Butterfly Animation Tutorial at Vimeo

Free butterfly rig by Truong

We've added a new animation tutorial to our Vimeo channel, part of our series on animal and creature locomotion and performance.

This tutorial teaches students how to animate butterflies, including how to create a motion cycle and attach it to a motion path in Maya.

The tutorial adds to our range of different creature animation techniques, and reflects the growth in creature animation, (especially at the big VFX houses) so that our student animators can create a believable butterfly flap cycle and performance.

As ever, we break down an apparently complex exercise into a series of simple steps, giving students a feeling of success at the end of the tutorial, and helping them to learn a new technique.

Butterfly Flap Cycle

Flap cycle from the ASK

The butterfly tutorial uses a flap cycle taken from The Animator's Survival Kit, the book every animator should own - and available from our Animation Library at Escape Studios.

Randomised Motion Path
The tutorial also shows how to use a motion path in order to create a random flight path, and attach the butterfly to it. Butterflies move faster than the human eye, so if you can see the butterfly in motion clearly, then you're doing it wrong.

Motion path from the ASK

Tutorial Videos
In the tutorial students will learn how to:

• create a butterfly flap cycle based on research and reference
• use the motion path tool in Maya to create a flight path
• create a believable set
• animate a moving camera
• add special effects such as grass and flowers
• bake your curves
• create a performance 

Butterfly Rig
The tutorial uses a paid-for-butterfly rig - if you'd like to use the same one, email us and we'll send you a copy. However you can also use the free butterfly rig by Truong at Gumroad.

Tutorial at Vimeo
You can find the tutorial at Vimeo here. Like all our tutorials, this one is for Escape Studios students and Escapees, and is password-protected. If you're a current student or Escapee, email me for the password.

Butterfly Animation by Escapee Celine

Butterfly Animation by Escapee David Davis

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2019, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.