Production

Here is the production page for my blog where you will find the production process for the animations and models i make. Here you will find screenshots from the process of me making my products with descriptions and reflections on each product i make.

Plan for production

My plan for production is to first make all my 3d models which includes texturing , rendering and sending them off the the level designer , i will then move onto making my animations that i talked about in pre-production for the game in which i will start with the character animations which includes all the attack animations , run cycle and idle animation , then move onto the enemy animation's which will include all the walks for the enemy's (like the elephant and tiger) and all the attacks for the enemy's too and finally animate the UI for the game which include things like the health bar and the loading symbols of the game.

Overall myplan is to spend 1 week on my models , then 4 weeks on my animations and making sure everything i have made is of high quality.

Also here you can find the link to my skill development page where i will be analysing any videos i use in the FMP

Below you will find the reference images that i will used to make my all my models which include my own sketches and moodboards that i have already created.

FMP board

As mentioned in my productions plan i will start by making my models and the first model i will make is the chair and stool and below you will find the production process for these models.

Everything below is from 10/04/2024

To start I laid out my reference images I am going to use and made sure to put on separate layers that are colour coded (light blue) and to make them reference images so they cannot be clicked on in the 3D workspace. I then label them accordingly to make sure it was clear to me which image was which. I then put the images into a group to make sure I knew where they were if I need to alter them again.

For the chair I first blocked out the seat in the legs to see the sort of size I want to get for my model I then froze transformations so if anything went wrong It could be relocated back to zero.

Next I modelled the spine and the back of the chair and bevelled them to make them look more like prongs and not just flat which help add depth to the model.

I went around the legs in the seat of the chair and bevelled them as well to give them more depth this helps the model not look flat I also named each part of the chart accordingly in the outliner to make sure I didn't get confused in which part was which I will eventually put these into a group so I know where the chair is.

Lifting the seat up a bit to give it more depth I then went around to make sure there is no engons I then spotted engons on the spine of the chair, so I started to fix them before I started uving this chair.

Here is the image of the fixed engons I can now move on to the UVs for this model.Which i then realised the weren't needed so i deleted them.

Here is the final model of the chair I will now move on to the UVs for this model and then I will make the stool.

Here are the initial UVs for the chair before I put any cuts on the model or unfolded the UVs.

I found out that I forgot to do more and engons.so I deleted the top faces of the legs as you won't see them, and I fixed the engons on the bottom of the leg so I can UV this model properly.

Here are the cuts I made on the legs I made sure to place the cuts in a good position so the player couldn't see them and to the right of that the UVs for the legs also the image grid with a squares to show the textures there will be no stretching and no horizontal squares.

Here are the initial UVs for the seat of the chair before i did any cut on them..

Here are the cuts I made for the seat and the image texture to show there is no stretching. I then I also made sure the cuts were in a place where the player could not see them so them so it would not ruin the texture.

here shows the initial uvs for the spine of the chair before I have cut and unfolded them.

I also made an edit to the spine of the chair as I deleted the faces on the top and bottom due to the player not seeing them as they are covered up.

There are the final uvs for the spine and the image texture that shows no stretching.

Uvs and image squares for the back of the chair.

Initial uvs of the whole chair before I have laid them out properly.

Final uvs for the chair after I have laid them out. I also did the image texture to show there is no stretching on the models the textures will be good.

Now I will move on to creating the stool

For the stool I first blocked out the seat general shape so I can get an idea of it.

I then modelled the legs for the stool, so I know what I want them to look like.

Is where I bevelled the legs and the upper leg to make them look more like the art style of low Polly and give them more depth.

I then deleted the top faces of the legs as they are covered by the seat, so they're not needed.

I spotted engons so on the top of the legs so I needed to fix them so here are the pictures of the before and after the fix of the engons.

Here is the final model for the stool before I have done the done the uvs for it.

Here are the initial UVs for stool as you can see, they need a lot of work to them as the textures are stretching a lot.

before I could start the uvs I noticed an engon so I had to fix it and here are the pictures of the before and after. I did to fix this problem is delete a vertices on the edge and delete an edge and then rejoin it back together.

Here are the initial uvs for the top of the legs. As you can see they need a bit of work due to the textures stretching a lot.

here are the cuts I made for the top of the legs on the uvs before and after they are laid out.

Here are the uvs after I have laid them out with the texture image to show there is no stretching. I have also made sure the cuts are in places where the player cannot see them, so it does not ruin the texture.

here Is the seats uvs before they're laid out and have any cuts. As you can see they need a bit of work due to the textures stretching.

Here are the cuts I did for the seat of this stool. The uvs have not been laid out yet.

Here are the uvs after they've been laid out with the image texture. As you can see there is no stretching on the squares which means the textures will be good. I made sure the cuts are in a place where the player would not see them as it would avoid ruining the texture.

Are the final uvs for the whole stool they are laid out. As you see the texture grid is good as there is no stretching meaning the textures will be good.

before I could move onto texturing these models, I found non manifold faces on the stool so I had to clean them up by connecting vertices to each other here are the pictures of the before and after.

Above is the process of me importing my chair and stool models into substance painter for texturing. In this process i first imported the respective models in (both models processes for texturing where the same) to substance painter. I then made a new layer so i could drag my chosen material on to the model which was brown that then covered the model in the brow simple colour look i was going for . After i applied the colour i then baked my model to get the normal and occlusions and bakse the texture on to it (important to note that i didn't have a high poly for this model so i didn't need to bake that on. I then was ready to go into blender and get a final render of these models.

Below are the texture maps , normals and ambient occlusions for the chair and stool models

CHAIR

STOOL

Here i then imported my models into blender to get a final render and make a turntable for these models.

Above are the screenshot of me appling the respective materials to each model so they where ready for the final render and the turntable. i also turned up the hue and saturation to achieve the mono-chromatic look we want to achieve in our game , so i wil lahve two renders one with colour and one in the mono-chromatic look of our game.

Here i am setting up the scene for the render and turntable. I did this by making sure the models where in view and the lighting was good so you can see the model in the render. For the turn table i set a rotation key frame and rotated it 360 degrees so it did a full spin from frame 1-30.To achieve a better look on the turntable i also extrueded the planes back and moved the camera to get a better shot for the turntable. You can find the final renders and turntables here

Reflection on chair and stool

Overall , I am pleased with how the chair and stool came out as they effectively achieve the artstyle of low poly and textures that fit the colour sheme of the game. I am also happy with how i made two renders one with colour and one that is more in line i with how these models will look like in game. One of the main areas iam most pleased in is how the final renders and turntables came out as they have effective lighting and a good scene where its easy to see the models. Another area i am happy with is is the workflow i used to make these models which was to make the basic meshes in MAYA and uv them i then imported the models into substance painter and finally into blender to produce the final renders and the turntables for these models. Overall this workflow was a really efficient way of making these models and as i make more models my skill and knowledge with this workflow will grow and get better helping me be more efficient at it. One area i would like to improve on in future is the baking process and making sure my normals and occlusions are of the best quality they can be this is an area i will focus on for the rest of the models i make.

Here marks the end of 10/04/2024

Everything below is from 11/04/2024

As mentioned in my productions plan i will start by making my models and the next models i will make is the bed and table and below you will find the production process for those models.

Here I put in the reference images that I will use to make the bed and table models.

I also put them into a group in the outliner as well as this I color coded them on different layers to make them a reference image and so I know which is which

Here I modelled the tabletop on the leg for the table. It's important to know on the leg I deleted some of their faces as they cannot be seen by the player and will help reduce the polygons and optimise it better. Blocking this model out will help me to get an idea of what I want this monitor look like on the size of it.

Here is the model of the table before any bevels have been done to it so I can add more depth to it. But this is just a good indication of what the table will overall look like.

Here is the final model of the table after I've beveled it to give it some more depth. I will now move on to the UVs for this model. It's important to note that I remove some other faces as you cannot see them for example on the legs, I removed the top and bottom faces as well as this I also made sure there was no engons on this model by connecting some the vertices together.

Here I am cleaning up some engons that I found to fix this I connected two vertices together and deleted the faces they made to get rid of the engon.

Here are the before and after images of this process.

Here are the initial uvs for the tabletop before they are laid out and cut.

Below this image Is a picture of the uvs once they have been cut and laid out properly.

Here are the laid out uvs for the middle of the table with not texture stretching and I placed the cuts in areas where the textures won’t be affected and still look good.

Here are the laid out uvs for the support of the table with no texture stretching and I placed the cuts in areas where the textures won’t be affected and still look of high quality.

Here are the laid out uvs for the bottom of the table with no texture stretching and I placed the cuts in areas where the textures won’t be affected and still look of high quality.

Here are the laid out uvs for the legs of the table with no texture stretching and I placed the cuts in areas where the textures won’t be affected and still look of high quality.

Here are the final UVs for the whole table that have all been laid out in an appropriate way with no texture stretching. This will really help when I start texturing as it will allow me to apply textures easier because in know which part of the uv is which. I updated the uvs for the table as to make them better this will help me when I come to texture this model.

I will now move onto making the bed.

Here is modelled the headboards, the mattress and the legs for the bed to give me an idea of what I wanted them to look like and get an idea of the size I want it to be.

Here I finished of the headboards for the bed then I made the pillows and cover for the bed. This is also the finished model for the bed before I have removed some faces you can’t see which will help with the optimization of the model. I will do this next.

Here is an example of me removing faces from certain parts of the models to further optimize the model. I have also done this for the rest of the model, and I can now move onto the uvs for this model.

here is the uvs for the top railings of the bed. As you can see the textures are not stretched. I made sure to put the cut in places where it would least likely interrupt the textures. I also laid it out which helped the textures. Its important to note that the most of the uvs on this model will be the same as well as the process to cut them and lay them out.

Here are the laid out and cut uvs for both bed railings and they are laid out so there is no texture stretching. I also made sure to put cut in areas where it wouldn’t ruin the textures.

Here is the mattress uvs after I have cut them and laid them out, so the textures won’t be stretched. I also placed the cuts in places where the textures won’t be ruined.

Here are uvs for the cover of the bed after they have been laid out and cuts have been done to make sure there is no texture stretching.

Here are uvs for the pillow of the bed after they have been laid out and cuts have been done to make sure there is no texture stretching.

Here are uvs for the feet of the bed after they have been laid out and cuts have been done to make sure there is no texture stretching.

Here are uvs for the front rails of the bed after they have been laid out and cuts have been done to make sure there is no texture stretching.

Here are the final uvs for the bed with all the cuts done and laid out appropriately. I made sure to put cuts in places that would not ruin the textures for the player and avoid texture stretching.

I will now move onto texturing these models

Now both models are done I can now move onto the texturing stage of these models.

Above is the process of me importing my table and bed models into substance painter for texturing. In this process i first imported the respective models in (both models processes for texturing where the same) to substance painter. I then made a new layer so i could drag my chosen material on to the model which was brown that then covered the model in the brow simple color look i was going for. This process was slightly different when i textured the bed as i had to make multiple layers and add a black masks to them which then allowed me to select certain faces of the model and uvs , this allowed me to have areas like the pillow and cover/sheet of the bed be different colors . After i applied the color i then baked my model to get the normal and occlusions and bakes the texture on to it (important to note that i didn't have a high poly for this model so i didn't need to bake that on. I then was ready to go into blender and get a final render of these models.

Below are the texture maps , normals and ambient occlusions for the table and bed models

BED

TABLE

Here i then imported my models into blender to get a final render and make a turntable for these models.

Reflection on bed and table

Overall , I am pleased with how the bed and table came out as they effectively achieve the artstyle of low poly and textures that fit the color scheme of the game. I am also happy with how i made two renders one with colour and one that is more in line i with how these models will look like in game. One of the main areas i am most pleased in is how the final renders and turntables came out as they have effective lighting and a good scene where its easy to see the models. Another area i am happy with is is the workflow i used to make these models which was to make the basic meshes in MAYA and uv them i then imported the models into substance painter and finally into blender to produce the final renders and the turntables for these models. Overall this workflow was a really efficient way of making these models and as i make more models my skill and knowledge with this workflow will grow and get better helping me be more efficient at it.Here while i thing the baking process was an improvement over the previous models i made it still needs work so i will make sure this improves and i develop my skill in this area even more.

