Assignment part 2 - Climbing box and Jumping

This is the perspective view for my animation for the box climbing and jumping. Few things to note is that instead of doing walking animation as well, I immediately started out by climbing already. I also created something like a 'Sand Pit' of some sort as when my character lands, he also has some sliding animation to signify that it landed with a considerable amount of force in it. Some other things to note also is that when my character prepares to jump, he doesn't bend so much as the jump is a light and not a heavy jump so it only reaches quite a low height before falling down.

This is the side view for my animation. In this view you will be able to see clearly the walking up the stairs as well as the jumping also. When walking up, there a few thing to take note. When climbing up the stairs it must not look as thought it has stretched a lot so it's body should not shift so much upwards as there is gravity acting upon it. Another thing to take note is when it jumps, it lands in a same angle according to how it's feet left the platform, so as to make it look and seem accurate.

This is the front view of the animation. Similar to the previous part this is where you can see the weight shift and how it works. So when it is ascending the steps it follows accordingly to how the walking is done. When it is jumping, you can clearly see there is an ascending step, and descending step, so as to show how it reaches the highest position possible, then falling down. Also note the arm movements. When it prepares to jump, the arms bend backwards first. When it reaches the highest point, the arms are lifted to it's highest possible position, then when it is falling down, the arms start to sway backwards again. Before reaching the ground then it sway forward again. A bit complicated, but it was done.

Assignment part 1 - Walking Animation

This is the perspective view for my assignment the walking animation. Some adjustment were made to it as compared with my latest upload for the animation. This is a much smoother animation in all. I had some difficulty in doing up the weight shift as I have no idea how to visualize well how does the body shift accordingly. I added the hands animation also, so that it looks perfectly nice in sync with the body's movements.

This is the side view. From this view you will be able to see how the walking goes naturally. I tried removing some key frames here and there so it looks more natural and not so jerky. When the body moves and lifts up it's legs, the body will move upwards due to gravity and it will move down when the foots touches the ground. Also, I make sure that the arms don't swing too much and they swing naturally. Such that they look very relaxed and smooth.

This is the front view of the walking animation. In this view you would be able to see the weight shift more carefully and precise. Also another thing to note is the 'swaying'. Depending on which leg it lifts up it will tilt to that side. If the right leg is lifted up the body will be tilted to the right a bit. Also another thing to note is the arms as well. Instead of swinging normally and rigid. When it swings, it also moves a little bit inwards towards the body so it kinda looks like a 'U' shaped pattern if viewed from above.

Joe Waist Progress

This was some preliminary playblast for my Joe walking animation. This was taken from the side view. Some things which I have noted during the animations is one; setting keyframes at almost every single area. If let's say you set a keyframe for the left leg to move upwards, if you did not set the keyframe for the right leg to remain stationary, the right leg will move together as well, so one would notice in my maya file that almost at every keyframe like let's say keyframe 40, the waist and legs would have some position configured at that particular keyframe. Another thing I've noted was the moving speed of the body. Since animating the leg was just simple lifting, and putting down of the foot, there has to be precision while adjusting the position of the body as well so when it is walking it does not appear to look as though it is either sneaking, or walking very unnaturally (For my animation it looks a bit similar to sneaking).

This is the front view of my animation. Basically this is where one would notice the weight shift and how does gravity act upon this figure. When one takes a step forward and lift up his legs, the body also moves upwards too and doesn't not stay in a normal and fixed height or equilibrium. When the foot touches the ground, the body also moves slightly lower as well. So when it's moving you will constantly see the body moving up and down, though it shouldn't be so prominent as it will look unnatural. For my case I may have to slightly adjust the height again so that it looks as natural as possible.

This is shown from the perspective view, even though our tutor didn't state there is a need to show it in perspective by I still did it anyway to show my progress. From the perspective view you can see clearly how the whole walking animation is done overall. Also few things to note that I did a small animation with the head whereby it started lifting up it's head, and then turning to look towards the left. Another thing I did was to create a simple floor for the rig to walk on, as I have some trouble visualizing and ensuring that it does walk on a straight and even plain, I create a cube and then flattening it. So that when I did the rest of the steps, I could see clearly where the "Floor" was. There are some places here and there that needs to be fixes, particularly the steps taken after walking off the so-called "Wired-floor"  and onto the fake "Floor". As they appear to look slower and more uneven. 

Self-Made Rig - little process and 3 poses

This is the first picture I base on for my first pose I was going to rig using my self-made rig for the E-Learning week for self-rigging. I figured difficult parts to pose would be basically the hands, and arms, as there were some problems made during the creation of the rig due to the painting of the skin done incorrectly which I didn't had time to salvage.

As one would have noticed the problem with the right leg, I couldn't bend it upwards anymore as that would have interfered with the knee joints and would look unsightly. Some errors made with the hands as stated above.

