Topic 10: Character Weight Shift

This week's topic tasked us with creating two animations that both demonstrated a character shifting their weight. We had to animate a character shifting their weight from one foot to the other and then back again using a legs only rig and then a full body rig. 

Task 1:

To start the animation I created key poses the legs would be in at major points throughout the animation.

I then set all the tangents to auto to give movement between each key pose. 

After setting the tangents to auto the character never stopped moving, especially in the middle of the animation where it slowly moves to the next key pose. This is not realistic as a normal person would shift their weight, rest, and then shift it back. To fix this I made the rig stop moving after the first weight shift, after holding that position it then moved on to the next key pose. 

The next step was to adjust the timing of the character's movement to make it a bit slower. Another issue with the animation was the character's feet slid across the ground when shifting their weight. In real life a person would lift their foot and plant it in a different spot to shift their weight. To make the animation more realistic I made the character lift their feet and then plant it when shifting their weight.

To finalise the animation I made the feet of the character tilt when lifting them off the ground, this final touch polishes the animation and makes it look that bit more realistic.

Task 2:

Again, I started by creating key poses the character would be in throughout the animation while using the previous leg rig animation as a timing reference.

I then set the tangents to auto to show movement between each key pose.

I then polished the animation off by making the movement of the character more realistic, making sure the legs and arms moved in a natural way.

Reflection: 

After completing this week's animation tasks I learnt that a character's weight matters. Not only is showing the weight of an object important, but showing the weight of your character, their centre of gravity and how they move around in relation to both these things is important. The attention to weight gives a character more realism and makes it seem as if they are actually a person made up of skin and a skeleton.