Senior Portfolio Spring Week 12

Senior Portfolio Post 12

4/25/19

This week, I had more time to work on the new action figure rig, as well as time to test it out.  So far, there is basic movement for the proper point of articulation.  I have had a less official version that was cobbled together for older projects to compare.  Now with new skills in rigging, I am making this version as clean as I can.  It will not be perfect, but for the most part things are already less complicated than before.  In addition to the main controls, I am planning to implement custom features for various components that are included in the base model.  The model, by the way, is based upon another Lego model.  As such, my knowledge on how the components should work is pretty well-rounded.

Among the main and complimentary features are:

- Inverse kinematics feet (which I had limited knowledge of before)

 -locators for posing leg orientation

- Forward kinematics arms (Ik will be implemented later)

-Proper controllers and joints (linked with proper constraints)

- Head and main body rotation (limited by the model, but functions as it should)

- Add-on accessories and corresponding layers (transferred over from previous version, now easier to understand)

-Driven keys for back blades

As a first test of this new rig, I have created a basic run cycle, as well as a dynamic movement test.  These will certainly be developed further as both the rig and my understanding of the rig will progress in the coming weeks.

https://youtu.be/7xeJGmy4_Vw




https://youtu.be/cPm7YZDiQUw


 https://youtu.be/JvljhISWODI

Advanced Production Progress Post 4

Advanced Production Progress Post 4

4/23/19

With the character animations finished for the Happy personality, all was set for exporting and importing into Unity.  Once in Unity, an animation controller could be established which could be passed on to the programmers.  Syncing up with the official rig and ultimately being put into the final game would be the next step.  For my work, I have moved on to the next personality set.  Now I am focusing on finalizing animations for the Nervous personality.  So far, things are going well.  With the hiccups encountered over the past few sprints, things are now evened out for the most part.

There are a few complications concerning the crossover into Unity, and the consistency of models and animation information between personalities done by different people.  At first, it was orientation of joints and skeletons, which was fixed fairly well.  Now, however, the main problem is scaling of the imported animations.  Some personalities vary in smaller size, and the problem is not so clear.

The overall process for animators should go much smoother and faster now that we've gone through the process once before.  Once done and approved, the Nervous animations will go the same route into Unity and so on.

https://youtu.be/62mHqrvKSAM

https://youtu.be/BOr0H4h81AE



https://youtu.be/qmavVUmEVEQ



https://youtu.be/asKs7Kav3tc



https://youtu.be/XTRwH_euR88



https://youtu.be/f52cSwt1jaM



https://youtu.be/9JWDNhxAY40

Senior Portfolio Spring Week 11

Senior Portfolio Post 11

4/18/19

This week I've taken a step back from animating Lego-builds and characters in order to focus efforts on other projects.  Priorities have taken a bit of my attention away from portfolio work.  I have instead devoted this week to working on my 495 Advanced Production character animations.  I have moved on from the Happy personality set and am now in progress working on the Nervous personality.  So far, four of the seven animations in the set have been blocked out and made into a presentable form.  These are the same for each personality, so each action should feel unique from one set to another.  Here are the walk, idle, sit down, and stand up block-out animations.

https://youtu.be/qmavVUmEVEQ


https://youtu.be/BOr0H4h81AE


https://youtu.be/62mHqrvKSAM


https://youtu.be/8-Wz-9bw4OI



In addition to the character animations, the time leftover for work on personal projects I used to instead start putting my newly learned rigging skills to use.  I am currently refining previous rigs to have a much more sophisticated and clean product. Some are old, like the mech and figures, while others will be new testing grounds.  Now that I have a bit more knowledge of the subject, I will be able to animate faster, more efficiently, and perhaps be able to better teach others how it is all coming together.  While none are complete just yet, I have a screenshot of a larger action figure which will utilize an IK biped-style rig.

Senior Portfolio Spring Week 10

Senior Portfolio Post 10

4/11/19

For this week, most of my work was diverted to other projects, and not much can be presented for Portfolio work.  I decided to turn my attention to the opening of the brick build project.  This week I wanted to give more life to the single character that begins the animation.  I have added a bit of an introduction, with the character jumping into the blank scene and then they transition into the role of building the sign.  I personally think the sequence needs to be drawn out a bit longer, and more holds are necessary to sell the scene.  In addition, some linking between this new animation and the original stationary start will need to be taken care of.  Overall, I think this will benefit the project, even if it is just a short portion at the beginning.

https://youtu.be/7iyFsKr8Tho

Senior Portfolio Spring Week 9

Senior Portfolio Post 9

4/4/19

This week I had to dedicate most of my time to polishing my animations for 495 Advanced Production.  I was tasked with finalizing animations for the "Happy" personality.  As stated in previous posts, this set of animations includes walking, sitting, drinking, etc.  So far, things have turned out well, and the next step is finishing up and sending the animations off for integration into the game.

With the rest of my time, I continued work on the brick build animation from the previous weeks.  I wanted to fulfill the goals I set up in the previous post.  That includes colorization, variation and tweaking of movements throughout the project.  Not much work overall, but I think it benefits the visual aesthetic.  I want to have this project finished withing another week if not sooner.  After this, I believe I will move on to another project if time permits.

https://youtu.be/kuyZ7pu8trQ


https://youtu.be/HYQKAxpmg1g



https://youtu.be/FuWnCx_A5c4


https://youtu.be/BfhDHbLChaU

Advanced Production Progress Post 3

Advanced Production Progress Post 3

4/5/19

The recent sprints have been dedicated to finalizing animations for the "Happy" character personality.  There were a few bumps in the road concerning the rig and the method of exporting filed properly for integration into Unity for the official game.  I had to adapt the preliminary animations from the blockout phase for the new rig which, while it has issues to work with, is manageable and good enough to use for presentable final animations.  Unfortunately, with the problems concerning the rig early on in the sprint, significant work wasn't quite able to get underway until later, causing spill-over work for the following sprint.  With that said, I feel that the extra time to work on this single task is much more beneficial, as the animators in general can focus on really making these final animations properly and not too rushed.  Aside from the hiccups along the way, my animations are coming along nicely.  Now that I have learned how to make the most of the new rig, and proper assets for reference are in place, I am almost at a point where every animation in the set is ready for exporting to some degree.  They should be ready to go by the end of the current sprint.

https://youtu.be/HYQKAxpmg1g



https://youtu.be/FuWnCx_A5c4


https://youtu.be/BfhDHbLChaU