Tuesday 25 October 2022

Animation Tutorials - Locomotion & Mechanics

"Clown Walk" by Ben Swallow
Our Vimeo Tutorial Channel is our central hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easier than ever for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies.  

Tutorials begin with the basics, such as the bouncing ball, and progress through walks and runs to complex physical actions such as a character throwing a ball.  You can also find tutorials on weight, flexibility and overlapping action as well as body mechanics and parkour.

Vimeo Channel
ANIMATION BASICS - BOUNCING BALLS & HOPPING LAMPS

In Animation Basics, students learn the fundamental principles of character animation, such as timing, spacing and performance. Start with the Bouncing Ball and then move on to the Lamp Hop and Performance.

Bouncing Ball - Intro to Animation
Bouncing Ball by Amanda Costa
https://vimeo.com/album/5605446

For more on the Bouncing Ball tutorial by Amanda Costa, read this blog post.

Bouncing Ball - with Alexander Williams
https://vimeo.com/showcase/10614963
Start with the basics - learn how to animate a ball bouncing.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/10614963


WALKS - BASIC WALK

Locomotion - Walks & Character Walks 
Many of our locomotion tutorials use the free "Monty" rig a green pea with legs. For a brief introduction to Monty, and how to get the best out of him, read this blog post.  There are two basic ways to animate a walk cycle, one is by advancing the character across the screen, the other is by animating a character walking "on the spot" as if on a treadmill. To see more, read this blog post.

Basic Walk Cycle with "Ultimate Walker"
Basic Walk Cycle by Amanda Costa
https://vimeo.com/album/5605446
For more on the basic walk cycle tutorial, read this blog post.

Basic Walk Cycle with "Monty" the Green Pea
Basic walk cycle with "Monty" by Alex Williams. 
This tutorial shows how to animate a walk, translating the character across the screen, taking two steps.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/6896689
For more on animating a basic walk with Monty, see this blog post

Basic Walk Cycle "on the Spot" with "Monty"
Basic walk cycle "on the spot" with "Monty" by Alex Williams. 
This tutorial shows how to animate a walk, having the character walk "on the spot" on a treadmill. In this tutorial, Monty does not move (except up and down); instead his feet move backwards underneath him. 


Walk Cycle with "Monty" by Marc Stevenson
In this short series of videos by Marc Stevenson, Marc explains his own approach to animating a walk cycle with Monty.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxIzoEJ0jom219V3b8e_b5B-8iDeDlJdN

For more on Marc's approach to animating a walk cycle with Monty, read this blog post.


WALKS - HUMAN BIPEDS


Basic Walk Cycle with a Human Biped
Basic walk cycle, animated "on the spot" on a treadmill, with Heavy from Team Fortress. Tutorial by Alex Williams
https://vimeo.com/showcase/6316953
For more on how to use the Heavy rig, see this blog post.

Walk Cycle with "Stewart" by Marc Stevenson
Walk cycle with "Stewart" by Marc Stevenson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIDuaRsUZUk&list=PLxIzoEJ0jom0fM2IISbqOsj2UNwg7WJbg

For more on Marc's approach to animating a walk cycle with Stewart, read this blog post.


CHARACTER WALKS

Character Walks with "Monty"
 Character Walks with "Monty" the green pea by Alexander Williams
https://vimeo.com/album/5605446 

For more on the character walks tutorial by Alex Williams, read this blog post.  Learn to animate Monty doing a happy walk, a sad walk, a manly cowboy walk, a feminine walk, and a military walk.  To start, begin with the Basic Monty Walk Cycle (start here) and then vary it for different characters and personalities. 

Monty Double Bounce Walk
Monty Double Bounce Walk with Alex Williams. Learn to animate Monty doing a happy "Double Bounce Walk".  The double bounce is a cheerful, upbeat walk with a sunny personality.  It is a simple walk that involves minor changes to the main Root Control on "Monty".

Monty Sad Walk
Sad slow walk with Monty
In this video we show how to take the Basic Monty Walk and adapt it to make Monty feel sad.  We need to slow down Monty, have his feet drag on the ground, give him a sad expression - and make him blue.
To animate Monty doing a sad, slow walk, watch the video below:

Monty Cowboy Walk
Manly Cowboy Walk with Monty
In this tutorial we make Monty feel manly, adjusting his walk so he takes bigger, wider steps, with more up and down motion. We can also give Monty a cowboy hat (find a free one at Turbosquid). We might also add a saloon bar from a Western set (again, free at Turbosquid) for the full effect. 
You can find the "Manly Walk" Tutorial at YouTube below:

Animate a Sneaky Walk
Animate a sneaky walk
Learn how to animate a sneaky walk with Alex Williams.
The sneaky walk is based on the basic Monty basic walk cycle.