Here marks the end of 11/04/2024

Here marks the start of 12/04/2024 and 13/04/2024

Next i will start production on the wall , floors and bars for these models i will make 2 variations of the wall , one floor and one wall with bars on it. To achieve the desired look of these models i will be making a 'high poly' and baking it into to the low poly which will be a plane for example i will do this for the wooden beam that ill be on the walls.

First i pulled in the reference image i am going to use to make my models this will help me know what i want mu models to look like.

I then pulled in 4 planes as these will act as the low poly meshes for my models and the i will model the high poly over it. These planes did not need uv ing as a plane is only one side and has no edges on anything on the back.

Here i started on the the high poly for the first variation of the wall where i started with placing the wooden beams on the edges i did this too give me an idea on the boundaries that i want for the rest of the wooden beams.

here is the final high poly model for the first variation of the wall this will be baked onto the low poly when i import the models into substance painter to apply colours to the models. To make sure it was ready to be textured i applied different materials to it the where i want the different materials like wood to be.

Here are the initial beams for the 2nd variation of the wall i placed these to give me an idea on the parameters for this wall and give me an insight into where i want to place the other beams.

Here is the final 2nd variation of the wall that is now ready to be textured in substance painter. To make sure it was ready to be textured i applied different materials to it the where i want the different materials like wood to be. This will be baked on to the low poly in substance painter.

Here is the initial design for the wall that will have bars in . i started with the wooden beams to give me an idea of the design of the wall and where i want the bars to be in the wall so i could move onto makin the bars which i will do next.

Here i am making the bars for the this model. i first pulled in a cylinder and reduced its subdivisions by 13 so it would would more accurately fit the artstyle i am trying to achieve in the game which is low poly. The two pictures on the left are showing the initial shape of the bar and then one the bar has been placed on the model to show how it looks and help give me an idea on how i want it to look.

Here is the model once i finished putting the bars in there appropriate place. This also helped me see if anything was missing form my model to give it a little more detail while still sticking with the low poly art style.

Here is the final model for the wall with the bars. Also as previously mentioned i added a few extra wooden beams which adds the missing detail i was looking for. This model is now ready to be textured into substance painter where the colors will be added to it and this design will be baked onto the low poly.

In this stage before i could move on to texturing i had to make sure that where i wanted different material for the model i had to change the color of it i maya. Also Before i could start texturing in substance i also had to make sure that my high poly was beveled as this would help the bakes be of higher quality , lastly before i could start texturing i had to adjust the thickness of the model to make sure the bake would produce normals.

Above is the outliner for this file. This showcases how i am organizing the different meshes and reference images that i am using. This way of organizing things help speed up my workflow in Maya as i know where all the meshes are and i can access each asset in the file easily. Overall this helps be more effective in moddeling in maya.,

Initial import

Bake process

ID view wall 1

Applying textures

Bakes process

ID view wall 2

Applying textures

Above is the process of me importing my table and bed models into substance painter for texturing. In this process i first imported the respective low poly models in (both models processes for texturing where the same) to substance painter i then baked on my high poly to the low poly so i was then ready to apply the textures to the models.. This process was slightly different to the my past models as when i textured the walls i had to make multiple layers and add a black masks to them which while in the ID view of the models allowed me to select certain faces of the model and uvs , this allowed me to have areas like the wooden beams in different materials . I then was ready to go into blender and get a final render of these models.

Wall 1 bakes

Wall 2 bakes

As for the process of making the wall with bars this process was slightly different which i will go through below.

Initial import

Bake process

ID view wall 2

Applying textures

The start to this workflow was the same as i imported the low poly into substance painter but , as previously stated the previously stated the creation process for the wall with bars in was sightly different to my past wall models , one of the main reasons its different is because in the low and high poly models i made the middle transparent which is why there is bakes that show both the outer walls and the bar areas of the model. Although applying the materials for the outer wall was the same as my other models as all i did for this was go to the ID view and go select the faces i wanted to apply the brown texture on and then drag the inner wall material on a layer under it. The part where the workflow starts to differ is when i was texturing the bars where i made sure you could see through them to do this I made an opacity paint layer by changing the material settings and painted on the areas that I wanted to be see through. On a separate layer i then selected the bars and applied the metal texture to them.

Wall With bars bakes

Wall With bars-bars bakes

Reflection on walls creation

Overall , the creation process of making the wall was really helpful un developing my skills in the software substance painter ant gaining skills in that software to become more efficient in it and learn certial workflows too like utilising the layer and mask features so i can effectively texture models. Some of the main skills i picked up from this process is how to bake in substance painter , how to apply textures in substance painter and how to make materials opaque in substance. I also gained knowledge on how to export the textures from this software so they can be put into unreal and blender where i will be rendering these models. To conclude , i am happy with how the final texture and models came out and pleased that the fit the art style and theme we are going for in our game and how my knowledge in modeling and texturing has been expanded.

After discussing with the teacher and giving me feedback about the best way to do a cobblestone floor and looking ar other options for the floor model i will be using a software called substance designer which will help make my floor of higher quality and be more efficient for making my floor model. Below you will find the production process i used to make the texture in substacne designer.

First I added the 3 different shapes I will be using to make the cobblestone pathway

Then added a blur to greater achieve the cobble stone look.

I then used the tile generators to combine the shapes I made to make a pattern I did this by using the blend node.

I then attached the pattern to the height and ambient node which then applied it the mesh so I can see how the pattern looks.

I then connected put and noise and level node into a blend and then attached that to roughness.

I then attached up the nodes to generate the normals I did this by using a normals blend and adding another noise to it to finally generate the noise.

Finally, I connected up the colour nodes to apply colour to the texture.

Here is the final graph for the floors texture.

Below are the texture maps for the floor texture

Reflection on creating the floor texture.

Overall , the creation process of me making the floor texture helped enhance my skills with substance designer and help me learn the particular workflows to use when using this software and an overall idea of what how to create a texture. I am also pleased with the feedback i gained from the tutors as they gave me constructive feedback on how i should texture the floor which i why i used substance designer for the floor design. I am happy with how the final texture came out and how it accurately fits the setting and artstyle we are going for in our game.

Here i imported the low polys for the walls into blender and later added a simple plane which i then applied the floor texture too.

Above i am applying the texture maps to the low poly models which is applying the textures to the models from the texture models.

To the right and left i am applying the textures to the wall with bars and using the blender add-on node wrangler that gathers all the texture maps quicker helping with the efficiency of my workflow in blender. I found out about this add-on from a student who was giving me feedback on my blender workflow.

Here i am setting up the scene for the render. I did this by making sure the models where in view and the lighting was good so you can see the model in the render. You can find the final renders here . (It important to note that i didn't do a turntable for the walls and floors due to the player never seeing the other side of the wall.)

Reflection on overall model creation

Overall i am happy with the models i have made for the FMP and our game and pleased with how they effectively fit the theme and art style that's in our game. Another area i am pleased with is how this process has enhanced my knowledge in multiple softwares like substance painter and designer ,maya and blender and are all skills and workflows i can carry an use in the future when i use these software again. To conclude on my models i am extremely please with how they turned out and how useful the feedback i gained on them was which made my models better and my workflows more efficient in each software i used.

Here marks the end of the models i will create for the FMP i will now move onto making my animations i am making for the FMP

Here marks the end of 12/04/2024 and 13/04/2024

Here marks the start of 17/04/2024

Plague doctor - Download Free 3D model by Goregamer7364bored - Plague doctor - Download Free 3D model by Goregamer7364

Above is the model i will be using for my character animations. Originally i was going to use the 3D modelers model as it would accurately fit the low poly art style of our game. But due to software issues i wasn't able to receive the models in a appropriate time for me to do my animations. Like previously stated this model does not fit the art style of our game but will be what i used for my animations as it is the closet model to what the character will look like in our game. It is important to note that due to my time plan i do have extra time at the end and if i receive the actual model by then i will do the animations again with the actual model. This model is by Goregamer7364 and is a plague doctor and is the closet to what the actual charcter in our game will look like. So using this model will give the representation of what the character and animations will look like.

Below you will find the production process of my character animations

To start with i will make the rig for the character in the software MAYA:

First i imported the model into maya and added a simple plane for a floor to help me animate.To make sure my workflow was efficient and there is no confusion in the process of making my character animations i made sure to put everything into appropriate layers and groups so i know where everything is if i ever need to access a certain mesh or asset in the scene.It is also important to note that for the first animation i am doing which is his run he will not have the scythe in his hands which is his weapon and why i have not attached it to his hands yet.

To start making the rig i first placed the guides on the where the joints would be placed on the mesh so i could then genrate the control rig that can then move my mesh. My research on anatomy which you can find here helped me with this as it helped me know where the joints in the body are placed.

After placing the guides i then generated the control rig which allowed me to move the mesh. Yet some of the movement where clipping through each other , to solve this i made sure i applied the appropriate weight painting which is what i will discuss nest.

Here iam weight painting. This is too make sure that when for example a leg moves it only brings the leg along and nothing else.

Its important to note that the more red on the weight painting means that it will affect that specific area more which in the legs case i didn't want it to bring the skirt along to solve this i added more weight to the hips and made sure to cover the skirt and removed some of the legs to make the leg movements not cause any weird pulling and clipping.

Now i will rig the fingers

Here i am adding fingers to the mesh.( important to not that in a low poly mesh the hand would be a clamp with only a few bones in it that control it , but due to the circumstance previously mentioned i decided to make a full hand rig). To add fingers i fist laid out the bones in the hands , to make sure they lined up with the fingers i then attached them to the wrist bone and finally defined them in the skeleton making sure to mirror this to help make my workflow making this rig more efficient and so the fingers would move on the mesh. I them regenerated the rig and made sure my weight painting was good and finished the rig for the hands.

Final rig below

above is the final rig i will be using for my character animations (without the scythe which i will add to his hand with constraints later)

The first animation i will make is the run cycle for this character (its important to know that this character is not low poly so the animation style might be slightly altered from the low poly style that i have researched but all the fundamentals will still be there in this animation.

RUN CYCLE

Reference run video

Here is the reference video i filmed of myself running that i will use to help me create this animation.

Here is a video of all the play blasts that i did throughout the creation of this animation of the run cycle they are labeled with the respective version of the play blast.

Here is the initial graph for the animation and shows the the layout of the keyframes from 0 to 48. the most important part of the graph is that it shows how each keyframe is 6 frames apart which helps with the timing of the animation and how the animation is running.

Above are the poses that feature in this animation these poses include the contact , passing , up and take off. These poses are crucial to the run cycle. It is important to note that while these are the fundamentals of the poses that are in my final animation they are not the finaised ones and are here to show the basic poses that feature in my run.

Due to the shoulders appearing weird in the initial play blast here i am tinkering with the shoulder control to make sure it is rotating properly and moving in the correct way. To help this i also deleted some key frames between 30-48 which helped the problem of the arm moving in weird ways.

Here i am making slight changes to the weight painting to prevent clipping in the animation this helps the overall animation look better and making sure each part of the body moves the appropriate part it should be moving and not pulling any part it shouldn't.

Here i am adding more movement to the hips and shoulders i did this by rotating and moving them forward. I did this with the aim of adding more weight of the animation. Weight is a crucial part to the animation as it helps give it a sense of realism and helps with the follow through of some actions in the animation.

Here i am finessing the animation making sure that there is an effective follow through motion in the animation. To achieve this i tinkered with the spine and and forearms to make sure they where in the right positions at the right time. This process also helps with adding more weight to the animation.

here i am going through the graph editor making sure the animation is smooth and it flows and timed properly. This i the first step in finalizing the animation ready for it to be exported to unreal.

In the picture below is showing me editing one of the graphs by smoothing it out by rotating the tangents this helps make the animation look better and flow more effectively. And overall makes the animaiton of higher quality.

Here is the final graph for the animation after it has been smoothed and all the poses have been finalized with effective follow through and secondary action that are present in a run cycle and ready for the final play blast which can be found here.

Reflection on Run cycle

Overall , the i am very pleased with the final run cycle as it is an effective run with a good sense of weight and follow through motion in it which helps make the animation better and of higher quality. One of the areas i am most pleased with is how much i made sure to focus on the 12 principles of animation and implementing them into this run and how effective those principles made the weight in the run. For example the arm have a good sense of follow through and really look like they are generating power for the character to run. Another huge positive of of this run cycle is that is has helped me further understand the software MAYA and animating in it it also helped me further understand the workflows , for example how to finalize an animation using the graph and how to portray effective follow through in the animation. To, conclude i am happy with the final run cycle and pleased with how i implemented feedback that i gained from speaking with the tutor and how much that improved my knowledge on animation as a whole and the the workflows in the software MAYA.

