Final animation of the sneeze in Maya.
Maya
Blocking Out – The Sneeze
This is my draft mockup of the sneeze so far. I can see that I still need to work on the beinging of the scene, where a sneeze is felt but then passes.
Once I’m happy with that, I need to start pacing the animation out. Working out the timing of the hand rubbing scene especially- as the movement needs a little help in coming across. Also the ins and outs of the arching back, making sure there is a clear acceleration of the actual sneeze. I want the sneeze in some ways to sneak up on the character and be released quickly.
Maya Character Motivation – The Sneeze
Using the reference footage we filmed / directed as a group, I cut down the video to the key actions, and added a time code and frame rate. After this I started thumbnail sketching the keyframes of action, to help understand the body language / poses. This will aid me when animating, to exaggerate the movement to give a clear sense of action.
Walk Cycle
Finished Walk Cycle.
This video is a compilation of the front, side and 3/4 of the walk cycle.
Bouncing Ball – Table Tennis Ball
I went through the same process as I did with the bowling ball. I made a reference footage of a table tennis ball being dropped from a height of 1 meter. Then went through the process of blocking out the key frames in Maya.
Walk Cycle – (RW Generic Walk)
Blocking out the first key poses of the 24 frame walk cycle.
Richard Williams referencing to create this generic walk.
Working in Maya.
Frames 1, 4, 7, 13, 16, 19 and 25.
Frames 1, 4, 7, 13, 16, 19, 22 and 25.
Walk Cycle (RW- Generic Walk)
Blocking out the key poses of the 24 frame walk cycle.
Looking at Richard Williams work as reference in creating this generic walk.
Did some thumbnail sketches for planning out the movements.
Working in Maya
Frames 1, 13 and 25.
Frames 1, 7, 13, 19 and 25.
Blocking Out Poses
I decided to position the rigged character in the famous Karate kick pose – from the first Karate Kid film.
Blocking Out Poses
With an already rigged out figure, we were tasked to position the character to match the given reference image (the smug smile pose). This task helped us understand the body a bit more, and the rigging set-up. We needed are poses to show a clear understanding of weight and it’s distribution across the body.
Bouncing Ball – Bowling Ball
I recorded the dropping of a bowling ball from the height of 1 meter onto a plank of wood (this was to represent the floor of a bowling alley)
Using the footage above as reference when animating in Maya.
Started with a blocking out of the key movements of the bowling ball. Leaving the ball rotation for later.
I then used the Graph Editor to work out the momentum of the ball, as it accelerates down and decelerates slowly throughout the sequence to a stop. Working out the timings of the arcs was a tricky in places of high speed, as it was coming across a bit jumpy. So for the purpose of having the movement clear for the viewers to register I smoothed out the pacing. Even though it was now not following the speed of the reference footage.
Satisfied with the movement of the ball bounce so far, I then went into blocking out the rotations. Considering the weight of the object and the speed it is traveling, I worked out that there would be a limited amount of rotation occurring. After this I went back into the Graph Editor, this time adjusting the rotations, to help give the sense of the ball rolling rather that gliding across the screen.
dsbeckywebb 