First Character Animation

First block of summer semester is over, and second block is well under way. I thought I would take a moment to show you what I did in my Principles of 3d Animation class.

The Instructor had us each purchase a stuffed animal that we would first model, then texture, then animate. Here is the Stuffed Animal I chose.


And here he is again on the computer.

The model has a skeletal structure hidden inside. Both the model and the skeletal structure are real easy to mess up if your not careful. One of the ways we prevent this is to make them untouchable, and instead we give ourselves "Controls" to work with. That is what those colored lines are. Since it is easy to get turned around when animating, my controls are color coded. Red for Right, Blue For Left, and Green for anything down the center. This makes it easy to identify certain body parts using a shape, then add a color for the side. Then you can move him, like so:


Here are a couple of animations I made with him. First we have a walk. Note in the final 3 seconds the moving colored lines.






Next I have a run sequence posted. Initially, I liked the walk better, but in retrospect, I think this run is best.






In related news, The senior Animation project is floundering and several of us new to the 3d program were recruited to assist in the animation portion of it. I really don't know that I'm going to be able to contribute very much, but I'm giving it a go anyway. It's not for school credit or money or anything, but having my name in the credits as an animator won't hurt a resume.