Advanced Animation -Project 1

 28/05/2025 - 11/06/2024 (Week 06 – Week 08)

You Siyuan / 0366978

Advanced Animation / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylors University

Advanced Animation/Project 1: Walk Animation

CONCENT

INTRODUCTION
LECTURE
PROJECT 1
SUBMISSION
REFLECTION

INTRODUCTION

LECTURE

Clarity in Secondary Action:One idea being put over in a scene can be fortified by subsidiary actions within the body. This extra business supports the main action, it is called a secondary action and is always kept subordinate to the primary action.

Clarity in Exaggeration:More exaggerated means.. It is not a distorted drawing or an action so violent it was disturbing. More Realism means.. More convincing, bigger contact with people, never destroy believability.

Clarity in Anticipation:

Body Mechanic of Walk

Basic Understanding of Walking:

Learning various walking styles is the first lesson in animation, as walking is one of the most difficult movements to master.

The Essence of Walking:

It's a continuous process of "falling forward and catching yourself."
The movement consists of a cycle of "steps" and "catch."

Body Leaning:

Slow walking results in better balance, while faster walking results in a leaner body and increased risk of losing balance.

Technique Summary:

When walking, we lean forward with our upper body and swing one leg out to "catch" the body.

Walking is divided into several phases:

Medial
Going Down
Going Up
Repeat with the other leg (loop)

Movement Details:

One arm moves in coordination with the opposite leg;
Downward movement accelerates, lowering the center of gravity;
Upward movement swings the arm to reduce the sense of center of gravity;
The order of foot landing is: heel → ball of foot.

PROJECT 1

Objective:
You are tasked with creating a natural and dynamic walk cycle animation using provided character rigs. The goal is to develop a vanilla walk and an attitude walk, focusing on timing, spacing, poses, and fluidity to achieve a believable and engaging animation. This project will enhance your understanding of character movement, weight distribution, and how subtle changes in timing and pose can convey different attitudes.

Vanilla Walk

I first watched the video where Mr. Kamal adjusted the IK/FK settings panel in the teaching video. Adjusting the IK stretching and IK vertex follow functions can enhance flexibility and make the swinging more natural and smooth.

I followed the teacher's instructional video step by step and used the "Pose-to-Pose" method to create the animation. First, I set several key extreme poses on the timeline, with each one approximately spaced three frames apart. After completing these main poses, I moved the keyframes slightly forward and added transition frames and detail frames in the middle to make the animation transition more natural and smooth. Eventually, I formed a complete and coherent action sequence.

Attitude Walk

We need to find a reference video online and imitate it.

Youtube Link

The feature I like about this template is that the arm movements are very exaggerated, which can effectively convey emotions.

Rendering results

Youtube Link

Final

Youtube Link

REFLECTION

Experience

During the creative process, I strictly followed the video teaching instructions provided by the teacher. I first established four main key poses, and then gradually inserted transitional frames to refine the movements. Although the entire process was more complicated than I had expected, especially in terms of controlling the rhythm and coordinating the movements, upon completion, I felt an immense sense of achievement and it also enhanced my understanding of character animation. 

Observations

By consulting reference materials and analyzing the teaching videos frame by frame, I realized that the walking motion is far more complex than it appears on the surface. The character constantly shifts its center of gravity while moving, and needs to find a balance between swaying, swinging and foot placement. For instance, during the "sinking" stage, the character's body needs to quickly lower its center of gravity, while during the "rising" stage, it should exhibit a slight stretch and extension. Moreover, different styles of walking also have their own differences. For example, normal walking is relatively smooth, while expressive walking styles place more emphasis on rhythm, arm swing amplitude and changes in body tilt. 

Findings

This practice has made me realize that even the most basic walking animation requires precise timing control and reasonable action design to make the movements natural and full of vitality. At the same time, I have become more familiar with the use of Blender animation tools. This combination not only improves efficiency but also enables me to systematically master the production process of character animation.