Here marks the end of 17/04/2024 and 18/04/2024

Here marks the start of 19/04/2024

The second animation i will make is the vile throw animation for the character

Vile throw

Vile Throw reference video

Here is the reference video that i filmed of myself throwing a ball that i will use to help me make this animation.

Here are all the playblasts i did throughout the process of making this animation they are labeled accordingly to show which version is which and effectively show how this animation evolved overtime.

Above is the initial poses for version 1 of the vile throw animation. While these poses are ok they still needed a lot of work so after discussion with my tutor i decided to redo the animation to make it of better quality and more accurately depict a throwing movement.

Here are the main poses for version 2 of my animation. Theses poses come together to more accurately depict a throw with the effective weight and follow through that are necessary for a throw animation to make it of high quality.

Here are the in-between poses for version 2 which are necessary to this animation as they are offset to the other keyframes which helps add the appropriate timing , weight , follow through and secondary motion to the animation. Some examples of these inbetween poses doing this are making sure the elbow come forward before the forearm does to emulate how your arm would move in real life.

Here is the graph for version 1 of the vile throw animation and showcases the frames that my keyframes are on and how they are laid out. While i was pleased with the frame rate and basic layout of the keyframes of version 1 , after discussing with my tutor it helped me realise that the poses where more indicative of a slap and not a throw which is why i made a version 2 of this animation which more accurately show a throw.

Here is the initial pose for the second version of this animation and is a major improvement over the initial pose of version 1 as it more accurately depicts what your arm would look like before you are about to throw something.

Here i am finessing the throw animation like seen above this includes adding in-between animations which helps with timing.

Here is the graph before I have smoothed it for the throw animation I also did a playblast to show the animation just before it has been smoothed

To the left are images of before and after of a graph being smoothed (top being unsmoothed and bottom being smoothed). This is a crucial part of the animation workflow as this helps makes the overall animation flow and look better.

Here is the final graph after i smoothed it which helps with the flow and timing of the animation. Here i was also doing the final touches and checks to make sure it was ready for the final playblast and to be exported to unreal.

If you notice any clipping or holes in the animation the mesh I used topology wasn’t the greatest so some of the mesh is pulled apart but weight painting is fine and is a models issue.

Here is a screenshot of me exporting my animation ready to be sent off unreal engine and put into our game.

You can find the final product here on my final product page

Reflection on Vile throw animation

Overall , i am pleased with how the final version of my throw animation turned out as it effectively shows the weight of a throw and all the appropriate follow through and secondary action which helps make this animation a high quality throw. Although one area that i think i could of done to a higher standard is my reference video as i was overthinking the throw so i was over exaggerating the throw which is why version 1 of the throw had weird poses and looked more like a slap than a throw. Some areas i am pleased with is how i gained feedback from peers and tutors to gather other opinions on my animations to help improve it , i am also happy with how much the process of making this animation helped enhance my skills in maya and gain a better understanding of the workflow while in animating in maya. To conclude , i am happy with the final result as it shows an effective throw that considers the 12 principles of animation as it has the appropriate weight , exaggeration and follow through present in the animation.

Before i start the next animation i will set up constraints for the scythe to make the character look like he is swinging it.

The scythe i will be using was made by the 3D modeler in our group.

Set up constraints so the model can hold the scythe to do this I put used a locator and parented it the scythe mesh then parented the wrist to the locator, so it moved with the arm and the rest of the body.

The third animation i will make is the basic attack for the character who's weapon is a scythe.

Basic attack

Basic attack reference video

Here is the reference video that i took of myself to help me make the basic attack animation.

Above are the playblasts i captured throughout making this animation to show the development of it. In version 4 i wanted to focus on the feet and show how i developed that area of the animation and in version 6 i sped up the whole animation as after discussion with my peers we agreed it was too slow in the previous version and this changed really helped the animation look better on a whole.

Above is a image of all the main poses in the basic attack animation. In this animation he is doing a simple swing of the scythe. Some of the main area i wanted to make sure were present in this animation is to accurately show the weight of a swing and how your body would have to move to swing a scythe.

Here i am finessing the animation making sure all the subtle movements in this animation are present to help show the weight and follow through needed in this animation.

Here is the final graph for this animation before i have smoothed it and shows the layout of the frames and spacing of them , but also shows that the graph needs a lot of work which is what i will do next.

Here I am in the graph editor smoothing out the graph to make sure the animation is flowing accurately and timing is correct. This process also helps me spot any errors in the animation that i didn't spot before.

Here is the final graph for the animation afte rit has now been smoothed and all the errors that degraded the animation have now been fixed and you can final version here.

Reflection on basic attack animation

Overall , i am pleased with how the final basic attack animation turned out as it effectively shows someone swinging a scythe with principles like follow through , secondary action which all help this basic attack to be of high quality and look good. One area i do wish i could of improved on is the reference video , as similar to the throw i was overthinking the attack which lead to it being harder to use as a reference video. Some areas i am pleased with though are areas such as how the animation shows a good amount of weight and how it looks like he is really pulling the scythe up and attacking forward with and how the secondary action makes it look like there is power in the swing , again i am happy with how the process of making this animation helped expand my knowledge in the maya software and 3d animating workflows.To conclude , i am happy with the final animation and how much i considered the 12 principles of animation and how the feedback i gained and used from peers helped me improve the animation.

The Fourth animation i will make is the idle animation for the character.

Idle animation

Idle reference video

Above is the video i took of myself doing the idle animation that i will use as reference when making the idle animation.

Above are the main two poses in the idle animation. These are simple poses where he is simply moving up and down with the aim of trying to emulate the motion of breathing in and out and add abit of personality to the character.

Initial timeline before smoothing of graph and spotting any discrepancies in the animation that i didnt spot before.

Finessing the animation to make sure all the appropriate movements are there. Adjusted the scythe arm to make it move less

The graph didn’t need much work as most of it was smooth and went up and down at the appropriate times.

Reflection on Idle animation

Overall , i am happy with the final idle animation while it is a simple animation it is an essential one for the character so he isn't just doing nothing when he is standing still in the game , this also helps add personality to the character. On a whole i am pleased with the animation and didn't really struggle with any aspects of it . As this was a simpler animation to make i made sure to make the most of it and used it as a stage where i could really develop and enhance my knowledge in maya and animation as a whole so i can keep making animations that are of higher quality and accurately depict the movements i am trying to portray. To conclude , like previously stated i am happy with the final idle animation , i am also happy with how i talked with my peers to gain outsider feedback on my animations the i used and it helped improve the final idle animation and how i successfully used my reference video to help me make an accurate idle animation.

The fifth animation i will do is the ground slam attack for the main character

ground slam attack

Ground slam reference video

Above is the reference video i took of myself that i used to help me with this animation.

These are the playblasts i captured throughout making this animation. They show how this animation developed throughout me making it.

Above are the main poses for the ground slam animation.In this animation his is lifting up his scythe and hitting the ground with power. which in game will cause an aoe attack. Some of the main aspect to make sure this animation was successful was to make sure that he really looked like he is swinging a scythe and to do this i made sure to consider princilbes like follow through and secondary action.

Above are the in-between frames for this animation which help enhance the animation by adding a better sense of weight to it by further using follow through , secondary action and accurate timing which all help the animation be better.

Here is the graph for the animation before i smoothed it. Smoothing the animation is essential to make the animation flow better and make it of higher quality.

Here i am in the graph editor where i am smoothing the animation. To the left are images of part of the graph before and after i have smoothed it. Going through the graph also helps me spot any discrepancies in the animation that i didn't notice before and now i can easily fix them.

Here is the graph after i have smoothed it and fixed timing issues in the animation. To do this i lifted some of the keyframes up and down respectively to make sure all the necessary movements where happening at the right time.

Reflection on ground slam animation

Overall , i think the ground slam animation is good and shows a accurate motion of someone swinging the scythe and hitting the ground. Although i think the overall movement are good i do think that this animation could be improved but i'm not sure in what area at the moment so to overcome this i will gain feedback on this animation and revisit this and try to improve it if i have some spare time in the final weeks of production of the FMP in week 10. There is some areas that i am happy with though like how my knowledge with the maya software has improved in areas like render and playblasting to make sure they are of high quality and how my skills have improved with the graph editor as this helps smooth the animation and makes it of higher quality. To conclude , I think the overall animation is good but could be improved and like previously stated if i gain spare time in the final weeks of the FMP i will come back to this animation and try improve it and i will gain feedback to help me do so yet i am still happy with how my skills in maya and animation have further developed through making this animation.

Here marks the end of 19/04/2024 and 20/04/2024 and 21/04/2024

Here marks the start of 22/04/2024

The next animation i will Produce is the whirlwind attack for the character.

whirlwind attack

Whirlwind attack reference video

Above is the reference video i took of myself that i used to help me create this animation by looking at the poses and body movements in it.

Above are the playblasts that i took of throughout the process of making this animation as this was a fairly simple animation to do there wasn't much tweaking i had to do to it ,as the main thing i changed from version 1-3 was the speed of the animation.

Here is the pose that the main character will be in during the spin. Like stated in pre-production this pose is inspired by how a flamingo stands because the main character has bird like tendencies and tranforms more and more into a bird throughout our game.

Here is the initial graph and frame layout for the animation. The initial frame layout for this animation was 0-48 but as seen in my progress playblasts it was to fast so as you will see in the next screenshot i lowered it to 0-24 which helped speed up the animation.

Like previously stated here i lowered the frames it took for this animation as it is meant to be a quick spin around attack and lowering the frames layout really helped to get this attack effectively.

Reflection on whirlwind attack

Overall , i am happy with how the whirlwind attack turned out as i was initially worried as i wasn't 100 percent sure on how to execute this animation but in the end it turned out to be effective. This was a simpler attack to produce than the others i have done so far and due to this being one of the last character animations iam doing my knowledge on how to make this work was already present but i am still happy with the practice in animation in maya as it will help me further develop my skills. To conclude , i am pleased with how the final whirlwind attack turned out and how it shows a quick effective spin which is what my aim was with this animation also the practce in the software maya was useful too.

scythe throw

The next animation i will work on is the final character animation which is the scythe throw where he throws his scythe like a boomerang.

Its important to note about this animation that it is meant to be a quick throw of the scythe and after this animation the character in game will go straight back to his idle pose so there is no need for a pose while he is throwing and i will see if it needs a catch or not i will test that when making this animation.

Scythe throw reference

Here is the video i took of myself that i will use to help me make the scythe throw animation.

Here are the progress playblasts i took throughout the production of making this animation. Version 1 is just showing the initial poses , Version 2 i am working on speeding up the throw, Version 3 working on speeding up the throw and poses after the throw , Version 4 is showing the animation after it has been made faster and also has a catch , Version 5 not liking the catch so discussed with team to get feedback and version 6 is showing the animation without the catch which helps the animation be smoother.

Here is the initial pose for the animation and is the pose he is going to swing from to throw the scythe.

Here is the pose he will throw the scythe from. In game every pose after this throw the scythe will no longer be in his hands and will return to him after a few seconds after the scythe spins a few times , it will then return to the player while they are in either there idle or run animation.

In-between frame. In this in-between frame i made sure to put the left arm in the proper position on the scythe so it looks natural.

This is another in-between frame 2. In this in-between frame i am making sure the scythe is as the right angle so it looks natural and it is at the right position.

This is another in-between frame 3. In this in-between frame i am making sure the recoil from the throw is present in this animation.

In between frames 4 and 5. These are simple frames making sure hand positions are accurately the scythe to help make sure the animation look natural and smooth.

Here is the initial graph for the animation before i smoothed it and as you can see it needs a lot of work to make sure that the animation flows and is timed well.

These next two pictures show an example of what the graph looks like before and after i have smoothed it. I wanted to show this as an example as this is what i am doing for the rest of the animation.

Here is the graph after it has been smoothed and any discrepancies have been fixed. This helps makes the animation be of higher quality and look better as it flows well and all the movements are times properly.