This is what would have happened if I shifted the right leg wider, would have resulted in her crotch looking unsightly. So this is the best I could come up with, problems with the arms and shoulders also as can be seen from the above picture, if bent too far inwards instead of the elbows moving back like what a normal human suppose to move accordingly it will move in the opposite direction instead. Which defies logic.

This is the 2nd pose I was going to rig, it is a martial arts pose, whereby the legs are spread apart and are 90 degrees aligned to their body and back. I suppose difficult part will be nevertheless the arms again, as this time I have to bring them closer to each other.

Not only is the left arm unsightly, so is the left breast, maybe it's due to wrongly painting of the skin area, which I'm not sure about. Another part which I haven't discussed about are the hands, due to poor "Painting" the hands cannot fully clench into looking like a proper fist, instead they just look like clench fist while it is holding something, so one can see clearly a little gap between the fingers and the palm.

This will be the final pose I'll be attempting to rig. It looks similar to the above martial arts pose above. Only thing different is the pose for the right leg, and also a minor adjustment made to the right arm and hand.

The right leg looks somewhat off as it looks too rigid already. As for the right arm I tried shifting properly already but the most I could do was this.

As seen from this angle the left arm was also difficult to position as it would have resulted in the left hand being sunken into the left breast of the figure. Also note that the right arm wasn't fully out but was too straight and aligned horizontally with the body and shoulders. 

BigDog Animation (Improved)

I tried adding some improvements to the animation with some tips and guidance given to me by my tutor. Firstly, I made the anticipation for my animation much better. My dog was suppose to be limping, and for limping objects, one side of the object's body is suppose to look as though it has lesser strength. So I made it such that the first step it takes is slow, and when the injured leg is about to touch the ground, it will fall down faster to make it feel as though it is truly injured and limping with little energy.

Another thing I took note was how it's body tilted according to where the dog was limping towards. If the dog was moving it's front left leg (And corresponding hind right leg) towards the direction right, the dog's body would tilt to the left. This is hard to see in normal real dogs (Which aren't block-like, as in this rig's case) as their body is smooth and covered so its hard for one to be able to notice how the body is tilted according. Also, height is another important factor which helps decides whether the animation look realistic or not. When it is moving slowly the body is suppose to move upwards in a slow manner, then when it falls it is suppose to fall fast and move downwards.

The last thing to note was the camera angle also. If the camera was place in a nice position the animation would look nice and realistic for the audience to look and view. In this animation, I placed my camera angle  quite near to the front so one can notice the movements for the legs and body position as well. 

BigDog Animation

This is the initial animation which I did for my BigDog. As my tutor told me not to follow the given example, I kinda tried to do my own animation for this rig, taking note of what my tutor told me that it still has to incorporate the term of 'weight' and how does it move it's leg in sync with each other. Also I took note as to how it's body tilted depending oh which leg it moves upon, tilt left if front left and back right moves and tilt right if front right and back left moves. I made my animation in such a way that it is very dynamic, BigDog will look and seem as though it is limping on its front right and back left legs and then final it will settle down, kneeling on the ground. 

BigDog Exercise

Describe how Big Dog's legs were moving while walking. What is the sequence of leg movements from one complete step? Using the terms BL, BR, FL, and FR for the back-left, back-right, front-left and front-right legs.

BR + FL, BL + FR, BR + FL, BL + FR.


Explain how this manages Big Dog's body weight.


For a normal human being they have 2 legs, if one leg is lifted up, another leg has to shift near the center so as to balance the human, this is called stabilizing the center of gravity. This can be shown for Big Dog as well, if for example the front 2 legs are lifted up, only way for the Dog to stabilize itself if it lifted it's body so it becomes parallel to the hind legs. Thus if Big Dog wishes to stabilize it's body weight while moving, it has to move 1 leg in front the the other opposite hind leg so it balances out the center of gravity. Think of it as a square with 4 sticks at each corner, if 2 sticks are near each other and lies on a single line, no way the square can balance, but if they were opposite from each other, there may be a chance the square is able to balance itself. 


Draw a storyboard of Big Dog stabilizing itself after being kicked.

Spiderman Animation - Shift Weight

This was my animation for the Weight Shift Exercise. Didn't had really any significant parts in this animation to comment about. However there are points to take note personally. As what my tutor told us, not to shift the NURBS curve at all as it might tamper and mixed up the waist shift and the NURBS shift. So just stick to just shifting the waist is enough. Another thing I noted was that timing was also important. From the point where the figure went from open palms to clenched fist I made 2 key poses first, one of which is when he has already clenched his fist and the other where he spread his arms wider compared to the initial pose. So when the animation is played it would run smoothly from the point where his arms goes in and his fist clenched. 

