Animation Process and Practice: Graph Editor

Maya: 3D Work

25th October 2016

Continued work on the rig has both been challenging and enjoyable. I have learnt a great deal about Maya, the graph editor and the rig itself. I have applied the principles of animation I have learnt to the performance to make it as effective as possible. I intend to create a performance, which is both entertaining and believable. I have taken reference from a number of sources including my own LAV.

Now I have changed the tangents within the graph editor to splines, therefore the rig now moves with in-betweens; creating smooth movement. However, this does not mean it is complete because these movements are not correct. As these movements are balanced and smooth; which makes the movements seem unnatural. From observations I have made; I have found that living creates accelerate and decelerate which is the principle of easing in and out of an action. Therefore, I have had to go through the graph editor adjusting the anchors and tangents to the appropriate locations and shapes.

Every part of the body has different rates of speed and these are all adjusted through the graph editor. An example of this could be the eyes are set to ‘stepped’ whereas the arms are set to ‘splines’. Because the eyes dart around whereas the arms flow with readable in-betweens.

I have had to change some extremes because the spacing was not correct, this caused the model to move rather quickly. Therefore I had to move the position of the arms so that the arm had less distance to travel between two extremes; causing the arm move smoothly.

I have also done work on head accents making sure they are correct during the line: “A long slender neck”. As I intend to have accents on the head on: “a L-ong S-lender N-e-ck”. This will make his head be up on the capitals and bob down on the rest causing him to nod. I have produced a X-sheet on this dialogue to track the frames. I am still finding this a challenge though.

I have had to do a lot of work with the arms including the shoulders, elbows and wrists because they often become twisted between two extremes. Therefore I have had to go through and adjust all of these errors which has been time consuming.

I must continue my work with the graph editor as I have much more to learn and a lot more to edit.

Notes from 3D Workshop (21/10/16)