Reflection on scythe throw animation

Overall , I am pleased with how the final scythe throw turned out as it effectively shows a quick throw of scythe which was the aim i had with this animation. I am pleased with how the process of making this animation helped further develop my skills in maya and animation , i am also happy with how much i considered the principles while making this animation as there is a good sense of weight in this animation. To conclude , i am happy with this animation and how my skills with animating have further developed and how i effectively improved this animation with feedback from my peers.

Reflection on Character animations

Overall , i am happy with how most of the character animations have turned out and how much my skills have developed throughout the process of making these animations. I can carry these skills onto future animations and projects and will help me make my further animations of higher quality. Like i have previously stated in my reflection on the ground slam animation i still think it could be improved slightly and i will try to revisit this animation in the next coming weeks if i find time in and amongst the other parts of the FMP i have to produce. To conclude , i am really pleased with how the final animations have turned out and how i used feedback to further improve them , used the reference videos to help me and believe each of the animations accurately hit the aims i set myself when i started making these animations and will fit well into the game i made them for.

Here marks the end of 22/04/2024

Here marks the start of 24/04/2024

The next animations i will work on are the enemy animations these animation swill include a walk and an attack for each respective enemy and a rig creation for each enemy done by me.

The enemy's that i will be animating are a snake , rat , elephant , lion , tiger , hound , patient , doctor , severed arm and possibly a rat pope (depends on the 3D modeler)

Due to some problems from our 3D modeler some if not most of the enemy models will be of sketch fab and linked on my blog i have tried my best to acquire ones that fit the style we are going for in our game but some of them will not be 100 percent accurate. This is also the reason why there will be no rat pope animations due to me not getting the model in time.

To the animals animations i will uses blender for the animations and rigging and for the doctor and patient i will be rigging and animating them in Maya.

The first enemy animation i will do is the snake.

Snake

Model 105 - Cyprus racer snake (straight) - Download Free 3D model by DigitalLife3DThis is a “straight” 3D model of a racer snake (Dolichophis jugularis) scanned using the Beastcam MACRO on a live snake in Cyprus. The mass of the snake is 479 grams. CG artist Jer Bot retopologized and reconstructed the snake in the open source 3D animation software Blender (blender.org). He did this through images captured using an array of six Canon G16 cameras and other reference photos. The construction of this model is part of the post-doc research of Dr. Savvas Zotos (POST-DOC/0916/0034) (https://retrack.terracypria.org) and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research and Innovation Foundation. This 3D model will be used as a means for both studying and presenting the species movement and behavioural patterns. Downloads are freely available for creative and non-profit use. To inquire about licensing, please visit www.digitallife3d.org. - Model 105 - Cyprus racer snake (straight) - Download Free 3D model by DigitalLife3D

Above is the model that i will use for the snake enemy in our game that I will rig and animate.

Below i am making the rig for the snake with the help from a video you can find here

To start on the rigs creation i first imported the snake model in and snapped it to the 3D origin to make it easier to scale and move in the right directions .

I next layed out the bones that i would need for this rig , inline with the mesh , the bones i made include 8 tail bones , root bone and head bone these where labelled for ease of use.

I then parented the mesh to the armature and applied weight painting to it , then i went through and make sure that the weight painting was accurate.

I will be using the story board i made in pre-production above as reference for the animation i am going to make for the snake

Slither for the snake did this by putting the angle of the snake at 45 degrees then -45 at frame 40.

Now offsetting the rest of the animation from frame 17 to make sure the body follow the head accurately going through the rest of the bones and applying the keyframes to each of them.

Here is the graph after offsetting all the curves to make the snake move slower and with more offset. Also after applying a cycles modifier to make sure the animation repeated effectviely.

Action editor setting the length of the animation and made sure it was running at 48 FPS.

Setting up for the final render adjusting camera and lighting this helps achieve a high quality final render of this animation whichcan be ofund on my final products page.

Had to offset tail frames more as it was not flowing with the animation and looked to fast when the snake was moving.

Here is the graph for this animation as you can see it is smooth and helps the animation flow and really makes it look like the snake is slithering and moving his body along.

Next I will go through the production process of the attack for .

To start on the attack, I got the pose I want the attack to happen in from the slither I have previously done

I then put the snake into its initial attack position ready for me to animate the other position where the snake lunges forward.

As seen in the initial capture this is the pose where he lunges out for an attack while this does need work which I will do next.

I also decided to span this attack Across 30 frames it needs to be a quick lunge attack.

To make the attack i am only keyframing the location and rotation of the model so it only captures that part of the animation.

Here I changed the frame rate to 48 to fit in with my other animations as this will help the level designer as it wont cause any problems as it is the same frame rate. I am also further working on the poses in the attack animation.

Here are the main two poses in the animation. These poses have the aim to show a quick lunge forward which is what i wanted to create for this animation. Yet i do think this could be improved much like the ground slam if i get time i would like to improve this animation.

Graph for animations curves are very smooth and all keyframes have been appropriately timed and also applied a cycle modify so it loops effectively so there isn't any cuts in the animation and so the whole animation flows well.

Above are both progress videos for the slither and the snakes attack . These videos give insight into what these animations looked like as they where being developed and help give insight into the production process of making these animations.

Reflection on snake attack and slither

Overall , i am pleased with both of these animations especially the slither as i think this effectively shows how as snake would move yet with the attack animation much like the ground slam i think this could be improved and if i get spare time nearing the end of the FMP i will try my best to improve them. The area i think i could most improve in is using the blender software for animation , while my skills in the software have improved a lot through making these animations i want to further develop my skills as this will help me make my animations of higher quality and give me a higher standard of knowledge in the software blender. To conclude on these animations i am happy with the slither as this animation shows how a snake would move yet i think the attack animation could improve and with further feedback from my tutors and peers and skill development i will be able to do this well. Also it important to note that one of the biggest things i have learnt with not only this animation but all of them is that i need to give myself appropriate time to execute them to a high standard.

Here marks the end of 24/04/2024

Here marks the start of 25/04/2024

Next i will work on the lion and tiger walks and attacks and making rigs for them.

lion and tiger

This is the storyboard i made in pre-production that i will use to help me make the animations of the lion and tiger. This helps as i can see some of the essential poses that will be needed for these animations. I will also be using video i found in the research stage to use as referacne for there walk.

Sumatran Tiger - Download Free 3D model by Jérémie Louvetz (@jeremielouvetz)3K Animals Collection Here is the result of my 3 years old son passion for animal figurines and my 3D scan work for fun in a low poly style: a 3K animals collection. We are very curious so, if you download and 3D print one of those animals models, please show us the result with a picture. Thanks. The wiki moment: the Sumatran tiger is a carnivorous mammal of the cat family. He lives in the forest and sometimes eat fish. Generated with PhotoScan and cleaned up with Blender. - Sumatran Tiger - Download Free 3D model by Jérémie Louvetz (@jeremielouvetz)

Lion - Download Free 3D model by Jérémie Louvetz (@jeremielouvetz)3K Animals Collection Here is the result of my 3 years old son passion for animal figurines and my 3D scan work for fun in a low poly style: a 3K animals collection. We are very curious so, if you download and 3D print one of those animals models, please show us the result with a picture. Thanks. The wiki moment: the lion is a carnivorous mammal of the cat family. His mane like the sun earned him the nickname King of Beasts. Generated with PhotoScan and cleaned up with Blender. - Lion - Download Free 3D model by Jérémie Louvetz (@jeremielouvetz)

Above are the models i will use for the tiger and lion animations as i have not received the models from the 3D modeler. With these models i tired to choose models that represent the art style we are trying to go for,

To start i will first make the rig for these models:

Here are two images of lion and tiger skeletons that i will use to help me make the rigs for these animals so i can accurately place the joints in the rig so each appendage bends appropriately.

Imported the models in and made sure origin was with the respective model. Also added a floor plane.

laying out the rig for the lion making sure bones are in the right place to make sure the joints are in the right position. Also important to note iam using the blender add-on rigify to rig these animals.

Made sure to sort the scene collection to make sure everything is easy to access and i know where each asset in the scene is. This also helps my workflow be more efficient.

Here i am weight painting the model. The darker the colour the area it effects the most and this is important so the rig moves the appropriate movements.

Here is the control rig after i generated it and due to the bone layout each of the controls is appropriately laid out on the mesh and moves the head and legs respectively. This is important as it is the main way i am able to move the the mesh.

Here i am aligning the bone structure using the lion skeleton to make sure all the joints are in the right place , this is important so the lion moves in a realistic and appropriate to how a lion would move in real life.

Here i am weight painting the lion to make sure each appendage moves appropriately and no other body parts are pulled that are not meant to be.

Here is the control rig after i generated it this is important to as it is the main way i can control the mesh and is how i will animate these models.

Reflection on rig creation

Overall , i am happy with how the rigs turned out. Going into the rigs creation i was pretty confident as i already practiced using rigify in pre-production so my skills with it where pretty good. In the creation of these rig i didn't really run into any issues other than the topology of the model as i'm not sure if these where rigging and animation ready but i will do the best i can and document the problems if i run into them and how i overcome them. To conclude i am happy with the process of making the rigs as this further enhances my skills with the addon rigify in the software blender.

TIGER WALK

Here are the first version of the poses in that will be in the animation. The aim i had with these poses is to block out he main poses that are appropriate to show the change of legs in a tigers walk. This helped me as it allowed me to know where i should but the up and down frames.

Here is the new and improved first pose that is both the first and last frame.Some of the main changes i made for tis pose is made sure the legs where in a better position and added some head movement so it would add abit of follow through and secondary action to the animation.

Here is the first inbetween pose that is on frame 12 and is the legs lifted up to show that the lion is taking a step this helps the overall animation and add weight too the animation

Here is the improved second main pose. Some of the main improvements i made to this is much like the initial pose i made sure to put the legs and head in an appropriate stance as this helps add weight and follow through to the animation. This also helps make the animation of higher quality.

Here is the second inbetween frame and is on 36. This is like the first inbetween pose and is here to show the step in the the walk cycle and helps add weight to the animation.

Here is the initial graph for the animation before i have smoothed out and before i applied the looping modifier to make sure the walk looped effectively and the animations is smooth.

Here is the graph after i applied the looping modifier to it and this helps make the animation be smoother and avoid any juimping in the animation.

Here are the collection of videos i captured throughout that show my progress while developing the walk these videos show the initial poses i created and then how i turned that into the final animation.

Important to note that i will evaluate and relfelect on both of these walks at once a the process of animating them was quite similar.

lion walk

Here are the main two poses in the animation that are essential to the walk cycle by making sure he switches legs in the walk. Important to note that the inbetween frames that will be the up and down have not been implemented yet.

Here are the in-between poses for for both sides of the legs that show the step of the animation , these are also the frames that will twist the back as this will help add more weight to the animation while also showing follow through which is one of the 12 principles of animation.

The top image is also a great example of the main issue that i have run into which also lead into helping me learn a huge and essential lesson about rigging and animation. This was how important topology is to animation and rigging and how this can make these areas more difficult if topology not done well. In an ideal world where i obtained the 3D models from the modeler and the topology was good this wouldn't be a problem but because i had to get these models of sketchfab due to unforeseen circumstances. Topology is a huge part to making good animations as it lets you move the body in a correct way without causing weird movements.

Below i will gather a few pictures of what good topology looks like to show how this can effect animation and rigging.

Here i am weight painting the the model to make sure all the appendages move accurately and so each part of the body is moving the right part. This also make the animation look better as there is no weird movements in it.

Here is the graph for the animation. I also added a looping modifier which helps the animation to be smoothed further helping the animation be of higher quality.

Here i am offsetting the tail animation so it has more of a sway in the animation this helps improve the weight in the animation.

Here is the collection of the videos of i took that show the production process of making the animation. Some of the main changes i made through these version was on the poses and making sure they were accurate poses for a walk cycle of a lion.

Reflection on Lion and Tiger walk cycle

Overall , I am happy with the final walk cycle animations and more so the tiger walk as due the topology of the model being better than the lion. The process of making these animations was really helpful in two major ways which where enhancing my skills in software blender and gaining a better understanding on how topology is crucial in making sure that the rigs and animations are good and of high quality. Like previously good and bad topology can sometimes make or brake an animation and the process of making this animations has gave me this knowledge so i now know to look for it when making my other animations. To conclude on these walk cycles , i am happy with how the tiger and lion turned out but the lion does have a few weird mesh movements which after investigating with the tutor found to be a topology on the model error which is when i learned the importance of topology in rigging and animation.