Spiderman Animation - Waist

This is my animation I did for my Waist movement for the Spiderman Rig. Due to me having some knowledge of animation during my IN3D days, it was too difficult job for me to do. Only difference now is that there is this need to make the animation look very realistic. There has to be an anticipation, and also a proper closure to the animation so that it looks good. I managed to added my anticipation in the above animation, whereby he swings a bit to the left (Can be seen significantly) and then proceeds to swing to the right, and then settle down smoothly for a nice closure. I also did something else and went to animate the body and arms also.

This is the exact same animation as the above waist swinging motion except for the fact that I animated the head a bit, and more importantly the arms. I realized something while animating the arms as if I didn't shifted it correctly, during the course where the waist swings, the arms tend to dislocate and go through the chest area, which isn't suppose to happen. Even if I do animate the arms while it is high in the air, sometimes the right arm does tend to get bend in a very strange way which can be seen in my example above. I already tried my best not to make it look so ridiculous already.

It is regrettable that the video loading on blogger isn't so good so if one wishes to reply he or she can only reply once, this problem can be solved by just f5 or refresh the page.

Eleven11 Rig Second Pose

2nd pose I will have to rig will be this pose. I figured troublesome places would be the legs especially, and the arms.

And just as I expected the legs are difficult to rig. Problem is the have to crossover nicely and not have one part of the leg intersecting into the other leg. In order to do that shifting of the waist is also a necessary step in accomplishing this.

Another thing to take note was the feet. As it cannot be seen in being such a rigid and fixed style so thus the feet also has to bend, first inwards and then upwards so it looks as though it really is sitting down.

Right hand needs to be rigged so it looks as though it is holding the card itself, one thing I found a problem is that no matter how I try to move the arm I can't seem to make it stick close to the chest and distance is now far apart from each other.

Another thing I noticed was the legs were too thin, so I can't exactly make it look that exact as the picture as the hands were much smaller compared to this. So I tried my best and bend slightly the fingers so it can look as though it is resting on the person's lap.

Final pose of the rig. Looks similar enough. Still can't get rid of the arm problem though but I'll try to find a solution to it.

You can see the hands are clearly resting properly and naturally on the legs of the model.

Another thing I did necessary was to move the bottom so that it looks like it is touching the ground. So as to make the figure look balanced.

Character Design

This person is called Alice. She possess the nickname "Girl with hair who kills" as her hair can be turned into weapons. Alice is an ordinary girl who lives currently in snow city (A city in the outskirts of Antartical) with her mother. She lives her life everyday happily fishing, playing in the snow, and building snowmans. She is sometimes shy around strangers and likes to play with her hair as it can be turned into weapons.
As time goes by, she longs to go and live in the city, yet she can't abandon her mum, and develops mixed feelings. If she goes into the city her dream will be fulfilled, however her mum would be sad. If she doesn't, although her mum won't feel sad but Alice herself will be miserable.

Whenever she is free, she sometimes goes fishing by herself. She is a very kind person by heart and always let's go the fishes she has caught back into the wild. She is always seen wearing her favorite sweater, which looks very plain with just some fur around the neck area.

Although she is kind and caring, she shows signs of shyness when around people she is unfamiliar with. Once she was tasked by her mum to give a present to a friend and poor Alice was so shy that in the end her mum went to deliver the present herself.

Sometimes when the weather is considerably sunny, she would always run around as a simple form of exercising. Her mum made her a special pair of boots which can double up as a small pair of skis as well.

She has not many complains about her food, however she is particular weak and doesn't like spicy food. Once she tried some chili and it made her cry.

She is somewhat proud of her ability to turn her hair into weapons. As such she can get too proud at some times and may cause trouble for herself. Once she tried chasing after some Seals and accidentally fell, even though she is wearing her custom boots.

Only times she uses her weapons is when she encounters dangerous animals (like Polar bears or some Carnivorous seals) or when she wants to break ice structures. Since small she was taught some basic skills of survival so her mum need not worry about her when Alice grows up.

She is a particularly curious girl and is always fascinated by anything small thing she sees, even like snowflakes, a different type of fish, or even different animals. Only thing she is not fascinated by are people, as she is shy towards them.

Till now she still prays that she can one day, go to the City and live there. Also she hopes that her mum can change her mind and accompany Alice to the City too.


The following is a dialogue between Alice and her mother discussing about Alice's future:
Alice: Mom, I am already 12 years old, soon I can go away from Antarctica and live in the City!
Mom: You sure about this Alice? This IS your birthplace after all...
Alice: Of course! *Smiles* I will be able to see new things!
Mom: Well, but Mummy won't be able to accompany you darling, I am not fit for travelling.
Alice: Why mom? *Anxious look*
Mom: Mummy is old and can't move so much, so if you're gonna go live in the city mummy can't accompany you I'm sorry.
Alice: Oh *Sad look*, but I-I.....
Mom: It's ok dear, just follow your own heart
Alice: *Very sad look*


I included 1 simple reference. It is a character called Akaza Akari, who starred in a show called: Yuru Yuri http://yuruyuri.wikia.com/wiki/Akari_Akaza

Both characters are similar as their hair are dubbed "Weapons" however Alice's weapons are real compared to Akari's ones are just make-believe. Another thing differentiating them apart is Alice has more confidence overall.

