Animation Principles in this practice
- squash and stretch
- timing
- arcs
- overlapping and follow-through action
- solid posing
- slow-in & slow-down
- pose-to-pose
Reference
Before the practice starts, we need to understand the various movements of the human body during walking. Similarly, I found some good reference pictures on the Internet. Through in-depth research, I have concluded some laws.For example: when making a full-body walking motion, we can divide the body into upper limbs, trunk and lower limbs.
All in all, in the third week of practice, I can deepen and strengthen the knowledge learned in the second week. At the same time, I also understand that this exercise is to pave the way for the next week. The following are some reference pictures of walking:
Animating
Step1
First, I animated for legs, feet and root in 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24.etc. Let the character have a basic position to move.
In this process, we need to adjust the rotation (IK) of ROOT_Ctrl’s XYZ. Normally, when we are on our feet (the front foot is fully on the ground), the X axis needs to be adjusted upward, and the Z axis needs to be adjusted downward in the direction of the foot. In addition, we need to rotate the Y axis when we take a foot.
The video is as follows:
Step2
In this process, we need to adjust the rotation of Spine. More specifically, I used FK in this process to adjust the middle and upper parts of the Spine separately.
The details of the adjustment are as follows:
Spine middle:
Spine upper:
The video is as follows:
Step3
The third step is Animating for Clavicle, ShoulderFk, ElbowFk, WristFk and Finger. Before this process starts, my approach is to adjust the hands into a relaxed position. Then, adjust the actions of Clavicle, ShoulderFk, ElbowFk, WristFk and Finger in sequence.
It should be noted that the overall movement of the arm is the opposite of the leg, but we also need to add inertia to the arm. The specific operation is: After ShoulderFk is setted Key, all key frames are shifted backward by one unit. ElbowFk pans backward by two units, WristFk pans backward by three units, and Finger pans backward by four units.
The details of Clavicle, ShoulderFk, ElbowFk, WristFk and Finger are shown in the figure:
Clavicle
ShoulderFk
ElbowFk
WristFk
Finger
Step4
At this stage, I animated for Head and ears. We should pay attention to the animation rules of overlapping and follow-through action when adjusting ears. The following pictures are the details of each controller from bottom to top of the head and ears:
Head
Ears
The following video is the final effect of the walking cycle：
Props
The main purpose of this process is to practice how to use the parent function in Maya. It is divided into two parts, corresponding to the positions shown in the below figures.
First, practice how to use parent under the Constrain menu. I established a parent-child relationship between the sunglasses and the head controller. At the same time, the same operation is for the hand controller and the sword.
During this process, it should be noted that the movement of the hand and arm holding the sword should be slightly different from the other. It is embodied in the scope of the movement.
The following figure is to adjust the movement range of the arm:
Secondly, practicing how to use Aim under the Constrain menu. I applied this function to the spotlight model. Let the spotlight face the character.
Finally, create a spotlight and use the Parent function under the Edit menu. Constraint with the spotlight model.
The following is the final video:
Extra work
This week I practiced how to export materials from Substance painter to Unreal 4 and how to use mixed materials in Uneral 4.
Export from Substance painter to Unreal 4
First, I simply made a barrel model in Maya. Subsequently, Onwrapping in RizomUV.
After getting the model and UV, I simply made a barrel in the wasteland style in Substance painter. In the process, I added an Opacity channel to the software. as the picture shows:
First, at the top of the picture, select a material with Alpha.
Then add an Opacity channel. The reason for this is that there is no Opacity channel in the default settings of Substance painter. After the production is completed, the export settings are as follows:
In Unreal 4, the first thing I did was cancel the sRGB mode with OcclusionRoughnessMetallic in the name, as shown in the figure.
Then, create the material to link according to the nodes shown in the figure.
Finally, I got the picture effect as shown in the picture.
Mixed materials in Unreal 4
First make a mixed material in Mixer
The purpose of this test is to import the texture we made in Mixer into the texturing for the ground or wall in Unreal 4. The material will be repeated continuously, which will make the picture effect worse. Questions are as follows:
How to solve this problem:
First, we can get 3 different materials in Mixer by hiding the layers
Import to Unreal 4 via bridger
Create material blend at this position, and then draw the material.
Finally, I got a highway with a changing nature, not a simple repetition.