Here marks the end of 25/04/2024

Here marks the start of 26/04/2024

Next i will start work on the attack animations for the lion and tiger.

Here is the storyboard that will help me make the lions and tigers attack you will find the production for these attacks below.

Lion attack

The first attack i will make is the lions attack :

Graph for version 4 of the animation and the key layout fir this stage of the animation. The main area I am improving next is tweaking the speed of the animation and the overall poses need improving.

Weight painting to make sure poses are accurate this is important, so each respective part of the mesh is pulled accurately in the animation.

Here is another picture demonstrating the topology of this model and how this affects the animation. As i already talked about the main reason why bad topology can affect animations i want to discuss another aspect of how it can hurt animations. This aspect is that if the model had bad topology it can also mean it is not well optimized which can cause problems when it is put into a game engine like unreal engine.

Here is the final graph for this animation while the graph is smooth there is some inconsistencies i am still overall happy with it and how it makes the animation flow well and make it of high quality.

Important to note frames in-between 0 , 5 , 15 and 20 are all frames that make sure the poses are correct in the part of the animation this helps make sure the timing and weight in the animation is effective.

Here is the first pose in this animation. The aim of this pose it to make the lion look like it was in a pose where it is ready to lunge and attack which i think this pose hits well.

Here is the second pose for this animation which is the highest pose for this animation and is the penultimate pose to the main attack poses in this animation.

Here is pose 3 for this animation which is the follow up on the 2nd pose and the main aim of this pose was to show accurate follow through of an attack which this pose does well.

Here is fourth main pose of this animation and is here to be a transition pose back to his walk so this animation can easily transition form one animation to another which this pose does well.

Here are the progress videos that i captured throughout making the lions attacks. Throughout these versions a lot changed but one the most significant parts that changed was the poses as i wanted to make sure that they where the best i could make them with considering principles like follow through , secondary action and squash and stretch.

Tiger attack

here is a problem i faced in version 1 where legs would cross and cause a weird position to solve this, I will add in-between frames. Also, i will make sure the tiger was on the floor so it will help me animate and add weight to the animation.

Here is the version 2 graph and key layout in this version I was tweaking the secondary movements of the animation as this will helps add a greater sense of weight and follow through to the animation.

Version 2 working on the back legs and making sure all the weight is accurate in the animation and all the movements have the right secondary action

Version 3 working on the back legs and making sure the poses in the animation feel natural and fluid with the rest of the animation

Made sure weight painting was accurate so it had good poses in the animation this made sure the animation looked the best i could make it.

Here i extended air time as it gave it more weight and impact also tweaked the body length to make sure it squashed and stretched at the right time this is also an area i want to high light as i am making sure to focus and point out where i am using the principles of animation.

Looking at motion path making sure the animation is going through the motions I want it too this helps me visualize the heights this animation reach and can help me spot any errors in the animation.

Here is pose 1 of the animation. While i am happy with the pose the topology of the model is holding it back as the body and legs are look strange and this just highlights how important topology is to animation.

Here is the main pose of this attack where the tiger is up in the air ready to lunge on the player and i think this pose effictivley shows this. One of the areas i am really happy with in this animation is how i used squash and stretch to make this pose look good and really show how a lunge would look in real life.

Here is the final pose for the animation which much like the lion animation is a transition pose to make sure the tiger looks fluid as he transitions back into his walk cycle.

Final graph for the animation and iam pleased with how smooth it is and how this help the animation be of higher quality. I am also happy with the key frames layout and how this helps the animation be timed appropriately.

0 , 15 , 30 are frames to make sure there is a good element of squash and stretch weight in the animation.

Here are the videos i captured throughout making this attack and these videos show the progress i made during making this animation. One of the main areas that i focused on in this animation was the principle of squash and stretch as this is the main principle that helped this animation.

Important to note that i will reflect on on both of these attacks together as making these animations was quite a similar experience.

Reflection on tiger and lion attack animations

Overall, i am happy with how these animations turned out but to be honest i know i can do better but due the other animations i have to make and the schedule of the FMP these are the ones i made. While i am mostly happy with the lions and tiger attack if i gain extra time later on in this project as i want to make these animations better. Besides that i am still happy with how i used the principles of animation while making these and also how my knowledge in the software blender has grown which will help make my workflows in blender more efficient and give me better skills to make higher quality animations. To conclude , while i am mostly happy with how these animations i know i can do better and like stated if u get time in the FMP i will come back to these and improve them yet the process of making these has improved my overall skills in in blender in areas like using a rig , weight painting and animation which are all skills i can use and carry on to the future.

Here marks the end of 26/04/2024

Here marks the start of 27/04/2024

The next animations i will work on is the Rats animations. To do this i will rig and animate the rat in the software blender.

Rat 🐀 (Test )Free - Download Free 3D model by Nyilonelycompany**Weight Testing not finish yet ** Rattus is a genus of muroid rodents, all typically called rats. However, the term rat can also be applied to rodent species outside of this genus - Rat 🐀 (Test )Free - Download Free 3D model by Nyilonelycompany

Here is the model i will use for my animations. I will also be rigging this rat as well.

Here is the image i will be using when i am making the rig to make sure i get the joints in the right place.

First, I imported the model into blender deleted any extras I didn’t need. I then organised the scene collection to make sure I knew where everything was, this will help make my workflow of making the rig more efficient.

I then laid out the bones and made sure to put the joints in the right place this was to make sure that the rat’s movements where the same as how it would move in real life. I used the reference image like previously stated to layout the bone structure.

I then generated the control rig with the rigify add-on in blender and parented the mesh to the control rig so the rig would move the mesh appropriately. To make the rig work perfectly I need to make weight paint the mesh which is what I will do next.

Here I am weight painting the mesh to make sure each part of the rig controls the accurate part of the body so no weird movements or poses happen when I animate the rat.

Here is the final rig for the rat and has now been accurately weight painted and control rig finalised and is now read for animation.

I will now produce the walk animation for the rat.

Here is the video i will use as reference to help make this animation.

Graph for version 1 in this version I am just blocking out the animation and making sure the initial pose that will be in the walk cycle are present before I start to add the secondary action and follow through.

Graph for version 2 in this version it was my focus to add the secondary movement and follow through in the poses. These changes and poses I have added on frames 12 and 36 help add a greater sense of weight in the animation. The met major part that I will be tweaking is the tail by giving it more a swaying motion.

Here is the graph for version 3 of the rats walk and, in this version, I wanted to add more keyframes for the rat’s tail to make it sway which I why there is more keyframes now and the graph is not a smoot has it was in previous version. I am known onto finessing this animation and making sure all the poses have good secondary action, follow through hand weight and smoothing the animation. Redoing tail movement as can be improved.

Graph for version 4 in this version my primary focus was making sure the tail didn’t flicker everywhere and ruin the animations this was done successfully. Now there is a few more finessing parts of this animation and then it will be ready to be exported to unreal.

Here is the final graph for the animation. To finalise this animation, I made sure the principles like squash and stretch that where crucial to this animation where up to a good standard. I also applied a looping modifier which helped smooth out the graph and make the walk look more natural and not just stopping after the last pose.

Here I am setting up for the final render for the animation. I am making sure the lighting Is good so the animation can be seen.

Here is the first and last pose of the walk cycle for the rat and has the simple of aim pf showing the correct feet poses which it does successfully.

Here is main pose 2 where it is just another simple pose like pose one where, but his feet are opposite, and his body Is also forward as in the in-between frames his body goes back to add more weight to the animation.

Here is in-between frame 2 which has the aim of showing more weight to the animation by bringing his body forward his legs up to show a step and his tail to the opposite side to show the sway In the tail.

Here is the 2nd in between frame and is the same as the first but everything Is opposite due to this frame being for the other side of the body.

Above is the video of the videos I capture throughout making this animation and clearly show the progress through making this animation. One of the main areas I focused on in this animation is the tail sway which is done well. Its also important to note that in engine this enemy is small and I’m a large quantity, so the player won’t see this in much detail which I was thinking about when doing this animation and was important to me it told me how much detail I had to put in the animation.

Reflection on rat walk

Overall, I am really pleased with how this turned out as I want all that confident at the start of making this rat walk but, in the end, it turned out well. The biggest areas I had to consider when making this animation was the angle the player would see it at and how big the enemy would be in game, so I knew how much detail to put into the animation and not put to much in where it wouldn’t be needed as the player would not see it , as well as this I wanted to focus on the tail sway as this is another important part of the animation while I did this well my knowledge In blender held me back while animating it as my skills develop I will gain a better understanding on how to animate things like tails. To conclude, I am overall pleasantly surprised with how this animation turned out and can carry on and use the skills I put into this and use them as I carry on making my animations for the game we are making and the overall FMP.

Next, I will work on the rat’s attack, this attack will be simple as the player will be so far from so there won’t be need for much detail. Originally, I was going to use my story board, but I decided against it and will use a video I found in pre-production to help me make my animation.

Here is the video i will use as reference to help make this animation.

Here is the graph for version 1 and is a simple block out of the animation and the primary part of the animation it is showing is the keyframe layout which span over 20 frames and has key frames on 0 , 10 and 20 running at 48fps which is in line with the rest of my animation s but also makes sire the speed of the attack is quick like I want it to be.

Here is the graph for version 2 and in this version, I was primarily focusing on the follow through and secondary action for this animation as It is so quick it needs minor tweaks for it to be finalised which going into version 3 is what I will be finessing.

Here is the graph for version 3 of the attack animation some of the main changes I made to this version is making this attack more into a lunge / jump where the rat moves forward a little after the attack then returns to a pose that he is then ready to walk from as this will help the rat transition back to the walking animation. I can now move onto the finessing part of this animation where all that is left to do is do minor tweak to the poses and the animation for the rat attack will be done. Also important to note that I extended the frame the animation finished on to make sure there was room for a transition pose that the rat could use to go back to walking.

Here is a screenshot of what I was discussing earlier, and this is a prime example in how and topology can affect an animation.

Here is the 1st pose in this animation and has the aim of showing the rat getting ready to jump forward of his back legs.

Here is the 2nd pose in this animation and the aim of the pose is to show a take off pose before he jumps forward for an attack on the player.

Here is the final pose in this animation is where the rat is now forward after his lunge toward the player and is in a pose where he can transition back into his walk smoothly when these animations get put into unreal engine. Transition animations are crucial to animations like these as it will help all the animations for the rat be smoother.

Here is the final graph for this animation where all the keyframes are laid out effectively which help the timing of the animation be accurate and the smooth curves of the rotation and location movement helps the animation flow well.

Above are the videos I took through out making this animation to show progress I made on this animation. Some of the main areas I wanted to focus on is making sure that it showed a quick jump as the reflects how a rat would realistically attack something. It’s also important to note that like the walk cycle this enemy in engine will be small so the player won’t see this animation close so it didn’t need to have ultra detail as the player would only see the back of it this was important to consider when making this animation.

Reflection on rat attack

Overall, I am happy with how the final rat attack turned out as it is an effective quick and scatty lunge / jump attack. Some of the main areas I am happy with is how my skill with showing the principles of animation is getting better and overall skills in in the software blender are improving too. To conclude I am happy with how the attack turned out and how effective it is in showing a quick jump forward, this was also an animation that while a quick and short one really helped improve my skills with timing and showing aspects like follow through and secondary action in my animations.

Here marks the end of 27/04/2024

Here marks the start of 28/04/2024

The next animations i will work on is the Hound animations. To do this i will rig and animate the Hound in the software blender.

Dead frontier Dog flesh hound - Download Free 3D model by themultiplayer1Do not forget to credit the developer. Do not reupload, redistribute the model or use the model commerically. Only use it for fan art and fan animation. - Dead frontier Dog flesh hound - Download Free 3D model by themultiplayer1

Here is the model i will use for my animations. I will also be rigging this hound as well.

I will use the image above to help make the rig for this model as it will help me put the joints in the right place so the movements are accurate to how there body would move in real life.

Here are the bones for the hound. The layout of these is crucial as it makes sure that the mesh moves appropriately and makes sure there are no weird poses caused when animating it. To make the bone layout accurate I used the reference image above of a dog skeleton to make sure I put the joints in the right place as this helped make the bone layout effective and essential into making the animation work.

Here is the Control rig for hound. This is the main way I will control the mesh and start animating with it. The control rig also reinforces how important the bone layout is as the control rig is generated around it so if the bones are in accurate in causes the control rig to be effective and make sure it has the appropriate controls at the right places so I can move the mesh effectively which helps cause higher quality animations.

