animation. Using the video I posted earlier and also this website, http://www.the-flying-animator.com/run-cycle.html, as guides I was able to create this...

     

The main thing that upsets me about the running cycle I have created are Mooms eyes, they are a little bit all over the place. 1, I have no idea why and 2, even though I key framed them in place they still seem to move quite violently as he runs. I was thinking of saying that I had done it on purpose for effect but I don't think it will work...

The Jump...

I will admit that animation really isn't my “thing”. We were told some people get the hang of it straight away and others don't. Well, I am “others”. I just cant get good enough outcomes and I am finding it very frustrating. Having said this, here is my final animation, the jump cycle. This is slightly over exaggerated and has a more comical look but I'm not too fussed.

   

 I liked to pause the jump cycle half way through and pretend I was watching the Matrix, sadly I wasn't watching the Matrix and crashed back to earth with this increasingly comical jump cycle that I have created. I am fairly happy with it considering the pain I went through to lift Moom off the floor. I would like to make the arms work better but sadly, time does not allow me. 

Project Conclusion

Whilst I can appreciate everything an animator has to go through I can’t see myself having a career based upon it. I was beyond frustration throughout this project and I feel that my other work might have even suffered because of it. The time taken to produce my animation was definitely underestimated but having said that, I am not sure if I would have been able to put more hours into the cycles knowing how frustrating it could become. 

On a slightly more positive note I am generally pleased with the outcome of my animations. If I could do anything differently I would have used the graph editor to alter the animations themselves as opposed to relying on key frames but again, time and frustration tore away at me. Generally I think for a first attempt with the software and animation, a fairly good effort!