Here is my final for 3D Animation.



                                                         

Here is the jump & twist animation that happens in the back, it is kind of hard to see in the render.

Arcs Link 01 

Arcs Link 02 

Arcs are a very important principle in animation. They are used to give an object life using spline tangents instead of linear. If you have straight in-between frames, then your animation still may seem dead. Therefore, you must implement the use of splined arcs in your animation to breathe some life into them. Gravity and joints have a lot to do with arcs as well, because gravity is always acting. Therefore, everything will have some sort of arcing motion. Also, since we are human and we have joints, our bodies will move with arcing motion, because gravity acts to shift our weight.

Walk Cycle - Update!

Here is an updated playblast of my walk cycle. I decided to have him walking on a treadmill. I have added lights, basic textures, and a camera that swings around him during the 8 second clip.

Lighting and Rendering Tutorial

Texturing & Rendering a Simple Car Wheel by: Nelson Cruz

I found this tutorial online that shows you how to texture and render a simple car wheel using Maya. You can apply this method to many of your other models. However, if you want to model the wheel that they are texturing and rendering just follow this link.

 Modeling a Simple Car Wheel by: Nelson Cruz

ENJOY!

Observation - Walking

Knight was obtained from this Website

  I have been observing various people walking around my neighborhood, to the train, from the train, and downtown. I have even tried to watch or understand how I walk, but every time I think about myself walking, it is like my joints lock up or something. It is just like when you think about yourself breathing, and it becomes harder to keep your breathing steady.

  I noticed that larger people obviously walk slower than those who have a more slender figure. Also, men seem to walk with their arms outward, and women seem to keep a close knit walk.

  As with most women, when they walk, their legs cross and move more fluidly. I also noticed a couple of people walking with limps or hiccups in their walk cycles.

  If I were to transfer any of these walks to a character, I would definitely choose to use one with a slight defect or limp, because it gives it more emotion.

Walk Cycle - Progress

Here is a set of playblasts showing my in progress animation using the rig provided to us. I want to make some further adjustments to his walk, and I also want to add the animation of both his eyes and antennae.

Anticipation Research

12 Principle of Animation

   From what I understand Anticipation is pretty self explanatory within animation. Anticipation is when something or someone that is being animated prepares the viewer to see an action. An example would be someone who is going to jump anticipates by bending their knees and getting lower to the ground before jumping up. If you did not have anticipation in an animation it would just feel wrong. You need to have anticipation to make something feel natural and alive.