Here is the weight painting for hound. This is important as it makes sure the poses in this animation have no clipping and the control rig moves the right part without moving a appendage it shouldn’t. This also makes sure that the animation is of high quality as it prevents clipping and inconsistences in the mesh.

Hound walk

Above are the videos that show the production process of making the hounds walk and clearly show how this animation developed overtime. Some of the main changes and area I focused on throughout making this animation was the stepping poses as I wanted to make sure that the steps accurately depict how a hound would walk in real life, to do this I made sure the back leg comes down first with the front following shortly after.

Here is the graph for version 1 for the animation. The main aim of this version was to block out the main poses to help me visualize the walk and get an basic idea on what I want it to look like. The next step for this animation Is to add the stepping poses to this to make this an actual walk and add weight to the animation.

Here is the graph for version 2 of the animation. Like previously stated the goal of this version was to add the step into the animation as this helps make the walk the walk. The main part of the stepping animation is that his back leg goes down first as this is how a dog walks. The next version of this animations goal is to add the appropriate weight and follow through to the animation.

Here is the graph for version 3 of this animation. The main goal of this animation was to add weight and follow through to the animation which is done quite effectively and helps the make the animation be of higher quality. The next step In this animation is to start finessing it to do this I will smooth the graph out and make sure the animation is appropriately timed as this will help the overall animation look better.

Here is the final graph and key frame layout. The main aim of the final version was to make sure the poses are accurate to how a dog / hound would walk, and this is done effectively in this animation. To smooth out the graph I applied a cycles modifier as this helps smooth out the graph and make the animation loop and show how it will look like in engine. Overall, the smoothing of the graph and the keyframe layout, which makes sure the back leg goes down first to make an accurate dog walk animation, helps make the animation be of higher quality and makes the animation further accurate to how a hound/ dog would walk In real life.

Here is the initial contact pose for the dog walk and has the simple goal of having the feet in the right position to start and end the walk which this pose does well.

Here is the first in between pose for this animation with the goal of adding a step to the walk also making sure that there is the effective follow through in the animation and this helps make it be of higher quality and shows the consideration of the animation principles in this animation.

Hers is the direct follow up in-between fame to the last one this has the aim of making sure the back leg comes down first as this helps further emulate how a dog walk in real life. Another important part to note about this in-between frame is that the hips and head are rotated to appropriately portray weight in the animation and effectively portray a dogs walk in my animation.

Here is the second contact pose and much like the initial contact pose it has a simple aim of making sure the legs are the opposite position to the initial contact pose as this helps make sure the walk is accurate and portray an effective walk where the hound takes a step and switches to the other foot.

Here is the 3rd in between frame and much like the 1st the main aim of this frame is to make sure that the back leg is up before the front as this helps to accurately show how a hound walks in real life. Another part of this pose is the rotation of the hips and slightly in the head to make sure there is secondary action present in the animation as this helps make the animation high quality.

Here is the final in-between frame, similar to the 2nd in-between frame this has the aim of making sure the back lag comes down first as this accurately represents how a dog walks in real life. Another major part of this animation is the effective movement in the hips to make sure there is good weight in the animation, this also has a another effect on the overall animation by making it high quality and effectively portray how a hound / dog would walk in real life and showing how the principles of animation where considered while making this animation.

Hound walk Reflection

Overall, I am really pleased with how the hound walk turned out. Some of the main area I am, most pleased with is the follow through and secondary action present in the animation as this helps make sure the weight in this animation is effective. An example of this is how the hips rotate effectively when the respective leg comes up and moves the body and neck. Another area I am pleased with is how I effectively made sure that the back leg comes down before the front as this accurately depicts how a dog would walk in real life and helps to keep the animation in line with how I wanted it to look. Yet there is one area that lets me down in this animation which is the topology of the model I have already extensively explained why bad topology can hinder an animation and here Is an example for this , this is also the reason why some poses look slightly off and some mesh clipping is present yet am not in control of this part and due to the lack of our 3d modeller there is nothing I can do , but is a big lesson I have learnt as I now know how crucial topology is to animating as a whole. To conclude, I am happy with the final hound walk and how my skills in animating and blender have been enhanced making me more capable in this area yet like previously stated the topology of the model holds this animation back, but this still taught me a lesson of how important topology is to be animating.

Hound attack

Above are the videos I captured throughout the production process of making the hounds attack. Some of the main areas I focused on while making this animation where parts like secondary action as this was a crucial part in making sure the weight in the animation was accurate and so the animation looked and felt like a movement a dog could so.

Here is the graph for version 1 of the attack animation. The goal of this version was to black out the main movement that I am going for in the animation. For this attack I am going for a quick bite attack, to further improve this idea for the next version I am going to focus on adding the appropriate follow through and weight to this animation to make it of higher quality.

Here is the graph for version 2 of this animation. The aim of this version was to add a good sense weight to the animation as this helps further portray a quick bite attack to a higher quality and in a more realistic way. The next step for this animation is finalising the poses and making sure they are all accurate to help portray a quick bite attack.

The main change I made for version 3 of this animation was the weight painting. I did this to make sure that all the poses where accurate and the mesh didn’t have any clipping at certain points, I also wanted to focus on this as it was one area I wanted to improve on in one of my previous animations. I also wanted to note that the topology want the best for animating, which can cause some inconsistent poses , I have already discussed in depth how bad topology can effect an animation.

Here is the final key frame layout and graph for this animation. The main reason the key frame layout helps so much as it helps add weight to the animation and helps the animation more effectively portray a bite attack. The smooth graph also helps the animation as it makes the animation flow better and make the overall animation of higher quality. The poses are also crucial to this as there is transition poses and effective poses that show a bite that all come together to make an effective bite attack animation.

Here is the first main pose in the animation that has two main functions on the animation as the first function is that it acts a transition pose back into the hounds walk and the initial pose for the attack animation as it is the starting point for the attack animation.

Here is the first in between frame which has the aim of putting the dog in a position that is bracing and getting ready for the lunge attack, some of the ways I achieved it with this pose is by making sure his head was slightly forward and his body stretched out to show that he is preparing for an attack.

Here is the second in-between frame of the animation with the aim of making sure further stretching the dog and putting him in an appropriate pose to attack from. One of the main ways I did this tilt the head slightly to the right in preparation for the lunge that he Is about to do and is the main part of the attack.

Here is the 2nd main pose in this animation and has the goal of being bot the lowest point of the animation and effectively showing a lunge which Is the main part of this attack animation. Some of the main ways I tried to achieve my goal with this is pose is I made sure to push the body down and forward to make sure he lunged forward; I also turned the neck and head to the right to give more impact to the lunge and help give it more of a lunge/ bite look. These tweaks overall help make the animation of higher quality also achieve an effective sense of weight in the animation.

Reflection on hound attack

Overall, I am pleased with how the final hound attack animation looks and pleased with the principles like follow through and secondary action, like the hips moving, that are present in the animation. Some of the main areas I am happy with in this animation is the poses and how it effectively shows a realistic attack that hound could do. Yet there is one area like previously mentioned that could be improved which is out of my control which is the topology of the model as this effect some of the models poses and cause some clipping in the mesh which hinders the animation a bit. To conclude, while I am happy with how this animation turned out and think it is effective attack and does well in showing a movement that a hound could do in real life yet like said the topology hold back this animation due to it not being the best.

The next animations i will work on is the Elephant animations. To do this i will rig and animate the elelphant in the software blender.

Elephant - Download Free 3D model by Jakub Badin (@bublifuck)Published by 3ds Max - Elephant - Download Free 3D model by Jakub Badin (@bublifuck)

Here is the model i will use for my animations. I will also be rigging this elephant as well.

I will use the image above to help make the rig for this model as it will help me put the joints in the right place so the movements are accurate to how there body would move in real life.

Here are the Bones for the elephant. The importance of a correct layout of bones in a rig cannot be understated as this is the basis in how a mesh moves and helps makes sure all the joints in the body move properly and no inconsistent poses are caused. To make this bone layout I used the reference image above to makes sure I accurately laid out the bones to ensure that the poses where effective in getting across what I wanted to portray in my animations.

Here is the control rig for elephant and is the main way I will be controlling the mesh. This also reinforces how important the bone layout is at makes sure that the mesh moves properly and in line with how it would move in real life as this makes sure the animations with this mesh is effective and of high quality.

Here I am weight painting for elephant this is important as it makes sure each respective body part moves effectively and makes sure there is no clipping in the mesh when animating. This helps make the final animation of higher quality and overall look better.

Elephant walk

Above are the videos that I captured throughout the process of making this animation. Some of the main changes I made to this animation where in area like the timing of the animation as it was important the back leg came down before the front leg to accurately depict an elephants walk.

Here is the graph for version 1. The main aim of this version is too block out the main movements of the animation to get a fundamentals idea on how the walk for the elephant is going to look. The aim for the next version is to add the stepping poses in to add weight to the animation and make the walk an actual walk.

Here is the graph for version 2. The main changes I made to this version is I added the stepping poses In the animation to make it a walk , another change i made is to the length of the animation as I extended from 48 frames to 96 frames as this helps portray an elephant walk more effectively as it is a big slow animal. The aim of the next version is too ad the follow through and secondary action as this adds weight to the animation and makes the animation of higher quality.

Here is the graph and key frame layout for version 3 of this animation. The main changes to this version are the head and body movements and extra poses for the trunk as this helps add weight to the animation and also shows follow through in the animation which helps make it of higher quality. The next step for this version is to start finessing the animation to do this i will add tail movement, smooth out the graph as this will make the animation up to a better quality standard.

Here is the final graph and key frame layout for this animation. The most significant changes I made to this version ready for the final render is to do with the timing of the animation as there where some errors with this as there was a lot of jumping in the animation. To overcome this I deleted some keyframes and re arrange (notably ones to do with the head movements as this was causing the biggest problem in the animation) them to make sure that all the poses where accurate , too make sure that the animation is of high quality and no weird jumpiness in the animation.

Here is the first and last pose of the animation. This is both the first and last contact pose and serves 2 purposes 1. Of being the initial pose in the animation and 2. Making sure there are no cuts or jumps in the animation which allows the animation to flow effectively.

These two pictures to the left are the 1 passing pose and is split into two separate keyframes as after doing research on how elephants walk is became apparent to me that the front leg comes down before the back, so to achieve this look I split them into 2 keyframes to make sure this effect comes across.

Here is the second contact pose and much like the first contact pose it is a simple pose with the legs switched around from the first one to make sure the stepping motion in the animation was accurate and so the walk was a walk and the elephant switched.

The two images on the left are the 2nd passing poses in the animation and much like the first it is split into 2 keyframes to make sure the back leg comes down first as like previously stated after looking at how elephants walk this became apparent to me.

Reflection on elephant walk

Overall, I am pleased with the final elephants walk animation and how effectively showed weight in the animation which helps show how heavy an animal like an elephant is. One of the main areas I am most happy with is the passing poses as they make sure to show an elephant walk effectively, one of the main ways I did this was to make sure that the back leg came down before the front as this is something I spotted and was crucial to making sure this animation is effective. One of the areas of this animation which hold it back is how body movement and follow through isn’t the best as only one shoulder moves while he is walking, while this is a minor part of the whole animation if it was done better, it would improve the quality of it. To conclude, I am pleased with this animation and how it shows the weight of the elephant but wish the parts of the animation like the follow through and secondary action where better as this would only help make the animation better.

Charge attack animation

It is important to note that for the charge for the elephant the animation will be a sped-up version of the walk. This is due to doing research into an elephant charge and finding that it looks to be like the walk but faster below will be a quick and cohesive production process into how I sped up the walk and made it look like a charge.

Above are the videos for the charge animation and show the development of this animation through different iterations of it. Some of the main areas I tweaked throughout these versions was the speed of the animation as I wanted to make sure that it was at a good speed to accurately represent a charge motion of an elephant.

Here is the graph for the first version of the charge. The main change I made to this version is change the last frame from 96 to 48 as this speeds up the walk and makes it look more like a charge. The goal for the next version is to add the secondary action and follow through as this will help further emphasize the charge that I am trying to portray.

