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Char Rig Class 06

Outline:

  • Motion Capture Cleanup
  • Creating Loops
  • Pose to Pose Animation Technique
  • Assignment 02

Motion Capture Clean Up

Motion Capture Cleanup:

You should complete the following:

  1. Import the fbx
  2. Attach it to the rig
  3. Prune the keys
  4. Polish the results

Creating Loops

Loops:

You need to make your actions cycle-able for use in a game environment.

Pose to Pose Animation Technique

Definition:

The Pose to pose blocking method involves blocking key story-telling poses, then key frames, then key inbetweens/breakdowns, and so on until the shot is complete.

Advantages:
Easiest to complete
Quickest for passable result
Fluid movement
Disadvantages:
More work on back end (lots of graph work).
Shot evolves less (good and bad).
Can look very pose to posey (duh).

Pose to Pose Process:

  1. Extremes Poses First:
    These are your story-telling poses, typically anticipation, reaction, contacts

    Place these on the closest beats (1/2 second)

  2. Adjust Timing :
    Watch your sequence and slide your keys closer to what you want
  3. Key-Breakdown Poses:
    These poses are usually halfway between your key poses, typically action, and arc supporting
  4. Re-Adjust Timing:
     Once the breakdowns have been place you have a better idea of your timing so you may need to readjust.
  5. Supportive Breakdown Poses:
    Make more breakdowns and further adjust your timing

    At this point your animation should look complete (maybe jerky)

  6. Interpolate with the Graph:
    Convert tangents to spline

    Prune unnecessary keys

    Further adjust tangents (linear, flat, weighted, etc.)

  7. Finesse, Texture, Nuance :
    Add micro-poses to break up timing

    Delay keys for overlapping and dragging motions

    Fix mistakes and smooth out any strange areas, this may mean placing a lot of keys or adding deformations

  8. Render:
    Send it down the pipeline for review and then render the final product


This is a great example of a typical process at a major studio.

Assignment 02

Human Action Cycle

Creating a complex human rig and animating it in a believable way is very time-consuming. One way to by-pass this is to use an auto-rig and apply motion capture. Since human characters are generally the same this is actually a very viable option for most productions. In this assignment you will use an auto-rig solution and apply motion capture that you record to produce human action cycles that would be appropriate for a game production. You may use any bipedal humanoid model that you create, have created, or acquire.

For Next Class: Complete the animations

You will be graded on the following:
  • Human IK Rigging
    • Apply Autodesk Maya's Human IK rigging to a humanoid model.
  • Weight Painting
    • Adjust the default bind weights to develop more aesthetically desirable deformations.
  • Motion Capture Application
    • Capture multiple motions, apply them to the rigged model, and cleanup the results.
  • Animation (adjust and cycle)
    • Adjust the mocap animation data to enhance it, make it cycle, and prepare it for export.
Resources:
  • You can find the rubric under the Assignments content folder in Canvas.

Assignment 02 Tutorial Videos