Lab 5: Creating an Animation Loop
IDS252: 3D Animation, Fall 2008

Goals

• Continue practice using keyframes.
• Learn about path animation.
• Learn about driving keys.
• Create a 10 second animation loop.

Directions

1. File Location: For this lab, you MUST work on the enfuzion drive and not on your H drive. When you create a new project, place it in the folder \IDS252Fa08\Lab5\your_name on the enfuzion drive. When you have completed the lab, you will copy your final animations over to the folder \IDS252Fa08\Lab5\FinalAnimations Make sure that the name of the file you copy into this folder includes your initials or login name.

   Remember, when you create your new project (through Maya) on enfuzion, you should include an "images" subfolder.

2. Tutorials: In Maya, go to the tutorials on Animation (under Learning Resources;Tutorials;Getting Started with Maya;Animation) and work through

   • Lesson 2 (Set Driven Key)
   • Lesson 3 (Path animation)

   The files you will need can be found at

   C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2008\GettingStartedLessonData\Anim

   Once your project is created, copy (through Windows, not Maya) the the needed files from the above folder into your project folder on the enfuzion drive.

   Note, the above lessons will not be collected.

3. 10 Second Animation Loop:

   • You are to create a 10 second animation that is a loop, i.e. it ends exactly where it begins. The subject matter is less important than getting the motion to "feel right". Use any of the techniques you have learned so far, e.g. keyframing, path animation, etc. Observe how things move in real life. Think about the "Principles of Animation".

   • Do not use Bloke for this animation. Instead, create your own scene and objects. We will do another 10 animation later where you will be able to use Bloke.

   • Don't forget to set the animation rate to 30 frames per second. See lab 4 for instructions. Note, a 10 second animation at 30 fps will be 300 frames long.

   • To insure that the animation begins and ends at the exact same place, begin by setting the keyframes at t=0 then, without changing anything in the scene, move the slider to t=300 and set the keyframes again. At this point, you can begin animating in between.

   • See lab 4 for instructions on how to generate the frames in Maya and create a quicktime file using Adobe Premiere.

Evaluation

Place your final animation on \\home\enfuzion in the folder IDS252Fa08\Lab5\FinalAnimations. Be sure that the file name contains your name.