Adding Keyframe Animation to Motion Capture in Maya
Throughout these tutorials, we'll go through the process of creating custom 3D character animation in Maya to work within established motion-capture clips. Software required: Autodesk Maya 2013.
What you'll learn
Throughout these tutorials, we'll go through the process of creating custom 3D character animation in Maya to work within established motion capture clips. We'll discuss the concerns of keyframe 3D animation to be used in tandem with motion capture data, planning the custom animation, and the importance of reference. Next, we'll modify a character rig to be used in conjunction with a motion capture skeleton. Then, we'll create key poses, animating the root and feet, animating the spine and head, animating the arms and hands and doing final polish of the animation. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a more thorough understanding of how to create a custom, 3D character animation that fits seamlessly with motion capture animation. Software required: Autodesk Maya 2013.
Table of contents
- Addressing the Challenges of Adding Keyframe Animation to Motion Capture 5m
- Establishing the Importance of Planning and References 3m
- Creating Animation Controls on Our Character Rig 7m
- Finishing Our Character Rig and Starting IK Solvers 8m
- Finalizing Our IK Solvers 10m
- Finishing Controls for Our Character Rig 10m
- Cleaning up Our Original Motion Capture Data 11m
- Matching Our Character Rig to the Motion Capture Data 8m
- Adding Locators to Position Character Rig to Mocap Data 9m
- Creating Transition Animation Between Motion Capture and Keyframe 7m
- Finishing Transition Animation Between Motion Capture and Keyframe 9m
- Reviewing Final Transitions and Setting up Animation to Video Reference 10m
- Matching Video Reference with Our Custom Animation Rig 6m
- Posing Our Custom Animation Rig with Video Reference 7m
- Reviewing Our Final Animation Posing 7m
- Creating the Master Animation File 8m
About the author
Ron comes from a performance background with over 21 years of experience as a Character Animator. Starting in traditional 2D animation, Ron made the conversion to 3D along with the rest of the industry and has never looked back. He has worked in Feature Animation (Pagemaster, Swan Princess), Visual Effects Animation for Film (Van Helsing, Lemony Snicket, The Mist, Snakes On A Plane), and Videogame Animation (Robot Rising, Immortal City, City Of Heroes, Adam Blaster) and was Animation Supervisor ... more