Freschrenders - Judgement Day (Part 3) - Work in Progress #6

Shot 6 Full Render Preview

Sorry for the longer wait between progress again as I was going through some personal stuff. I'm back and feeling great again, though, and shot 6 is all done! This is the first time I've ever done a shot like this before and it a real challenge of perspective. I hope you guys like it! I also want to mention that the animation has now hit 5 minutes in length. ;3

Walking with a Purpose (and Without Slipping)

Something that I have always struggled with in animation were walk cycles. They seem so simple but in practice there is a lot to think about. This is especially true when it comes to a character's personality.

So! What is Legacy's personality? It's a question that I think MOST of you would be able to answer, but in my eyes he's careless, confident, and most of all... EVIL! Of course, the latter of those three don't matter nearly as much as the first two. Legacy's confident in his size and a bit careless for those below, so I made his sure his walk cycle reflected that in his personality.

Now I also want to talk about a very common struggle with walk cycles: foot slipping. The point of a walk cycle is to make it so that you don't have to animate each individual step a character takes. This means walk cycles are typically animated in a static position (think walking in place).

Animations in Blender, by default, use bezier (or easing) interpolation. This is very helpful for smooth movements but it can be detrimental to creating slippage. Now when a bipedal creature walks their legs carry them forward in a linear fashion. This means there is no speeding up/slowing down as long as the legs are moving at a constant pace. Breaking down the walk cycle into 5 key poses gives us a better idea of when we need to make sure our interpolation is linear.

The "contact" pose is when the foot/paw that was previously in the air makes, well, contact with the ground. This is where the linear interpolation is used. Focus on Legacy's right paw. Notice how the graph editor shows a completely straight line when his paw makes contact with the ground. When animating the root control to move him, this linear movement prevents sliding.

In addition, I've found it best to have a little bit of a curve at the crest just before and after the linear motion helps to make the animation look less snappy.

Faking Simulations with Shapekeys/Blendshapes

The header is a doozy but I do want to talk about faking details! It might be hard to see in the shot but the lamp posts shake with each step. This isn't a simulation and actually just required a shape key and animation.

Below is a demonstration of how the shape key functions. It's simply just a moved and rotated version of the lamp post model that I'm switching back and forth between with an elastic curve.

It's important to note that the shape key should be able to be overdriven into negative values so that it doesn't bottom out on the animation curve. I'm replicating the same technique with the cars as well, just instead of using a shape key I'm using the car's rig.

Something I will always vouch for is the power of the "elastic" interpolation setting in the graph editor. It's perfect for intense shaking motions that rebound quickly.

That's all for this WIP! The next shot will undoubtedly be the hardest of Part 3 and I'm VERY much looking forward to it. Fortunately I get to re-use the walk cycle for it at least! I'm also working through this month's minimation featuring a certain large dog-boy... Stay tuned!