Animations

So this past week I spent most of my time finishing up the animations and coding them in. I'm just about done with my four parameters, so I'm happy with my progress. I'm currently going back and fine-tuning my animations as well, so I hope to put in those changes tomorrow.

I wanted to explain my code a little bit before I discuss the work I've done this past week. So, like I mentioned earlier, I am now creating a Shelf that can load in to Maya and you can change the parameters through the UI. So within the shelf I call different MEL files that have different functions. I have a file that specifically sets the position and rotations of the IK Leg joint, a file to set the arms, and so on. This past week I spent time adding elbow and hand position/rotations to the arm files, but I've also worked on creating more files that will set other body parts. Obviously movement in walk-cycles is much more than just the legs and the arms moving, so I've been looking at my data files to determine what else I can add to my animations to make them more realistic. One trait I find useful is slouching. Older people tend to not walk with tall backs for instance. They are more bent forward and that changes how their arms move, in consequence. I'm trying to decide if there's anything more I can add to my animations, at this point.

Trying to see how much I need to rotate shoulders, scapula and legs to make this character older looking.

Finally, I'm going to start out with using my other characters to test my tool on. I was annoyed that I couldn't get to it earlier like I planned, but this week had some unexpected events.

I really need to start taking time to render out this animations, since I can't capture my screen anymore. Since I'll have more time with classes ending, I'll be able to devote computer time to that.

Cheers.