Project 2: walk cycles

Task: create a generic walk cycle and animating a person walking to a box and jumping off the box

This is the generic walk cycle i created. The head is rotated on the y-axis to make the head look like the person's head is bobbing when he walks. I also rotated the pelvis to make the body looked arched at the extreme pose which is the first pose of this walk cycle.

This is the animation of the person walking to a box and jumping off the box. I rotated the shoulders back when the man is preparing to jump. I also make the man squat down before jumping so that there is some kind of anticipation.

Reflection

For this assignment, I felt that i can do better for the part before the person got up the box because for this, it looks like the person slide a bit and struggling to get up the box. I also felt that 5s is a bit too short for this walk because at the end the person didnt look like he has landed on the ground before the video ended. From this assignment, i have learnt to apply some of the 12 priciples of animation to make the animation more realistic. I have applied the principle anticipation on this animation. Anticipation is the preparation of an action. It tells us what is about to happen. The part where anticipation is used is the part where by the person bend down before he jump. I have also applied a bit of overlapping action in this animation. Overlapping of action means having slight variations in the timing and speed of loose parts makes objects seem more natural.It also make objects and movement look more interesting. The part where by i applied this principle is the part where the person step on the box. I have made the left leg step up onto the box first and then keyframe the right leg a few keyframes away so that it does not look like both the legs go up the box concurrently.

This animation will be quite easy if you realised that you cannot set the keyframe at the same place for both the legs and for the bending down and moving the person up in order to achieve the effect that you one. For this, i tried a few times before i get this. The first few times were quite difficult for me as i have to trial and error to get the keyframes right. For the generic walk cycle, it is quite confusing as i cannot tell which leg is infront and which is at the back. 

week 3: Shift weight exercise 1

Task:Make spiderman shift weight from one foot to another

For this exercise, i have set keyframes at keyframe 1 and 24 for the legs, head and arms. As for the hips, i set the keyframes at keyframe 1, 12 and 24. At keyframe 1, the hip is rotated towards the right. At keyframe 12, the hip will move up slightly and at keyframe 24, the hips will be at the same position as keyframe 1 but rotated to the right as the weight is on the left leg.

Reflection:
When I was trying to do this exercise, it was difficult for me as I tried to make the spiderman stand on his right leg. It is also difficult for me as I have not really observe the movement of the hips when people put weight on one of their legs. It was easier after our lecturer showed us how he did it and asked us to stand up and stand on one leg and shift our weight to observe how our hips are rotated.

My second try at doing this has failed as i did something wrongly. As a result, the shoulders moved as well. My lecturer came and help me. After that, i went home and did one myself. The video below is done by him. I felt that he has over exaggerated the movement of the hips. In my opinion, he made it looks as if like spiderman is moving his butt.

For the one that i did, I felt that i did an OK job. For mine, i feel that the movement of the hips is just right.