Going Live Update 28/03/23

 Going Live Update                                                                                                                                    28/03/23

Figure 1: Bad Maya Graph: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.autodesk.com%2Ft5%2Fmaya-animation-and-rigging%2Fanimation-breaks-after-switching-from-stepped-to-spline-in-graph%2Ftd-p%2F10947551&psig=AOvVaw19k-RNOrNKjX_z1YHdkpyG&ust=1680099255166000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCMjarMzn_v0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAI

Too much of anything is ultimately a bad thing.  This is the lesson I've learned from the most recent session I've had with Maya when modifying the graph editor.  Apart from the main takeaway from the tutor stating that footwork pushing forward across the plane is better suited for a linear tangent, I'm not entirely sure what to do next with the Nikko animation in Maya.  I'm worried if I modifying the animation too much, it'll just result in a repeat of what happened on 23rd March where the animation on the footwork made the whole thing fall apart.  I'll have to playblast the footage to see how the animation looks to my fellow colleagues.  The tricky part will be when it comes time to make the figure move across the plane, since the model can still look it's sliding from a distance.  

Figure 2: Maya body mesh falling apart: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FMaya%2Fcomments%2Fkppmpf%2Fbody_mesh_is_ripping_apart_at_the_vertices_unsure%2F&psig=AOvVaw2qk4XzjelhfFARuxKLEYD0&ust=1680099555543000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCLiTx9vo_v0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

Figure 3: Tom double bounce walkcycle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrrRw93G00

This animation is a target for what I'm aiming for when it comes to moving the character forward in 3D space.  I'm not bothered about the arm movement or the waistline for the figure but on how it cleanly moves forward across the floorplan without any sliding.  It's not the most professional looking animation in the world and arguably moves a bit too quickly for my liking, but in terms of necessary ground friction and movement correlation, this is the best I can hope for when I give the finished results to my colleagues to go into Unreal.  This will take a lot of tweaking and I won't save the model unless it's a position I'm comfortable with.  

Figures 3 and 4: Latest Nikko double bounce tests

These are the latest double bounce walk cycle tests that I've done in Maya with the Nikko model including one where there are linear tangents on the footwork to adhere to the tutor's recommendation.  I've done minimal changes with the footwork otherwise to make sure that they can be easily switched back to spline tangents if something goes wrong.  Thankfully so far, I've seen minimal obstruction to the animation flow, but I am proceeding very carefully in case something disastrous happens again.

Figure 5: Double bounce walkcycle compilation