Graph for version 2 of charge. The main changes I made in this version where to do with the poses as I made sure to add follow through to the animation as this helps add weight to the animation to help keep it grounded and accurately show a charge. The next step for this animation is refining the poses even more to make sure it has the right anticipation for a charge.

This is the graph for version 3. Like previously talked about the main changes in this version where to do with tweaking the anticipation and follow through in the animation as it would help this animation further depict a charge of an elephant which is done successfully in this version. To finish this animation, I will now start the finessing stage where I will make sure the animation is timed properly and the graph is smooth, I am doing this as it helps toward making the animation of higher quality.

Here is the final graph and keyframe layout for this animation. In this stage my main focus like previously stated was to do the finessing of the animation which I did by making sure the graph was smooth ,fixing inconsistencies in the graph and making sure the animation is timed effectively this helped make sure the animation flowed effectively and didn’t have any mis-shaped poses in the animation , This helps make the animation high quality with the principles of animation considered to make sure the animation is to a high standard.

To the left are the 2 main poses of the animation and the differences from the walk are minor but effective in making it look like a charge. The main changes I made to this are that I moved the elephants body forward and backward in the respective pose to make it look like the elephant is moving faster , the other way I made the charge faster than the walk I changed the frames it player across from 96 to 48 as this helped make the animation more effectively depict a charge.

Reflection on charge attack

Overall, I am pleased with how the charge animation turned out and happy with how it effectively shows a charge animation. One of the main areas I am most happy with is the speed of the animation and how effective it makes the charge as it helps make it look like the elephant is moving quickly. One area I wish to improve on if the chance arises in this animation is the heads follow through and secondary action as it can appear stiff and lifeless at certain points of the animation. To conclude , I am pleased with how the final charge turned out but wish there was more follow through and secondary action in the animation to help push the charge to a higher quality.

spray attack

For this attack is not really an animation for this, as the enemy will be stationary to do this as he will be spraying poison out of his trunk that damages the player. Below you will find the production process of making this pose where from a neutral position the elephant will transition into the poison spray attack pose.

TRUNK_PROGRESS.mp4

Above are the progress videos for this attack, due to the simple nature of the attack there is not many iterations of the animation as there is not many tweaks I needed to make to finish the animation.

Here is the graph for version 1 of the poison spray attack animation. The main idea of this attack is that he is spraying something out of his trunk, so he is mostly going to be still, but I wanted to add a little movement to it so it wasn’t just a still boring pose which I think is done effectively in this animation. The next step for this animation is finessing it for example making sure it has the appropriate secondary action needed in this animation, also make sure the graph is smooth and timed effectively.

Here is the final graph for the animation as this was a more simple animation to do the graph did not need much clean up and the timing wasn’t a big problem because there where not many poses in the animation , nonetheless the smoothness of the graph and the well timed keyframes help ensure that the animation flows well and is of a high standard

Here are the main poses of the animation. Like previously mentioned it is important to note that in game this will be a spray attack and he will not move during this attack. Although I didn’t want this attack just to be boring, so I made the elephant move slightly forward and backward to add a bit of personality to the attack.

Reflection on spray attack

Overall, I am happy with this animation and how it turned out. I don’t have many comments on this as it is a simple animation which effectively get the point of the animation across.

SPRAY_PROGRESS.mp4

Above are the progress videos of the trunk attack that show the development of the trunk animation through the different videos I captured through the process of making this animation.

Here is the graph for version 1 of the swipe attack animation. In this version the goal was to block out the main poses for the animation to help me visualize what I wanted the animation to look like. For the next version I am going to work on the follow through in the animation to help more accurately depict a swinging of an elephant’s trunk and will also make the animation higher quality.

Here is the graph for version 2 of this animation some of the main changes of this version is the follow through and anticipation poses I added to it to make sure the that the animation depicted a trunk swing effectively. As this animation is almost done the next stage part that I must do is the finessing part where I must smooth the graph and make sure the animation is timed properly as this will help make the animation of higher quality.

Here is the final graph for the animation. Some of the main areas I focused on to finalize the animation where areas like making sure that the animation was smooth and the animation was timed effectively, an example of this is how I laid out the keyframes to make the trunk sway slightly after the trunk sways left and right. This helps improve the animation as it makes the trunk flow well and go side to side in a good motion.

Here are the two main poses in this animation and the main tweak to this animation is that the whole elephant is pushed down to give the swing more power and the trunk is also rotated to the left for the first pose of the swing.

Here is the second pose in the set of the swing poses where the trunk is rotated to the left, so it completes the swing animation and makes sure the swing of the trunk is smooth and has a good sense of weight to it.

Here Is the first and final pose of the animation. The aim of this pose Is to act as a transition pose so the elephant effectively transitions back into a walk. As this helps make the overall animations for the elephant smoother.

Reflection on trunk attack animation

Overall, I am pleased with the trunk attack animation and how the weight in the trunk swing is good. One of the main areas I am happy with is the trunk movement and how well it sways and fits in with the rest of the animation, the trunk sway also has good follow through and secondary action which helps add weight to the animation. To conclude I am happy with the final animation and how I used principles like follow through and secondary action to help add weight to the animation which helps the animation on whole be of a higher quality.

The next animations i will work on is the Patient animations. To do this i will rig and animate the patient in the software blender.

The Patients pack - Download Free 3D model by Gavin bou (@GavinBou)model is owned by tarsier studios little nightmares is owned by tarsier studios and bandi namco - The Patients pack - Download Free 3D model by Gavin bou (@GavinBou)

Here is the model i will use for my animations. I will also be rigging this patient as well.

I will use the image above to help make the rig for this model as it will help me put the joints in the right place so the movements are accurate to how there body would move in real life.

To start with I first imported the hand, patient and doctor model into blender so I could start making the rigs for these meshes. I decide to do this all in one file due to the efficiency of it while making the rigs, but for the animations I made sure to sperate them to make for ease of use while making the animations.

Here is the bone layout for patient. This is the most important part of the rig as it is highly important that the joints are place In the right place as this makes sure that the mesh moves appropriately and no weird movements are cause , another effect of this is if the bones are badly places it can cause the animation to lose quality.

Here is the control rig for patient this is the main way I will be controlling the mesh. The control rig is also reinforcing the importance of the bone layout as the control rig is generate around it so if the bones are incorrect it can cause weird and incorrect movements which can hinder the animation and reduce its quality.

Here is the weight painting for patient, this is important as it makes sure the control rig controls the mesh and when it does it pull the accurate parts of the body so there is no poses that are in accurate in the animation as this helps makes the animation be of higher quality.

Patient walk

Above are the videos I took of the production process of this animation. The main changes between the versions are how there is a better sense of weight in the later versions which help the whole point of the limp walk come across more effectively by making sure his body is either further up or down at their respective times.

Here I am fixing the weight painting on the patient model to ensure all the poses are accurate and of a high quality.

Here is the graph for version 1 of the animation. The main aim of this version was to block out the animation and get the main poses for the animation to help me visualise them and get the basics of the animation down.

Here is the graph for version 2 of this animation. The main aim of this version was to implement poses to show a step in the walk as this is a crucial part in making a walk a walk. Next, I am going to focus on putting in the secondary action for this animation.

Here is the graph for version 3 of the animation. The focus of this version was adding weight to the animation and making sure their appropriate secondary action and follow through that is needed in a walk animation like this. Which I think I present a limp walk well through the weight in this animation. The next steps for this animation are finessing it and making sure it is smooth and flows well.

This is the first contact pose for this walk. Its important to note that the aim of this walk was to make a limp walk and this pose is showing this as he is quite low down because he is putting all his weight on his left leg because his other doesn’t work properly.

Here is the first passing pose for this animation where he is further up than the second passing pose as he needs to generate power from his only working leg and carry the weight form being hunched over.

Here is the second contact pose for this animation where he his front leg is straight due to not having much control over it and is putting a lot of weight on his other leg to keep him balance. This Is a crucial part to the limp walk and helps add a good sense of weight to the animation.

Here is the next passing pose for this animation and the most important part of this pose is that it needed to make look like he was trying to balance on his hardly working leg and this is done by bringing his working leg / left leg up to try and stabilise himself and further emphasise the limp in this walk.

Here is the final graph and keyframe layout for the animation. The graph is smooth which helps the animation flow well and make sure there is no weird movements in the animation. The other main thing to point is the key frames layout as this is essential into making sure all the poses happen at the correct time and ensures the walk Is at a natural speed. Also applied a cycles modifier to help the smoothness of the animation Aswell.

Patient walk Reflection

Overall, I am happy with how this animation turned out and pleased with how effectively the limp comes across in this animation. The main area of this animation that I most happy with is how affectively I showed weight in this animation and how my skills with implementing weight effectively into animations. Yet there is one area that I want to improve on which is weight painting as some holes are present in the mesh which could improve with better weight painting which is something I will focus in going forward. To conclude, I am pleased with how this animation turned out and how it shows a limp walk with good timing and a good sense of weight to it and how I identified a place for improvement in my weight painting on meshes.

Patient Attack animation

Above are the progress vids for the patients attack that clearly show the development of this animation through the production stage of the FMP. Some of the main area I changed throughout the versions of this animation was the follow through in the animation as this was a crucial part in making sure there was an effective sense of weight in the animation and is one of the main areas I wanted to focus on as it was a crucial part in making sure the animation is of high quality.

Here is the graph for version 1 for this animation.

The aim of this version was to block out the main poses for the animation to help me visualise how I want it to look. The next part of this animation is refining the poses to make sure I accurately show the attack I am trying to make.

Here is the graph for version 2 of the animation. Like previously stated this version had a focus on refining the poses to make sure it looked like a swipe attack, and I think the poses on version 2 effectively show this. The goal with version 3 is to add the necessary secondary action and follow through to the animation.

Here is the graph for version 3. The main of this version was to add the follow through and secondary action to the animation as this not only helps add weight to the animation but also make the animation of higher quality. To finish this animation, I will now finesse the animation and make sure it is smoothed and timed properly.

Here is the final graph and key frame layout for the animation. This is important as it makes sure the animation is timed effectively and the poses happen at the correct time and the whole animation flows well. One of the main ways I did this was in the graph editor where I moved and rotated keyframes to ,make sure the rotation and location of poses were accurate and effectively portraying the movements in the animation . This part of the animation is called the finessing stage and is crucial in finalising an animation and making sure it is ready to be exported to the game engine, also ensures that the final animation will be of high quality with principles of animation considered to further improve the animation.

This is the first and final pose and is in the animation so it the patient can easily transition back into his walk. Yet this also acts as an initial wind up for his swipe attack.

Here is the second pose for the animation where he Is in a wind up pose for his swing. This is the pose before he swings, and the goal of this pose was to show a good wind up for the lunge / swipe attack that is being portrayed in this animation.

Here is the 3rd pose in this animation. The aim of this pose is to show the swing of the attack. This pose does this effectively as not only does it have the appropriate body movements and arm movements to show a swing. This pose is also further improved as the keyframe between this pose and the last pose shows good secondary action after the swing which helps show the weight of the swing and both this pose and the pose after this help make the animation be of higher quality.

Patient attack reflection

Overall, I am really pleased with the final patient attack animation as it accurately depicts a swing attack that I am going for. Some of the main areas that I did most effectively in this animation was the sense of weight in the animation and how the follow through is good , I am also happy with the rig for this animation as it had the joints and other bone structure that made sure the mesh moved in the correct way to make the most effective poses and make sure it was easier to animate . Although one area I would like to improve is the weight painting as while the overall animation is good the quality of the weight painting Is holding it back as some of the poses are not pulling the 100 percent correct parts of the body , in future I will make sure this is something I focus on as (not in this case but others) if not done effectively it can ruin an animation. To conclude, I am happy with the final attack animation for the patient and how he process of making this animation enhanced my skills in animation further to make sure I can produce higher quality animations going forward.

The next animations i will work on is the Doctor animations. To do this i will rig and animate the Doctor in the software blender.

Doutor/Doctor - Download Free 3D model by André Back (@simbjji.mufsa)Model generated in autodesk character generator - Doutor/Doctor - Download Free 3D model by André Back (@simbjji.mufsa)

Here is the model i will use for my animations. I will also be rigging this doctor as well.

I will use the image above to help make the rig for this model as it will help me put the joints in the right place so the movements are accurate to how there body would move in real life.

Here is the bone layout for the doctor. To make sure the bone layout was accurate, and the joints are in the right place I used the reference image above this is important as it is crucial that the arms and legs move in the appropriate way as this will help make the animating of the rig better and the final animation of higher quality.

