Sprint 4

 

this sprint I was mostly figuring out animations but I had a couple models to finish up first. For this train track model I had a couple edits that my group requested based of what I made last sprint along with a request for a 90 degree turn track to add to the scene. The edits that had to be made to the original track were super simple but because of the way I saved it to begin with I basically ended up re making it. It was a good time to learn this lesson on this relatively simple model rather than a more complex one. The 90 degree track was a bit more challenging but it basically boiled down to fiddling with it until it looked right. I think if I had started with a reference picture rather than pulling one up half way through I would have had a smoother experience.

The last model I had to finish up was the corner piece of this modular balcony. The main things I focused on during this quick build was to make sure all of the vertexes connecting the modular pieces matched up and making sure I deleted paces that aren't going to be seen to keep my poly count down.

The first animation I got to work on for this sprint was for the Heavy body character. For this character I started by creating a cycle animation for when the robot is shooting. We decided to make this animation only use the upper body so it can be used whether the robot is standing still or moving. This animation took a bit longer than expected because I spent a little while learning and figuring out the rig. I also found that the rig was missing a controller that I was going to need in the future so I went back and forth with our rigger a couple of times to make sure that this rig would suit all of our needs. Overall this animation turned out how I imagined it although I struggled to balance how over the top these movements are so they can be visible but not too much so it isn't believable. 

This is the upper body idle animation which is a super simple and subtle animation. It was super quick for me to make, and easy to make. I think it will serve the purpose of creating natural looking movements while the heavy body robot is standing still. 

Next I switched over to the lower body idle movement. This will be combined with the upper body idle in order to make a subtle "breathing" movement for the robot. This was also a pretty easy animation that turned out well.  

Once I got used to the rig and fixed any issues with controllers I moved on to the walking animation This took me a little longer which makes sense because it is a more intricate animation. For this animation I had trouble with making a walk cycle that only used the  bottom half of the robot but I solved this by making more of the body move to begin with so I could make it look right and then deleting all movement on the upper body later on. 

Lastly for this sprint I finished up a backwards walking cycle animation. I have never done this before but it went pretty smooth overall. I had some issues with finding a good reference for this cycle but I solved this by asking a friend to model for me so I could make sure it looks correct. Overall this ended up going quicker than the forwards walk cycle because I could re use some base poses.