Assignment #4:
Overlap, Forward Jump Breakdowns and Polish

Assigned: Tuesday, October 22nd
Due: Monday, October 29th @ 9:00 PM

Resources:


Part 1: Overlap and Follow-through

This weeks assignment begins with a practice exercise. Download this file Mr. Overlap. This is Mr. Overlap, our 'handy' rig that will help you practice overlap and follow-through before you breakdown a more complex rig.

We will be practicing the breakdown and polish pipeline with Mr. Overlap. We will be animating a hand. First, we have some reference for you to use. Download it here: overlap_reference.mov.

We have timed out your key poses already, so you just need to focus on where to add breakdowns. As new poses fill in the gaps, make sure the timing still works. If at any time you find your motion doesn't flow as well as it could, retime as needed.

What to do:

  1. Pages 231-234 of the Animators Survival Guide will help you. Read the handouts from class. The hand should start out relaxed with the arm hanging down, swing up so the hand is up at top, then relax in the with the hand facing forward.

    • Pay special attention to how the wrist and fingers move. Pay attention to how the arm breaks, what moves first, what follows and 'drags' behind, how the wrist moves, and how the fingers follow everything.

    • When creating breakdowns you may find it helpful to temporarily switch the tangents to Linear or Spline in the Graph Editor and set a keyframe where you want the new pose. This way you have a fairly good starting point. Everything should be moving in a consistent direction. Be sure to set the tangents back to stepped after doing this. (Note that this trick doesn't work in all instances.)

    • After putting in breakdowns, put the animation in AUTO, polish it, then playblast.

    • Save out a copy of your Maya file along with a Playblast.

Part 2: Breakdowns

Last week you set the key poses in Maya for a forward jump. This week you will be taking that animation to completion in two phases. The first phase will involve inserting breakdown poses. Breakdowns, also referred to as "inbetweens", are poses added in between the key/extreme poses to further define movement. The goal is to add enough poses such that your animation flows fairly well when played at real-time, and things like motion arcs and overlap read.

In addition to defining motion arcs, timing will be an important factor. Time out your key poses before adding breakdowns. Then, as new poses fill in the gaps, make sure the timing still works. If at any time you find your motion doesn't flow as well as it could, retime as needed (using either the Timeline or the Dope Sheet). Remember: this is an art, not a science! It is also perfectly fine if there are places where several breakdowns are right next to each other, such as around the Jump and Fall contact poses.

What to do:

  1. Time your key poses and add breakdowns to define motion arcs. Pose relative to the same side view you used last week.

    • You should still be working in stepped mode. And, as before, every control should be keyed for each new pose inserted.

    • Pay special attention to how the arms move. They should arc as they swing through the air and follow-through when the character lands.

    • When creating breakdowns you may find it helpful to temporarily switch the tangents to Linear or Spline in the Graph Editor and set a keyframe where you want the new pose. This way you have a fairly good starting point. Everything should be moving in a consistent direction and it is less likely that you will run into gimbal lock during the polish phase. Be sure to set the tangents back to stepped after doing this. (Note that this trick doesn't work in all instances.)

    • Save out a copy of your Maya file with the breakdowns.

Part 3: Polish

As a final step, go through your whole animation and set keyframes to Spline (or AUTO, by choosing Spline you need to remember to clamp tangents!) and then adjust the tangents to create the desired interpolation. You may choose to do this all at once or pose by pose depending on your preference.

What to do:

  1. Polish your animation. Spline everything. Fix any timing or animation curve interpolation issues. Just make your animation look as best as you can!

    • Scroll through your animation and check to make sure poses don't accidentally overshoot their mark. Make sure that feet don't slide on the ground or dip below it by setting interpolation type to Clamped or Flat where necessary.

    • Make sure the arcs you defined with your breakdowns are smooth. It may be helpful to place motion trails on various controls such as the wrists so you can see exactly what's going on. To do this, in the Animation menu set go to Visualize → Create Editable Motion Trail.

      Be sure to delete these motion trails when you are done with them. They tend to slow down the scene quite a bit. Do this through the Outliner, as hitting Delete in the viewport with a trail selected may just remove keyframes.

    • If you have any issues with gimble lock most of the time you can fix them by selecting the problematic control, opening up the Graph Editor, and going to Curves → Euler Filter.

    • Avoid breaking tangents or using linear interpolation which can result in visible pops in the animation - instead you can set extra keyframes on individual channels or controls to create sharp movements.

Grading Criteria and Turn-In Checklist:

You will be submitting your files into Canvas. Below is a list of criteria we will be using for grading, in addition to a list of the files you will need to turn in for each part of the assignment along with naming specifications.

Also indicated are the minimum requirements for what we expect to review for your motion check-in.

Motion Check-In


Part 1: Overlap Mechanics

  • For Turn-In


    Part 2: Breakdowns


    Part 3: Polish