Topic 9: Showing Weight and the Use of Parent Constraints

In this week's topic we were tasked with creating two animations from three options provided. The options were to animate a character pushing a heavy object, lifting a heavy object and pulling an object. For my animations I chose to undertake a character pushing a heavy object and a character lifting a heavy object. These animations have us utilise and put in to practice multiple animation principles previously learnt, such as timing & spacing, slow in & slow out, arcs, follow through and overlapping action and moving holds.

Task 1:

To start my animation of a character pushing a heavy object, I blocked out key poses throughout the movement.

I then went on to set all the tangents to auto to give the character movement in between each key pose. 

To finalise the animation I corrected some issues caused by the automatic tangents. I made sure that neither the character's hands or feet went through the box or the ground as this would cause it to look unrealistic. I also adjusted the timing of the character's movement to emphasise the weight of the object, most notably on the first push where the character pushes the box, slows down, and then continues to push. Finally, I ensured the character had smooth movement, nice arcs, good slow in & slow out, and obvious follow through, overlapping action and moving holds.

Task 2:

Once again, I started with mapping out the key poses I believed the character should have.

I then changed all the tangents to auto to give movement between the key poses.

I then went through and adjusted the animation to polish it off. I adjusted the timing of the character to, again, emphasise the weight of the ball. I also made the movements nice and smooth by removing any unnecessary key frames.

Reflection:

After completing this week's task I learnt that animation is not only about understanding key principles but also knowing how to employ them to create a cohesive animation. The animations created utilised multiple animation principles to show weight, realism and timing of a character performing tasks.