Control for the doctor. Here is the control rig for the doctor and this is the main way I will be moving the mesh and also reinforces why bone placement is so important as the control rig is generate around the bones , so to make sure that the controls are in the right place the bones need to be accurate.

Here I am weight painting for the doctor. This is important as it makes sure the poses are accurate and there is not clipping in the mesh and each respective appendage moves accurately.

Above are the collection of videos I took throughout making this animation that show the iterations of this animation through the production of this animation. Some of the main changes I made through each version is adding weight to the animation as this was one of my main areas I was focusing on while making this animation.

Graph for version 1. The aim of this version is to block out the main poses for this animation to give me an idea on what I want this walk to look like, Important to note that for this walk I am going for an elderly person walk and this version is the first step toward achieving that. Next, I will add the poses to achieve the step and the up and down in this walking animation.

Here is the graph for version 2 of the animation. The focus of this animation was to add the passing poses into the walk cycle as this helps add more weight to the animation. While not perfect yet the next version’s goal is to improve upon these poses and add more follow through and weight to the animation.

Here is the graph for version 3. The main aim of this version was to finalise the poses and makes sure there was follow through in the animation which is what I worked on and improved in this version. The next step of this animation before it is complete is to finalise it and make sure the graph is smooth and the animation is timed well.

Here is the final graph and keyframe layout for this animation. The main changes I made to finalise this animation was to smooth out the graph and make sure the rotation and location of the animation was timed effectively as this helps make the animation be of higher quality and improves the overall look of the animation. It’s also important to know that

Here are the main poses for the animation. The aim of these poses is trying to represent an elderly person walk. Some of the main ways I achieved this goal is by hunching his back over a little bit and taking little steps I also used the reference video I talked about earlier to help me get the correct poses.

Doctor walk reflection

Overall, I am in different about this animation as is not my best work, but I am still happy with how this gave me more experience making walk cycles and enhanced my skills in making them. Some of the main areas I lacked the most in this animation was the rigging department as this is the area that let me down the most as this is why the some of the poses are in accurate and not to the best standard , another area that held me back In this is the weight painting as the quality of it made some of the poses in accurate and not up to the highest standard. Although there are some areas of this animation that I am pleased with like how the smooth the graph is and how the animation is accurately timed and flows well. To conclude, I am in different on this animation, yet I also learnt a big and crucial lesson in the production process of this animation which was how crucial the quality of the rig is and how that directly correlates with the quality of the animation. To overcome this feeling, I will improve this animation if time arises in the last weeks of the FMP these will also be based of feedback I receive from the survey I am going to conduct at the end of production.

After discussing with the programmer in our group about the doctor’s attack, we came up with the idea that the doctor would come up to you and then ragdoll as soon as he gets to you which causes the player to take damage. One of the main reasons for this idea is that we wanted something more unique than simple lunge a swipe attack which is when we came up with this I idea. Another reason for the change is based on the survey I carried out in research we found out how important combat is in the type of game we are making so this change helps to keep the combat fresh.

The next animations i will work on is the severed arm animations. To do this i will rig and animate the severed arm in the software blender.

Anatomy - male arm - Download Free 3D model by 3dmavenStudy on male anatomy. Arm from shoulder down to fingers. I should have made it downloadable years ago! Enjoy! - Anatomy - male arm - Download Free 3D model by 3dmaven

Here is the model i will use for my animations. I will also be rigging this severed arm as well.

I will use the image above to help make the rig for this model as it will help me put the joints in the right place so the movements are accurate to how there body would move in real life.

Here is the bone layout for severed arm. To make sure the joints are in the right place I used the reference image above , this is extremely important as it makes sure the arm moves in the correct way into how an arm would move in real life. This also helps make the animation accurate and of higher quality.

Control rig for severed arm this is the main way I will be controlling the mesh. This also reinforces how important the bone layout is as the control rig is generated around it is s crucial that the joints are placed properly so the mesh moves appropriately.

Here I am weight painting the arm. This is important as the main reason I am doing this is to make sure the poses are accurate, and no inconsistences happen with the mesh like clipping when animating the mesh.

Arm walk

Above is the collection of videos I took throughout the development of this animation where you can see how this animation developed and changed overtime. The main difference through all the versions is the poses as this was the main area I wanted to get right for this animation because a severed arm is an interesting mesh to animate and create a ‘walk’ cycle for.

Here I put the arm into the initial pose for the arm crawl. The aim of this pose was to put the arm in a position where it was ready to start a crawl.

Here is the graph for version one of this animation the main aim of this version was to block out the main poses of the crawl to help give me an idea on what they will look like.

Here is the graph and the main change I made for version 2 of this animation. The main change for this version was to rotate the wrist more as this helps add more weight to the animation and helps emphasise the crawl of the arm. For the next versions I will focus on finessing the animation.

Here is the final graph and key frame layout for this animation. The main change I made from version 2 is smooth out the graph and apply a cycles modifier this helps the animation flow better and make sure there is a good sense of weight to the animation.

The main aim of this pose was to get the arm into the position where it would start the arms walk. The crucial part to this pose was to make sure that the arm was mostly flat with some elevation as this would help with the weight of the animation.

Here is the main pose of this animation where the arm is at the highest pose that it will reach in this animation. The crucial part of this pose was to make sure that the wrist was curled back as this helps show the follow through in the animation as the next frame further shows the follow through of the animation.

Here is the in-between frame on 22, like previously stated this is the follow through of the last frame where the arm is mostly straight, and the wrist rotated further forward this also is a crucial part to making the arm look like it is actually crawling.

Here is the topology for the arm which due it being more triangular, this is why some of the poses in the animation you can see clipping or gaps in the mesh. I have previously talked about how important topology is too animation and this is just another example of it.

Reflection on arm walk

Overall, I am pleased with how this animation turned out especially due to me not being sure at the start of making this animation on how this would turn out. Some of the main areas I am most happy with in this animation are the poses as I think they effectively make the arm look like it is crawling. To conclude I am happy with the final crawl animation for the arm and with how my skills with animating have grown as this animation helped me gain more knowledge on how to effectively show weight in the animation.

Arm attack

Here are the videos I captured through put making this animation that clearly show the development of this animation. Some of the main differences between version is how squash and stretch are implemented into the later versions which helps the animation hit the aim of looking like a swipe / slap attack.

Here is the graph for version 1 of the attack animation. The main aim of this version was to block out the main poses that will be present in this animation to help me visualize what this attack will look like on a fundamental level.

Here is the graph and keyframe layout for version 2. The main tweaks I made to this version is I added some squash and stretch to the animation and some anticipation as this helps give the animation a better sense of weight to it.

Here is the graph and keyframe layout for version 3 of this animation. The focus I put on this version was making sure the poses where effective and accurate in showing a slap / swipe attack in this animation. The next step for this animation is to start on finessing this animation and making sure the graph is smoothed and the animation is timed effectively as this will help make the animation of higher quality.

Here is the final graph and keyframe layout for this animation. The important part to point out about this is the keyframe layout as one of my aims with this animation to give it accurate weight and follow through as this was a an important part in making this animation effective.

Herer is the main pose for the animation, The aim of this poses is to portray the hand on it front ready to jump back and slap down to attack the player. This pose includes principles like squash and stretch as it helps add weight to the animation and make the pose more effective.

Here is the first in-between frame for this animation which is the first of 3 and has the goal of making sure the animation has all the right transition poses in the animation and makes sure that there is a good sense of weight in the animation. In this pose it is also important to note that this pose heavily uses the principle of squash and stretch as this is essential to this pose and animation to make sure there is weight to it and a good amount of exaggeration in it as well. This overall makes the animation better.

Here is the second main poses In this animation. The aim of this pose is to be the highest and most stretched part of the animation as it is the apex of the slap to attack the player. Some of the main principles that feature in this pose are exaggeration and squash and stretch as these help this pose and the overall animation be of higher quality and have a good sense of weight which helps the animation to be of a better standard.

This is the in-between pose 2 and is a frame to make sure the arm accurately comes down from the highest point , this poses also ensure that the wrist is in the right position to make sure the is appropriate follow through in the animation as this helps the animation be of higher quality.

Here is the 3rd and final animation for this animation and has the goal of making sure the wrist is in the right position on the way down of the slap and has principles like follow through and exaggeration considered while making this pose to make sure it was in line with the rest of the animation but also to make sure the overall animation is of high quality.

Here is the last main pose of this animation and has the aim to be the follow through pose in the animation. This pose is the after slap pose and acts both as a transition pose but also as a recoil pose from the slap. This pose was important to include as it makes sure that the whole animation has a good sense of weight , looks effective and makes sure that the animation is of high quality.

Reflection on arm attack

Overall, I am happy with how this animation turned out and think it effectively looks like a swipe / slap. This being the most unique animation I have done so far definitely produced some challenges which is why some of the poses looked deformed or wrong, although I put a lot of attention on the poses animating a severed arm was quite challenging this is also something caused due to the topology of the model not being great , and is something I want to revisit if I get the time in the last upcoming weeks of the FMP. To conclude, while I am mostly happy with the animation is something I want to revisit if I get time after I gather feedback on my animations from the survey I will conduct at the end of production, to hopefully improve it and improve my skills at animating on a whole

I will now go through the survey that i put out on everything i made in production with the aim of getting feedback on my animations and models .

below is the link to the actual survey i conducted. The responses you can see below are form the survey converted to a spreadsheet format so you can clearly see the responses i gathered from the survey.

Production Feedback formAll questions are below each video

Production FMP responses

Reflection on Final production survey

Overall , this survey has helped me in many ways as it gave me feedback on my animations and models which helped me spot areas that where good and bad about my animations and models that i didn't spot originally. The overall response to my models was very positive as everyone like them with and thought they fit the style that was trying to be portrayed through them , with no negative and constructive feedback on the models. Some of the main points of feedback i gained on my animations in particular where that they where overall liked and thought to be good there was some constructive feedback on the animations which commented on areas such as that some of them could be smoother , also comments on how in some area of the animations that follow through and secondary action where too much or little causing the movements to look over or under exaggerated which hindered the animation. And one of the final comments I got on my animations was about the speed of the animations and how some of them need to be quicker and slower. From this survey it ahs told me that there is a few area in my animations that in need to improve. The areas of animations are too make sure the follow through and secondary action is appropriate for the movement and not moving too much to the point where the hinder the animation and the other area where it i need to improve my animations is the timing of the mand making sure they are the right speed as that is a crucial part in portraying a movement accurately. To conclude , i am happy with this feedback and how it helped me find some area that i need to focus on improve in my animations which will help me as i make more animations i the future and will in the long term make me a better and more effective animator.

Reflection on production

Overall , the production process was effective as i made everything i set out to a high standard even with the extreme set back of our 3d modeler not making the models for me to animate even after many attempts to contact the modeler to no success. First i want to discuss the models i made as the production process of making them was not too challenging other that when texturing where i had to gain help from tutor and video tutorials to make sure i was efficient in substance painter but in the end the models came out well and hit the art style we are trying to achieve in our game effectively. The process of making the models also helped me improve my skills in 3D modelling software like MAYA , substances painter and designer and Blender with these new and improved skills and workflows i gained form this will help me as i make more models in the future. As for the animations that i produced it is a different story as the 3D modeler in our group has not made any models so i couldn't animate them so i had to gather models of sketch fab. This caused a great knock on effect as some if not most of the models i gathered of there where not meant to animated nor rigged this had a great impact on my animations as it cause them to have some weird poses , not move correctly and make the mesh clip and move in places that where incorrect. Besides that the process of making my animations was extremely helpful in teaching me some of the most important lessons about animation , one of the main lessons it taught me is how important topology and the rig quality is to making an animation effective and work effectively. On a whole i am pleased with my animations but think i could improve them a lot , other than the massive set back i faced in not receiving the models , i think i could of produce higher quality animations as some of the animations i produced are not up to the standard i would of liked at this is due to mostly un controllable variables where i had to do the best with what i had in the situation but still think a lot of area in my animations could be improved specifically areas like the follow through and secondary action in the animations. Yet the main part i am most pleased with in the production stage is how my skill and knowledge have developed and grown and how my workflows are more efficient. I can also carry and use these skills as i make more models and animations in the future and use the knowledge i gained from the production stage to help make them of higher quality.

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