Spiderman 3

This is going to be the third and final pose for my spiderman rig. I figured most difficult points to rig would be the arms and legs as I encountered numerous problems with the other 2 and will try to solve them on my learning journey.

This is the famous spiderman hand gesture when he is ready to fire his webbing. Instead of just adjusting the ring and middle finger, I also adjusted the index and pinky as well. Reason being as one's hands and fingers cannot be so straight, when one finger is bent the other fingers will also bend as well, the brain tells the fingers to do that action too.

And I was right the arms still bend and sink into the torso, which is not good as if in the future I do this again I will be in trouble. I tried adjusting here and there but then the result is still the same. I figured the last solution would be to turn IKR to 0. So I did that instead.

To my delight it worked nicely and now if noticed the shoulder does not sink into the torso and is by its own now. I tried that to the legs also and it turn out nicely too.

Final pose for the rig. In my opinion this is the best out of my 3 rigs as it looks similar to the pose compared to the rest. I still have a little bit of trouble with the legs and will fix it shortly sometime later or tomorrow.

The left foot is a bit bent to another side but I'll adjust it later. 

Eleven11 Rig First Pose

We were tasked the do some poses for a rig available online called the "Eleven11 rig". The first pose will be to model the rig so it looks like the boy who is bouncing the basketball.

Some challenges included the adjustments of it's back. Unlike the spiderman rig, this rig has more parts of the body which are made adjustable (yellow rings around the torso of the model). Thus many factors now need to be considered as the body has to look naturally curved. Since the arms are now thinner, I expect I won't run into the same problem compared to the spiderman rig, whereby the arms are hidden inside of the rig's torso.

The picture given also has limitations, as the boy is only seen from it's back view, we can interpret what form of pose the right hand is. So I did something else and formed my own pose/form for my right hand. It just has to be hidden from sight when the model is viewed from the back.

I also took the initiative to model something to substitute the ball in the picture, so as to make sure how my model will look in contrast to the ball.

Another thing to take note would be the eyes, as the eyes need to be positioned at an area where it will be aligned with the ball so as to make it look natural. Also needs to make sure model is looking at ball only.

Body also needs to look leaned towards the right (in this case). This is also to make it look natural, as he is suppose to be bouncing the ball and naturally needs to lean to one side too.

Legs need to look bend but not too bend. Also the foot has to look natural also, left foot touching the ground and right foot slightly above the ground.

Overall the model does not necessarily has to look so dynamic as the picture showing is a boy and being a young boy, one won't expect him to be so strong and dynamic in his actions.

Final pose of it's back. Looks fine to me, not able to tell the similarities too clearly as the boy is wearing a much 'bulky' shirt while the model is wearing tight-fit clothing. 

Spiderman 2

This is going to be my next pose I am going to rig using the spiderman pose. I think the more difficult parts will be the arms, and legs. Torso seems ok to adjust, head too.

The hands were a bit difficult to adjust at first, as I needed to make it look realistic. So I adjusted the fingers one by one. Important part to take note is to make it look spreaded out also to make it look realistic.

Also, the thumb has to be adjusted to it does not look as though it exist as a separate part of the body from the hand. Fingers need to look clenched as spiderman is suppose to hold webbing in his hand thus it needs to look firm and solid.

I found a little difficulty in adjusting the legs and thighs as if noticed carefully at the right leg, part of the knee is sticking out too noticeably. Part of the right foot is also not supposed to visible also so that needs to be adjusted. Torso has to be bent downwards a little bit more and arms need to be in line as unlike the previous spiderman pose (The hanging down pose), he is holding the webbing with both hands at once so it needs to be aligned properly.

Perspective view for my completed pose. Not perfect but quite close to the original pose already in my opinion.

As seen above the hands are now aligned to each other properly. Doesn't need that much adjusting as I expected as I only adjusted the wrist and not the whole arm.

Another thing to note is that the arms is not intertwined with the legs as compared to the previous model where it sticks to the torso.

I adjusted the back of his chest, so he looks more slouch. As spiderman is suppose to be pulling the webbing and lifting his body into the sky, his back should look more bent, and arms more 'strained' in a way.

Side view, overall he looks horizontally fit, and legs look almost straight as well. Arms actually not so straight as it is bend a bit if not it will look unnatural.

I tried adjusting it again as I soon found out it wasn't that exact. Now I lowered the legs and it looks better now.

One thing I noticed is that no matter how much you adjusted the arms, it will still look as though it is inside the torso, which can't be help.