Looking for Advice/Pointers for a First Animation

Support Animation and Rigging
1

Hi all,
i’m abou tot start looking at doing a first animation on a mech robot, just looking for tips/pointers at any useful resources/tutes etc specifically for;

  • I’ve got a basic walk cycle, but i want to tweak it a tad, how do i replace the keyframes or whatever i need to do to adjust leg positions etc?

  • I believe i can get her to move by using the Follow Path constraint, if i want her to pause at a point, do i create a Path to that point and then another, or is there an easier way?

  • if that walk cycle’s applied to the Follow Path thing etc, how do i adjust bit of it if, for example, she clambers over some rubble so that the leg/foot positions would be different?
    is it possible to bake animations and “paste” them in - eg, if i fracture and demolish a wall, can i save/bake that then append/paste/whatever to my mech file at an appropriate point so it looks like she’s smashing through it?

    i think that’ll do for the minute, the animation will be fairly basic i think, would like to get some soldiers or vehicles for her to fight but i think animating one object will be enough for a first try!

TIA

2

If you need to change a foot position and there is already a keyframe for it, just move the foot and re-key it. Blender will replace the keyframe for you.

  • I believe i can get her to move by using the Follow Path constraint, if i want her to pause at a point, do i create a Path to that point and then another, or is there an easier way?

That’s how I would do it… but… I wouldn’t do the follow path at all. What I mean is, I’ve done the follow path with more than one path before and it’s worked great. Once used it for a car backing up and turning, then driving forward. One path for backup, one for forward. I wouldn’t use the path with anything that walks because you’ll probably have foot sliding issues, the feet aren’t stuck to the ground. For something that walks, I just animate it walking forward, step by step. Also, the NLA editor might be helpful here…

  • if that walk cycle’s applied to the Follow Path thing etc, how do i adjust bit of it if, for example, she clambers over some rubble so that the leg/foot positions would be different?

Here’s where just animating it works the best. The foot/leg positions would be different, along with speed forward, so you’d have to vary how fast it moves along the curve. I mentioned the NLA editor because this is maybe a place it would be useful.

Last time I used it I could repeat actions, like walkcycles, with the character moving forward. You can also add in other actions, like maybe stepping over rubble. I don’t know how well it would work.

There was a CG Masters (I think was their name) that had a tutorial on character walking forward on a path, google that maybe?

[quote]
is it possible to bake animations and “paste” them in - eg, if i fracture and demolish a wall, can i save/bake that then append/paste/whatever to my mech file at an appropriate point so it looks like she’s smashing through it?[/quote}

Yes, very possible. You’d want to use a physics simulation of the wall being fractured and falling. Easy to set up and use with fair results, but needs tweaking for best results.

At the end of the day, it’s all about the time you put in. I’ve been down the road of trying to use this shortcut or that shortcut. While I learnt a lot, I learned if you want good animation, you animate it and not play with shortcuts.

Best of luck,
Randy

3

thanks for the info.

probably good advice but this is my first attempt and the character has 8 legs, so there’s no way i’m going to try and hand-animate it all. i’ll give things a whirl and see how far i get before my interest wanes.
cheers

4

Something else to think about is: “think about ‘the Show,’ first!” :yes:

Unless it is your intention that this creature will be performing on a blank stage in which it will simply be viewed by a passive, rotating camera (yawn …), or as part of a video-game, therefore more-or-less under control of the player, it is probable that this creature will be a probably-very-menacing part of “a show,” which will be presented to the viewer as an edited-together sequence of ‘camera shots,’ probably interspersed with shots of other things – such as damsels in distress and gun-toting heroes.

In this scenario, you will ultimately need consistent movement between shots that is nonetheless prepared and animated per-shot.

There are many good but still-applicable Blender tutorials for the animation of mechanical objects – steam engines, hydraulic tubes, and so on – all of which you should review. But, at the same time, generally put the shot-sequence requirements first. There’s no return-on-investment to be found in agonizing over a detail that will never be seen on-camera in the final cut.

5

thanks, that’s a great point. i have the thing thumbnailed for the shots, but was thinking baout it more like continuous action and varying camera shots, i’ll change my approach on that.
cheers