The "sneaky walk" is an adaptation of the basic Monty walk. To learn how to animate the sneaky walk, read this blog post.

Animate a Military Walk
In this tutorial we show how to take the basic Monty walk cycle "on the spot" and adapt it to create a military "goose-step" walk.  
You can find the "Military Walk" Tutorial below:
Or follow the link below:


WALKS - TECHNICAL NOTES



How to Stop Feet Sliding in a Walk Cycle
How to stop feet sliding in a walk cycle
https://vimeo.com/showcase/5874233
For a discussion of how to stop feet sliding in a walk cycle, see this blog post.

Lock To World Tool
Lock to World Tool - Stops feet from sliding in walk cycles.
The Lock to World Tool is a super useful tool, easy to install, that stops feet from sliding in walk cycles. 


Transitions - Transition from a Walk to a Run
In this tutorial students learn how to blend animation From a walk to a run with undergraduate Programme Leader Marc Stevenson. 

Marc's tutorial explains how to take a walk cycle with "Monty" the Green Pea, and also a run cycle, and blend from one to the other effectively.  Start by reading this blog post. 


Creating Turntable Animations
by Michael Davies
https://vimeo.com/album/5399154
For more on creating Turntable Animations, see this blog post.

How to Fix Knee Pops in a Walk Cycle
Fix Knee Pops in a Walk Cycle
How to Fix Knee Pops in a Walk Cycle with Alex
Williams.
In a walk cycle, IK chains can "pop" if the leg on a character gets over extended, so the trick is not to completely extend the leg. Straighten the leg on the contact position, then slightly dial it back and relax it. That way, the leg won't "pop" on the bend. 

Motion Trail Tool in Maya
Motion Trail tool
How to use the motion trail tool in Maya.
The Motion Trail Tool is very useful for smoothing out the kinks and bumps in your animation, to ensure that your arcs and paths of animation are as smooth and flowing as possible.


Run Cycle with a Biped Primitive
Basic Run cycle with the "Ultimate Walker" biped primitive by Jasvinder Sahota https://vimeo.com/album/5605446
For more on the basic run cycle tutorial by Jasvinder Sahota, using the "Ultimate Walker" rig, see this blog post.


Run Cycle with Monty by Marc Stevenson

Run Cycle with "Monty" the green pea by Marc Stevenson
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxIzoEJ0jom22benUOzRiACkFn-Y01yiB



Run Cycle with Monty by Alex Williams
Animating a Run with Monty
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7265813

For more on animating a basic run cycle with "Monty", see this blog post.


RUNS - HUMAN BIPED RUN

Animate a Run Cycle with Rocket Girl - with Amedeo Beretta
https://vimeo.com/album/5853121
Run Cycle with Rocket Girl, by Amedeo Beretta
https://vimeo.com/album/5853121

For more on the Run Cycle with Rocket Girl with Amedeo Beretta, start with this blog post.


Animate a Run Cycle with Heavy, with Alexander Williams
For more on the Run Cycle with Heavy, see the blog post below:



JUMPS

Animate a Jump with "Monty" - with Alex Williams
Animate a Jump with Monty - Beginner Tutorial with Alex Williams



Animating a Jump
Animating a character jumping, using the free Morpheus rig, with Alexander Williams
https://vimeo.com/showcase/6875143

For more on animating jumps, see this blog post.


TRANSITIONS - Including the Trax Editor

Locomotion - Transitions
Animation Locomotion Transitions - How to Blend from a Walk to a Run
with Marc Stevenson

Trax Editor
To see how to use the Trax Editor, used to combine clips in Maya, watch the videos with Escapee Maria Robinson below. This series shows how to transition from a quadruped walk to a quadruped trot and run. 



TOOLS and TECHNIQUES

Maya Tools, Techniques, Plugins & Best Practice

Setting Up Your Shot - File Referencing
How to Do File Referencing Right by Amedeo Beretta
https://vimeo.com/album/5874233
For more on file referencing, read this blog post.

Maya Grease Pencil Tool
Using the Grease Pencil Tool in Maya - by Amedeo Beretta
https://vimeo.com/showcase/5874233/video/332675669

Baking Curves in Maya
How to bake curves in Maya, and what "baking" actually means
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fot0D5AU_Cg&feature=youtu.be

Escape Studios' Animation Shelf
Learn how to install the Escape Studios' Animation Shelf, a special shelf put together by UG Program Leader Michael Davies.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S8WBU1D7LitUWXBeerSXRB1_gN1X5HeK/view?usp=sharing

Blend Shapes (aka "Morph Targets")
Learn how to animate a UFO traveling down a city street using simple Blend Shapes, with Alex Williams. 

