WEEK 6

Autodesk Maya

During this week we worked on the walking cycle. There are 3 concepts that define a good foundation for a walk.

1. Key poses: In a walk these would be your CONTACT poses.
2. Breakdowns: The passing position between your KEY POSES.
3. Extremes: These are the highest and lowest points of the walk.

This walking cycle is a vanilla walk which means that this is a BASIC walk, that it has no character to it. The time between poses set in the animator’s survival kit is your basic timing for a generic vanilla walk and should not be used as timing for animating character although this is a good place to start.
A full cycle for a walk is the point from which one contact frame “cycles through” 1 time until it gets back to the first contact frame; 2 steps. This is a cycle in animation.

Unreal Engine

we delved into the intricacies of setting up a character rig, marking a significant milestone in our Unreal Engine journey. This session emerged as the most engaging and instructive Unreal class to date. Our exploration began by downloading a free character from the marketplace, laying the groundwork for an immersive hands-on experience.

The focal point of our attention was the meticulous setup of nodes and controls for key body bones, including the spine, pelvis, and hand joints. The process unfolded gradually, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of each element of the rigging process. With the establishment of the fundamental bone structure, we seamlessly transitioned to the realm of animation, animating a concise three-second sequence using the meticulously crafted controls.