T0387 - Digital Tutors - Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya Pushing Objects

Easily learn proper body mechanics for creating believable animations with 7 hours of project-based training developed specifically for character animation and body mechanics. Perfect for intermediate artists.Popular highlights include:

• Body Mechanics Overview of Pushing Light & Heavy Objects


• Driving Force Through Leg Animation


• Creating Character Kinetics for Believable Weight


• Using Action and Counteraction to Create Tension


• Using Line of Action to Define the Movement


• Preplanning Animation with Example Storyboards


• Forward locomotion


• Maintaining Balance Though Foot Placement


• Measuring Appeal & Pose Clarity Though Silhouettes


• Timing & Spacing of Keyframes


• Blocking Animation


• Adding Follow-through, Arcs, and Overlapping


• Adding Exaggeration for Believable Performances


• Animating the Body in Sections


• Using the Graph Editor to Refine Blocked Animation


• Holding Poses with Weighted & Free Tangents Weights


• Utilizing Character Sets for Multiple Keyframe Modification

Lesson Outline:

1.	Introduction and project overview	1:47
2.	Getting the scene ready for animation	8:09
3.	Beginning the Light Push animation: scene overview, storyboards, setting the initial pose	10:57
4.	Posing the character moving into the object	7:16
5.	Adding an extra pose for a better flow between the first and second actions	10:44
6.	Posing the character's contact with the object	7:02
7.	Posing the character pushing the object, then pushing off of the object	8:00
8.	Finishing setting the extreme actions	7:09
9.	Starting to finalize the Light Push: modifying timing and fixing poses when switching from blocking phase to smoothing phase	8:31
10.	Continuing from lesson 9 - fixing the feet, making adjustments to the timing and spacing of the push, and hiding the legs	9:18
11.	Fixing the flow to the upper body and the object	9:23
12.	Working on planting the hands onto the object	10:10
13.	Adding follow-through to the upper body	7:08
14.	Animating the follow-through of the back	4:12
15.	Animating the neck's and head's follow-through, and overlapping action	6:43
16.	Starting to add follow-through movement to the right arm	9:26
17.	Completing the follow-through of the right arm and shoulder	8:06
18.	Adding follow-through to the right wrist and double checking the arm's motion from different angles	7:00
19.	Beginning to animate the follow-through of the left arm	7:43
20.	Finishing the left arm and shoulder	7:31
21.	Working on the follow-through of the left wrist	5:05
22.	Working on the fingers of the left hand	8:32
23.	Wrapping up the fingers of the left hand	10:10
24.	Focusing on the right hand's fingers	6:35
25.	Winding up the fingers of the right hand	7:51
26.	Double checking the upper body prior to working on the legs	9:28
27.	Going back to work on the legs: further blocking in of the steps	9:30
28.	Detailing the first set of steps	10:54
29.	Animating the next set of steps	7:59
30.	Fixing the side translation of the feet to keep the character balanced	5:00
31.	Working on the steps as the character pushes and then pushes off of the object	8:31
32.	Finishing the steps of the Light Push	6:42
33.	The side to side translation of the upper body based off of the steps	8:53
34.	Finalizing the side to side movement of the upper body	3:23
35.	Tweaking the side to side motion of the arms	6:30
36.	The up and down movement of the upper body	11:10
37.	Animating the forward and backward rotation of the hips	5:04
38.	Adding the side to side hip rotation	10:35
39.	Adding final tweaks to the Light Push	5:52
40.	Starting to convert the Light Push into a Heavy Push: basic modification of timing and spacing of the entire scene and finishing the animation of the crate	6:16
41.	Fixing poses and timing for the Heavy Push: adjusting the motion of the center of gravity, and the right and left foot	8:31
42.	Continuing from lesson 41: finishing the left foot	6:39
43.	Finishing the right foot	7:56
44.	Adding rotation to the back to show more strain in the character's effort to push the object	8:05
45.	Adjusting the shoulders	5:26
46.	Tweaking the neck and head	8:39
47.	Fixing the animation prior to altering the ending of the Heavy Push	9:18
48.	Creating an alternate ending that matches with the Heavy Push: animating the character stretching after the push	7:33
49.	Wrapping up the movement of the head and upper body during the stretch	7:25
50.	Animating the hands resting on the character's waist	6:31
51.	Continuing the animation of the arms and hands during the stretch	7:33
52.	Posing the last extreme of the hands on the waist and starting to add in between poses to keep them moving along with it	9:02
53.	Adding more in betweens to keep the hands moving with the waist	8:21
54.	Finishing the arms and hands	5:27
55.	Finalizing the Heavy Push	13:24
	Total Run Time:	7:10:29