I have a few walk cycles ready to put into my showreel but I also wanted something that wasn’t a cycle. So using the Dex character from the body mechanics mega pack, I created a Bus stop and decided to animate the character waiting for a bus which would then drive on by…
The set which I modelled myself, not putting to much detail into it as I wanted the animation of the character to be the main focus of the short:
and a rendered view from the camera I will be using:
Blocking out the movement:
Adding the In-betweens, this first attempt didn’t go as well as I had hoped it would, the movement at the start goes a little too fast – the timing needs to be adjusted throughout the entire clip. The wave at the start while the character is sitting doesn’t make a lot of sense at the moment, it needs a little more anticipation:
I then took another attempt at creating in-betweens and I am pleased to say that this attempt was much better:
Home › The Animator's Survival Kit. The Animator's Survival Kit. $30 00 $30.00; Add to Cart. The definitive book on animation, from the Academy Award-winning animator behind Who Framed. The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators Richard.
Adding in the reaction of the character as he realises the bus isn’t stopping:
The character turns as the bus drives past:
Once I was happy with the main movement of the character I then went back through and adjusted to movement of the hands, giving them some delay and overlapping action:
I then decided I wanted more of a reaction from the character, so at the end I have him punch through the air, hopefully conveying that the character is angry/ annoyed:
After getting the rough movement of the arm, I then went in and adjusted it slightly:
After fixing the right arm, I then tried adjusting the left, just to give it a little more movement:
I then experimented with the movement of the right wrist as he punches the air:
I wasn’t happy with the movement of the wrist in the video above so i took another go at it:
and the finished render:
After feedback, it was suggested that the movement of the leg, from the characters lap to the ground could be a little stronger, so I attempted the movement again:
Some notes I took in preparation for this animation:
The above notes are taken from Richard William’s Animation Survival Kit, regarding the topic of anticipation. I also took a look at what ‘The Illusion of Life’ had to say about the same topic…
“People in the audience will not be able to understand the events on screen unless there is a planned sequence of actions that leads them clearly form one activity to the next…The anticipatory moves may not show why he is doing something, but there is no question about what he is doing – or what he is going to do next. Expecting that, the audience can now enjoy the way it is done.”
“Few movements in real life occur without some kind of anticipation. It seems to be the natural way for creatures to move, and without it there would be little power in any action.” – pages 51-53, The Illusion of Life.
I also took note of Follow through and overlapping action and Arcs (also from the Illusion of life) to apply these principles to the animation: