Animation cycles for characters 15/02/23

Animation cycles for characters                                                                                                            15/02/23

Figure 1: Strutting walk cycle: http://animationprojectwalkcycles.blogspot.com/2011/02/walk-cycle-c.html

As part of my animation work for the characters of Nikko and Tinny, I have to find animation cycles and positions to match the personalities we've agreed upon.  Tinny is definitely the more disciplinary figure with more pride in what he accomplishes and gives, whilst Nikko is generally considered to be the lazier and more self-centered character in the pitch.  As such, the animation cycle that would best suit Tinny would be something like a strut where the chest is held upwards, the arm and the leg positions are strong and straight, the fists are clenched and the head is held up high.  It is similar to the strut of a character such as Mickey Mouse, whose strut is more exaggerated, but has a similar build to the character of Tinny.  We've also agreed that the character has a short height and posture to resemble the audience of children aged 4 to 7, and both Nikko and Tinny have to be the same height so they can be on an even keel.

The way of planning these animations out would include roughly sketching out the keyframes (just a basic outline with simple shapes resembling the character proportions) of a strut cycle and a slouch cycle so I can follow the positions out in Maya when moving the characters into position and creating the keyframes to form a fluid animation.  I've tried doing the animation with taller character rigs from Turbosquid just to get accustomed to the 3D animation cycle.  I am aware that 3D animation is in some ways easier than 2D animation because once the character is modeled and rigged, the process after that is to move the character into different keyframe positions and hit a key to create a keyframe and then move to the next position in the timeline.  Of course, if the character isn't rigged correctly the asset will need to go back to the riggers to be fixed.  These are some of the examples that I've tried, including the Palbots from the Mitchells vs the Machines and the character of Wukong or the Monkey King.

Figure 2: Maya animation tests

For the animation for Nikko, I've mostly agreed upon a double bounce walk so that the character can appear to be more youthful and energetic in the demo reel.  I've also found a shorter robot character to practice with for the movement of Tinny, and he is considered to be the more important of the two characters we have so far.   I've also found a monkey-like animation cycle that would have been useful had we decided to make Nikko's movement more organic.

Figure 3: Double bounce animation cycle: 

Figure 4: Monkey walk cycle: https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/monkey-walk-cycle-animation-frames-loop-animation-sequence-sprite-sheet_20184253.htm