Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya: Pushing Objects
Learn proper body mechanics for creating believable animations with seven hours of project-based training developed specifically for character animation and body mechanics. Software required: Maya 7 (required for project files).
What you'll learn
Learn proper body mechanics for creating believable animations with seven 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 and 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 and Pose Clarity Though Silhouettes; Timing and 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 and Free Tangents Weights; Utilizing Character Sets for Multiple Keyframe Modification. Software required: Maya 7 (required for project files).
Table of contents
- Getting the Scene Ready for Animation 8m
- Beginning the Light Push Animation 11m
- Posing the Character Moving into the Object 7m
- Adding an Extra Pose for a Better Flow Between the First and Second Actions 11m
- Posing the Character's Contact with the Object 7m
- Posing the Character Pushing the Object, Then Pushing Off of the Object 8m
- Finishing Setting the Extreme Actions 7m
- Starting to Finalize the Light Push 9m
- Fixing the Feet, Making Adjustments to the Push, and Hiding the Legs 9m
- Fixing the Flow to the Upper Body and the Object 9m
- Working on Planting the Hands Onto the Object 10m
- Adding Follow-through to the Upper Body 7m
- Animating the Follow-through of the Back 4m
- Animating the Neck's and Head's Follow-through, and Overlapping Action 7m
- Starting to Add Follow-through Movement to the Right Arm 9m
- Completing the Follow-through of the Right Arm and Shoulder 8m
- Adding Follow-through to the Right Wrist and Checking the Arm's Motion from Various Angles 7m
- Beginning to Animate the Follow-through of the Left Arm 8m
- Finishing the Left Arm and Shoulder 8m
- Working on the Follow-through of the Left Wrist 5m
- Working on the Fingers of the Left Hand 9m
- Wrapping up the Fingers of the Left Hand 10m
- Focusing on the Right Hand's Fingers 7m
- Winding up the Fingers of the Right Hand 7m
- Double Checking the Upper Body Prior to Working on the Legs 9m
- Going Back to Work on the Legs: Further Blocking-in of the Steps 10m
- Detailing the First Set of Steps 11m
- Animating the Next Set of Steps 8m
- Fixing the Side Translation of the Feet to Keep the Character Balanced 5m
- Working on the Steps as the Character Pushes and Then Pushes Off of the Object 9m
- Finishing the Steps of the Light Push 7m
- The Side-to-side Translation of the Upper Body Based Off of the Steps 9m
- Finalizing the Side-to-side Movement of the Upper Body 3m
- Tweaking the Side-to-side Motion of the Arms 7m
- The Up-and-down Movement of the Upper Body 11m
- Animating the Forward and Backward Rotation of the Hips 5m
- Adding the Side-to-side Hip Rotation 11m
- Adding Final Tweaks to the Light Push 4m
- Starting to Convert the Light Push into a Heavy Push 6m
- Fixing Poses and Timing for the Heavy Push 9m
- Continuing from Lesson 41: Finishing the Left Foot 7m
- Finishing the Right Foot 8m
- Adding Rotation to the Back to Show More Strain in the Character 8m
- Adjusting the Shoulders 5m
- Tweaking the Neck and Head 9m
- Fixing the Animation Prior to Altering the Ending of the Heavy Push 9m
- Animating the Character Stretching After the Push 8m
- Wrapping up the Movement of the Head and Upper Body During the Stretch 7m
- Animating the Hands Resting on the Character's Waist 7m
- Continuing the Animation of the Arms and Hands During the Stretch 8m
- Adding In-between Poses to Keep Them Moving Along with It 9m
- Adding More in Betweens to Keep the Hands Moving with the Waist 8m
- Finishing the Arms and Hands 5m
- Finalizing the Heavy Push 13m
About the author
Delano works avidly as an animation author at Pluralsight. Starting his career at animation studios like Shilo, Delano has developed a strong passion for his talents. His animation and rigging background help him teach and create some of the most-watched training on Pluralsight. A few of his favorite projects that he has contributed to include: Character Interaction in Maya and in Softimage, Rigging the Human Face in Maya, Rigging Sea Creatures in Maya, and Rigging and Animating Transforming... more