Character Animation Portfolio 3: Planning the Animations
As my character is now fully set up for animation, it is now time to plan the three animation sequences that relate to my character in some way. I will discuss how I can potentially apply the principles of animation that relate to my character’s semi-realistic theme.
I made three storyboard sequences to show the general idea of my three animations. This was so I could figure out what principles of animation would be suitable for my animations however they are not indicative of the perspectives that I intend to use. As my character is mostly based in reality, I wouldn’t be able to utilise some of the principles of animation such as squash and stretch to keep my animations within my theme.
The first animation sequence I thought of was an injured walking animation. Instead of just a simple walk cycle I wanted to include different elements in this animation such as a ‘superhero’ landing at the start and the removal of shrapnel from the character’s leg to recover from the injury. secondary action
For the second animation sequence, I thought of the character sliding down an incline and then rolling to end the slide action.
The final animation sequence idea I had was for the character to punch open a hatch to a secret location beneath the surface. Instead of having the character immediately succeed the idea was to have the character fail at first and then charge up their next attempt.
The principles of animation that I aim to include in my animations are: staging, ease in/ease out, exaggeration. added appeal, anticipation and arcs. Staging and added appeal will help to make my animations more interesting and make the actions in the animation more clear. Ease in/ease out and arcs will help me to make my animations closer to how the actions would happen in real life. Exaggeration and anticipation will help to make my animations more believable to the viewer.
Before moving onto the animation stage, I finalised my character rig.
I added new joints and control handles for the mask so I could manipulate the position of it.
I added control handles for the knees so I could rotate the legs.
I added a mouth hole by removing faces from the model and manipulating some edges and I found a free asset for the teeth (JL_Penkoff, 2020).
I added movement to the hand using driven keys so that it would be easier to animate.
References:
JL_Penkoff (2020) Upper and Lower Teeth 3D model [Model]. Available online: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/teeth-3d-model-1636970 [Accessed 10/05/22].