Exploring Animation in Maya: Animating a Swinging Character
In this collection of lessons, we will learn how to animate a swinging character. Software required: Maya 2011 and up.
What you'll learn
In this collection of lessons, we will learn how to animate a swinging character. In this course, we will create an animation of a character swinging to a platform. Step by step, we will create this performance while covering various techniques that will help you improve your animation skill set. Techniques like: how to block in your extremes so that finalizing the animation becomes a faster process, improving arcs in the movement of your characters, animating between IK and FK modes, and overall we will learn how to animate with proficient workflows. By the end of this course, you will have the knowledge you need to create polished animations at a faster pace. Software required: Maya 2011 and up.
Table of contents
- Goals of the Animation 4m
- Starting the Blocking Phase of the Animation 11m
- Blocking in the Beginning of the Animation 13m
- Animating the Character Leaping from the First Platform 14m
- Blocking in the Character as He Begins to Swing on the Pipe 10m
- Continuing Our Work on the Character's Initial Swing 8m
- Animating Power in the Swing 9m
- Starting on the Second Half of the Swing 13m
- Blocking in the Character Landing on the Next Platform 13m
- Wrapping up the Blocking Phase 15m
- First Refinement Pass: Adding Holds and Hiding the Legs 6m
- Second Refinement Pass: Correcting the Upper Body 5m
- A Technique for Achieving Natural Arcs in a Swing 11m
- Correcting the Arcs of the Upper Body During the Swing 10m
- Third Refinement Pass: Tweaking the Legs 9m
- Animating FK Legs: Working on the Left Leg 12m
- Finishing the Animation of the Right Leg 13m
- Starting on the Final Refinement Pass 8m
- Completing the Animation 13m
About the author
Delano works avidly as an animation author at Pluralsight. Starting his career at animation studios like Shilo, Delano has developed a strong passion for his talents. His animation and rigging background help him teach and create some of the most-watched training on Pluralsight. A few of his favorite projects that he has contributed to include: Character Interaction in Maya and in Softimage, Rigging the Human Face in Maya, Rigging Sea Creatures in Maya, and Rigging and Animating Transforming... more