The legs do not match its forward motion, and they still look too thin, but after checking photos of deer I guess they are accurate. However, the lower part of the leg looks like the bone is bending back (back part of the legs near the hooves). I’m not sure how to explain what I mean well. It might be an optical illusion or something.
edit: After watching the reference movies below, apparently they really do that too. I’m just gonna shut up now.
See this clip of a buck walking,
http://www.silvertip.net/footage/stockfootage/go/JCDeer_II
(number 28 )
LetterRip
Hind legs. Less bending on the “middle” joint.
Front legs. More bending on the point where the legs start.
I think it is quite lively, not rigid animation.
Nice head motion.
Excuse me for going on. There is an animation thing related to blender animation, which if possible by some script could be usefull at some point in the deer animation.
For animation curve -> Extended mode cyclic to a frame range.
For example deer doing a walk cycle then times and then doing a calloping cycle many times. Legs animation would only need to be done for two cycles and then applied to be repeated on two ranges of frames.
Maybe they have had something like it for Project Orange.
I am wandering if there is a way currently in blender to do this.
Thanks j, letterip, and thelonesoldier.
j: Fixed the front leg not-bending-enough-at-the-shoulder problem, but I kinda like the way the back legs bend.
LetterRip: Thanks, that video really helped.
thelonesoldier: Thanks for your input.
New video:
Click here to watch Whitetail-Deer
I know it has problems, but this is the framework for the animation. This is as long as it will be. I still need to do some tweaking before I start adding RVKs and working on the environment.
Here’s an update with a few details that nobody would notice if I didn’t point it out. It funny, though, because without those minute details it doesn’t look alive, and people do notice.
Here the update:
Click here to watch deer-walk-cycle87
I’m sorry, it’s on putfile. For those who can’t use putfile, look down below, if there isn’t another link down below, there will be later. I’ll edit the post with another link when I find a good host.
By the way, the minor details are blinking, breathing, jiggling, and chewing. I think thats all. Ok thats all. Thanks.
[EDIT]
http://www.savefile.com/files3.php?fid=3274495
You have to click 2 links to download it, but they are pretty obvious.
The final render will be in high quality.
Your deer still doesn’t put any weight on his front legs. The animation after he stops walking is really good, I especially like the neck motions and the detail work.
LetterRip
Mindblender
crits:
The front legs are animated too much on the mid joint so
there seems to be sliding. I think this a peace of cake for you
to fix, the sliding.
The camera work is a bit similar to “head or tails animation”
, i mean lot of camera work. I do not think it works in this one,
althought i have to admit you got it following well the main
points of subject. Slower and simpler camera motion would be better
for this one i think. Other words, camera movement is now distracting.
Some nice muscle movement in the animation now. The lungs movement and mouth, those well done also.
LetterRip: What specifically do you mean by not putting weight on the front legs? I made his foreleg go up into his body and his shoulders slide up when he takes a step. Thanks for the feedback.
j: Thanks for the input. I will fix the sliding. These aren’t the final camera angles. I just made the camera point at the object of focus. The camera will stop at the same place, though, so the deer is looking at it.
Keep the crits coming.
I haven’t rendered a new anim yet, but I have done some work on the environment. If anyone has any crits or ideas, don’t be shy.
Keep the crits coming. They are very helpful.
Here’s an animation update:
http://www.savefile.com/files/9613492
Yes, the feet still slide a little. I’m getting around to that.
I think he meant that your deer looks like a plastic figurine deer.
Maybe you could bend the legs more and it would actually gives the impression the deer is real and not floating out of nowhere 
I don’t know what level of complexity you aim at but you could refine the contours of the model (with a reference image, for example).
I think that defining the muscles would help.
The texture is pretty cool, actually!
Good luck with it.
Some suggestions
There could be something edible for the deer on the ground which is there
and disappears after at the correct point.
Nice environment, a nit picky thing, the ground texture could be a map
that has a greater detail.
It was just deer season here in Missouri and a fellow came into work with a set of antlers from a deer he just bagged. Since I’m originally from CA, and not a hunter myself (have nothing agin it, tho), I learned that antlers actually grow a kind of fur on them that deer rub off against trees, exposing the bone quality of the antler. (They are bone, after all). The bottom of antlers actually has a furry quality, and the top has a scraped bone quality. My hunter friend (who shared the sausage he made with us. Yum!) called the fur something other than fur, but I can’t remember what. Just hope that info helps.
When I first got Blender I made a demon cat thing (not ready for showing) and I was really wondering about animating four-legged things) Please keep us posted on your progress in that regards.
it is called velvet, the scrapping depends on when in the season the deer is.
LetterRip
Thanks everybody. I just typed this whole thing out then forgot to click the submit button. I hope I remember everything.
Batman: Thanks. Bend the legs more? Really(some people have told me I bent them too much)? Front legs or back legs? I am satisfied with the model I have now. You can at least look at it and tell it’s a deer(I hope).
j: Thanks. I will probably make him chomp on some grass and have some fall out the side of his mouth when he gets up to look at the camera. And I will be fixing the ground texture.
Trog: Thanks for your input. So should I put the velvet all over the bottom of the antlers, or just near the base? As for animating the cat, it walks almost the same way as the deer. Its movements are more sleek, though. But the front legs and back legs operate separately, as do a deer’s.
LetterRip: Thanks for clarifying that.
LetterRip said,
is called velvet, the scrapping depends on when in the season the deer is.
Velvet! Yes, the word was floating there, but it didn’t sound right.
mindblender said,
So should I put the velvet all over the bottom of the antlers, or just near the base?
Well, on the antlers I saw (and if I remember correctly), the velvet didn’t reach past the first off-shoot, and it seemed pretty mangy where it was. I think it was an 8-point buck, and the off-shoots were pretty asymmetrical. He did mention that it depended on the season. I’ll see if I can get a pic from him, and talk with him a little more about it.
Really like your buck, by the way. Couldn’t get the animation to work after downloading, however, so I can’t comment therewise.
Did you set that up as two Left/Right armatures, like two Gus’s front and back? And did you connect them with a spine, or leave them independent, like two guys in a holloween cow costume?
Challenge suggestion: Give his breath some early morning exhaust!
Like I said really depends on the time of the season, for instance the moose I shot when I was a teen was completely in the velvet. For some it would be completely scraped off, for others it could be partially scraped off, it can even be hanging off like shredded clothing and a bloody mess.
LetterRip
Trog: It’s all one armature, with one exception at the base of the neck. The bones for the body begin at the base of the neck and are all connected, and yes, there is a spine, and the bones for the head also begin at the base of the neck and go up the neck, through the ears and nose. And that’s a good idea for the breath thing. I might do that, but then again I might not.
LetterRip: Thanks. I think I’ll leave it completely scraped off.
I rendered a new anim. Not many changes in the animation itself, but I rendered it with glow and motion blur. It looks much better. It’s not worth posting, though.
I’m done with the deer project. It’s finished(in my eyes).
Video:
http://www.savefile.com/files/5302604
Image(obviously):
Mindblender
The deer´s backfeet still slip, but it is only a fraction of what
it was in previous version.
You did nice job on animating a deer, i think.