Advanced Animation - Project 1

7 Oct 2022 - 20 Oct 2022 (Week 6 - Week 8)

Zetie Binti Bahaman / 0351297 / BDCM

Advanced Animation

Project 1: Walk Cycle Animation

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LECTURES

Week 6 - Lecture 6

Steps to Keyframe in Blender

Steps:

Frame 1 -

Initial Pose

Move the feet, arms, shoulders, waist

Set Keyframe - Whole Character

*Note: Check FK/IK if unable to move the controllers.

Frame 2 -

Move the slider to Frame 2

Select all the necessary controllers>Pose>Copy Pose>Pose>Paste Pose Flipped

Frame 3

Select everything

Press G and drag keyframe from Frame 2 to 3.

New movement in Frame 2

Drag left leg up

Set Keyframe - Whole Character

Frames 6 - 8

Copy pose flipped

Frame 9

Copy pose flipped Frame 1 


Week 7 - Lecture 7

Graph Editor

Adjust the value :
Set the highest - press G to move up/down
Hold down Shift to lock to vertical movement

To make infinite loop of the specific animation:

Graph Editor>Side Bar>Modifier>Cycles

Ensure that the up/down/passing/contact position is of same value (Y)

If not:

Go to F Curve>Under Interpolation, Value> Copy>Paste to next same position key's value


Week 8
No lectures due to Independent Learning Week

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INSTRUCTIONS

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PROJECT 1

In this project, we are to animate a vanilla and attitude walk cycle. A basic walk cycle has four main poses; contact, down, passing, and up.

Fig 1.0 Basic Walk Cycle

 

Week 6
Progression

Vanilla Walk

Fig 1.1 Graph Editor

Fig 1.2 Camera Angle Setup

Week 7
Progression

Attitude Walk

For the attitude walk, I wanted to animate a cool and confident walk cycle. We are to find reference photos/videos to study and use as our guide.


Reference Pose

Fig 1.3 Walk cycle from Matthew Roe on Vimeo.

Fig 1.4 Reference Walk

It was kinda hard to find exactly what I was looking for. The best I found was the superman walk and I incorporated the arm movements into my animation.

Fig 1.5 Reference 'Strut' Walk

I also used this as a guide to see how the character should look like at each point.


Blender Works In Progress

Fig 1.6, 1.7 Initial Pose Process

The tricky part is to get the details animated on top of the walk. For example, the exaggerated shoulders since I am attempting a confident attitude.


Attempt 1

Fig 1.8 Attitude Walk Attempt

My first attempt was very janky in the arms and had crazy eye movements.


Attempt 2
Improved Arm Swing

Fig 1.9 Attitude Walk Revised

I referred to the Superman Walk and adjusted the arm swings in each movement. Once I was satisfied with the keyframes, I used the graph editor to make my animation smoother.

Fig 2.0, 2.1 Before and After Graph of Y axis for the waist

The final steps included lighting and camera angles. The vanilla walk, just like the name has simple lighting with one camera.

Fig 2.2 Lighting & Camera Setup for Vanilla Walk

I was more experimental in the attitude walk adding more than 1 colour for the light. I also added another camera for the side view.

Fig 2.3,2.4 Lighting & Camera Setup for Attitude Walk

Final Project 1
Vanilla and Attitude Walk Cycle

Fig 2.5 Compilation - Final Project 1

Links

Exercises
Project 1

Project 2

Final Project

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FEEDBACK

Week 6

Have to observe each keyframe to ensure a smooth walk cycle

Week 7
No feedback as I was absent

Week 8
No feedback due to Independent Learning Week

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REFLECTIONS

Based on the project, I have learned to animate a 3D walk cycle. Though it may not be the smoothest, I tried the best I could to animate it to my abilities. Keyframing the correct IK/FK is important and there are many things to keep in mind for each point. If the first 5 frames are not right, then the rest of the walk cycle turns out horrible. There is so much more to learn and I hope to continue my efforts to improve my 3D animation and Blender skills.