Blend Shapes are a modeling tool that can be used to create animation. You can find out more at this blog post here.

Working with Animation Layers
How to animate with Animation Layers with Amedeo Beretta. 
It has been added to the Animation Best Practices showcase:

How to Animate with Animation Layers with Lee Caller




Animation: Constraints, Attachments & Parenting

These videos focus on how to attach and un-attach objects in Maya. There are a number of different ways to do this in Maya.


How to install the ParentMaster Plugin (Maya 2019)
Installation of the PaentMaster Plugin by Alex Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5R1X2qXv1g
To see how the ParentMaster works in detail, see this blog post.
Also download the  ParentMaster Plugin from HighEnd3D.com

Animating with Constraints by Marc Stevenson
Animating with Constraints by Marc Stevenson
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxIzoEJ0jom1fWGC90iL9exlp3xnoQoZc

For more on animating with constraints, read this blog post.

Animation: Flexibility & Overlapping Action

Animating a Fox with a flexible tail
Animating a foxy character with a flexible tail by Alex Williams
https://vimeo.com/showcase/5874233

To see how to use the "Ultimate Tailed" rig, read this blog post.

Fox Animation with Flexible Tail by Marc Stevenson
Fox Animation Tutorial with Flexible Tail by Marc Stevenson
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxIzoEJ0jom2POIXukMCVleEvkScCgOSP

For more on how to animate the Foxy Tail, and find the "Ultimate Tailed" rig, see this blog post.

Helicopter Airship with a flexible caboose
Helicopter airship tutorial with Alexander Williams
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7250765

To see more about animating the helicopter airship, see this blog post.


Animation: Body Mechanics & Parkour
Body Mechanics Tutorial with Amedeo Beretta
Body Mechanics Tutorial with Amedeo Beretta, using the "Ultimate Walker" rig.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7400864

For more on the Body Mechanics Tutorial with Amedeo Beretta, see this blog post.

To find the "Ultimate Walker" character rig, follow this link.

Parkour Animation Principles with Paloma Zhu
Body Mechanics Principles with Paloma Zhu, showing how to approach a body mechanics shot.
https://vimeo.com/444600001You can find the tutorial here.

To see more about the parkour animation tutorial with Paloma Zhu, see this blog post.


Animation - Character Actions & Weight

Animating a Character Throwing a Box
Animate the character "Heavy" from Team Fortress throwing a box - with Marc Stevenson
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxIzoEJ0jom2RfJeAVwfkj5kRbQw8ztza

To see more about how to animate a character throwing a box with Marc Stevenson, and about the Heavy rig, read this blog post.


Animate a Character Throwing a Ball with Marc Stevenson
Animate a character throwing a ball with Marc Stevenson.  

In this 20 minute tutorial Marc shows how to use live action reference to animate a baseball pitch, and also shows how to attach and un-attatch the ball. 


Animate a Character Throwing a Ball
Learn how to animate a character throwing a ball with Alex Williams
This tutorial uses the free Morpheus rig, and also explores how to use live action reference to create believable animation.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7385962

To see more about how to animate a character throwing a ball, read this blog post.

Animating a Character Lifting a Heavy Object
Animating a character lifting a heavy object, using "Heavy" from Team Fortress, with Alex Williams.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7306818
To see more about how to animate a character lifting a heavy object, read this blog post.


Flour Sack Suicide 
Animating a Flour Sack in Maya with Alex Williams
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7306827

Animate a Weight Shift with Monty
Learn to animate a character shift their weight from one foot to the other, using the "Monty" Rig.
With Alex Williams



Animation - Motion Capture & Live Action Reference

How to Import Live Action into Maya 
Importing live action onto an image plane into Maya for use as reference, by Alex Williams
https://youtu.be/xaO6PQ6C940
Also see this blog post on the use of live action reference in animation
Using and Adapting Motion Capture
Animating with Motion Capture data by Steven Lall
https://vimeo.com/album/5605446
For more on the Motion Capture tutorial by Steven Lall, read this blog post.

Motion Capture Retargeting
MoCap retargeting with Amedeo Beretta
https://vimeo.com/356232162
For more on MoCap retargeting, read this blog post.

Use Live Action to Animate a Character Dancing
Use Live Action to Animate a Character Dancing - with Alex Williams




The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects.  To apply for one of our courses, follow this link.
 





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