Lab 3: Full Body Walk/Run
IDS 352: 3D Advance Animation, Fall 2014

Goals

Understand the following:

• Full Body Pose-to-pose animation.
• Full Body Rig controls.
• The movement of legs, hips, arms, hands, torso, shoulders, head during walking and running.
• How variations in style, weight, speed, and emotion affect walking and running.

References

• Video reference: EndlessReference (cs-render) walk cycles.
• Animator's Survival Kit webpage and book
• Timing for Animation

Rigs

		Both are available in the Lab 3 folder on cs-render.
DT_characterRig	simple_human_rig.mb

Part 1: Full Body Walk Cycle

Work Location: Work on cs-render in the folder IDS352Fa14/Lab3/MayaProjects/your_name. If you prefer to work on your own computer, please transfer your Maya project over to this folder by the due date.

Rig: For this part of the lab, use the DT_characterRig.

Maya Project: Create a new Maya project and copy over the DT_characterRig (see Lab3Materials folder on cs-render) scene file, placing the file into your scenes folder. As before, open up your rig and explore all of the controls before beginning the tutorial.

Reference: Study the reference material for walks listed in the Reference section above.

Digital-Tutors: Finish the tutorial Creating Walk Cycles in Maya, this time animating the entire body.

Playblast: Generate at least 3 playblasts using the: side camera, front camera, and perspective camera. Make sure your character fills the camera view so we can really see the movement.

Deliverables: By Tuesday, Sept 23 before class, place your 3 animations and your maya scene file on cs-render in the folder IDS352Fa14/Lab3/FinalAnimations/part1/your_name. Also add these 4 files as attachments on WISE under the assignment Lab 3 part 1. Placing the files on WISE is especially important when Marty is out of town because this is the only way he will be able to access and critique them.

Part 2: Full Body Walk Variation

Rig: For this part of the lab, use the simple_human_rig.

Variation: Choose a variation that displays a different style, personality, or emotional state. If you want, you can use your walk cycle from part 1 as a starting point. Before starting to animate, be sure to find reference material (or video record your own) for your walk. Carefully study the reference so you can identify the specific poses you will use. Sketch or print out these poses so you can have them in front of you while you work. Please be ready to show the reference material and poses in class when we do the critique.

Rendering and Music: We will be giving your walk cycle animation to the musicians to score and so your animation should be of higher quality than in previous labs. Use the Maya file environment.mb. It contains 3 cameras: PerspFront, PerspSide, and PerspAngled. You need to import your animated character into this file and adjust the character's location or camera location so that you get good views. If you do move a camera, make sure it stays at the same angle relative to the character (e.g. side, front, angled). You should generate 3 animations (one for each camera), with each one being around 5 seconds. You then need to stitch them together for a total of around 15 seconds. Make sure your character fills the window so we can really see the movement. Each animation can either be Playblasted or batch rendered. Use whatever video editor you want, (Adobe Premiere Pro is available in the lab).

If you Playblast it, make sure that you have hidden all controls and other extraneous things, and use the highest quality you can.

If you want to get an even better quality rendering, you can use batch rendering, However, keep it simple - use the following:

• ~15 seconds long (5 seconds for each camera angle)
• The only objects should be your character and the background provided by the environment.mb file
• The character should move forward (not walk in place)
• Include at most 3 lights (e.g. a key, fill, and rim, with shadows turned on for the key)
• No textures on the background or ground, just use a single color for each.
• Generate your animation from these 3 cameras: the side, front and perspective. Please select the camera locations so that the character fills up the view as much as possible. I don't want to see a tiny little character walking by.
• Render using mentalray
• HD 720 resolution
• Generate a Quicktime video

Deliverables: By Tuesday, Sept 30 before class, place your ~15 second animation, along with your maya scene file on cs-render in the folder IDS352Fa14/Lab3/FinalAnimations/part2/your_name. Also submit these 2 files (animation and scene file) as attachments on WISE under the assignment Lab 3 part 2.

Part 3: Refining Your Full Body Walk Variation

Refinements: Begin with your walk cycle from part 2. Based on the in-class critique of part 2, revise and refine your animation. Be sure to address all points that were discussed.

Playblast: Follow the playblast/rendering directions from part 2. We will give your refined animations to the music students.

Deliverables: By Monday evening on Oct 6 at 10pm, place your ~15 second animation, along with your maya scene file on cs-render in the folder. IDS352Fa14/Lab3/FinalAnimations/part3/your_name. Also add these files as attachments on WISE under the assignment Lab 3 part 3. FAILURE TO SUBMIT YOUR ANIMATIONS ON TIME TO WISE WILL BE PENALIZED.

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