IOL WEEK 02_S2_2022

Animated Loops

In response to the week2 theme "loops, cycles and repetition", I iterated the idea by producing three loop animations of movements: a walk cycle, a run cycle, and a jump cycle. I started with the blocking, and in the meantime, I learned to change some parents to bones, adjust vertex groups and revise the rig’s weight-painting to have a more accurate action presentation. Moreover, I learned the mechanic of character animation when animating the character. Many axials needed to be considered, and sometimes I had no clue to troubleshoot the errors when they happened.

After blocking, I tidied up the limbs’ splines and the pelvis’ position. I left the body part rotation to the last, so that it won’t get too messy if some popping occurs, and I need to fix it. The experiences of creating three clips are very different. The walk cycle is the most challenging one because it moves slower and shows more details. In the process of making, the left knee always popped subtly. I tried to adjust the height of the character standing, the spline and the foot position. Although the symmetrised side is fine, I still can’t find a solution. Eventually, I eased the circumstance, but it still exists. Another problem is the head’s movement. When the body rotates, the head moves too. More research is needed in this regard in the future.

jump cycle

run cycle

walk cycle