April | 2012 | pneumatictuna

The centre-piece for my animation module, I decided, was going to be a Mechanised Walker. I always love science fiction about robots and such, and have recently gotten into alot of Japanese “Mecha” themed animated series.

The main challenges of designing, modelling and animating a Mech are believability, practicality and functionality: naturalistic, organic looking movements aren’t really acceptable; every move must be carefully calculated and repeated to create a walking motion. Additionally, when it comes to modelling, each party you make should have a high degree of functionality, otherwise things starts to look a bit cumbersome and overcomplicated; which isn’t a problem for normal models, but with a machine designed specifically for War; it is good to be functional and well protected.

I also decided (in retrospect, foolishly) to give it 2 joints-in additon to the ankle and hip; this added a whole extra dimension when it came to animating, and also meant I wouldn’t be able to copy the movement of a typical single-knee human leg.

Aaaah Animation! The domain of people with imagination, technical know-how and a good eye for detail, or a mix of all three! Two days (or shall I say, one) til the deadline, it’s all been getting pretty hairy. However, it’s been an exciting time! 😀 With tutelage form Messrs Brewer, Doobery and Wright of the 3rd Team Maya Maestro’s, my technical knowledge has developed as a ridiculous rate; mainly because I’m LOVING IT!

Durign this module, I have learned how to:

Rig, Texture, Planar Map, Boolean, Parent, Command line render, Skin, Adjust transparency and glow, tell between material types, the list goes on! 😀

That’s the great thign about MAYA 2012: There’s so much to do and learn ,if you’re willing to; and being able to make guns, tanks, walkers, castles – I was DEFINITELY up for the challenge 😀

MAYA has been a real joy to work with; not only in the program itself, but the atmosphere it creates; it represents at its heart Pure Creativity, where anything is possible if you have the drive to try. The on-line community is also incredibly strong; there probably isn’t a single problem that can’;t be fixed by Google-ing and searching through websites like CGSociety or YouTube tutorials. Unlike the comparatively fickle, protective and sometimes overtly hostile realms of Programming forums, 3D forums and their members seem more than willing to lend a helping hand to newcomers trying to navigate through the endless hot-keys, sub-menus and different settings. And you don’t find that kind of attitude everywhere.

Well, following this first update, the final film should be up soon, as well as the long-time-in the making Episode 2 of the VODCAST! 😀 Expect more graphics, some tutorials and plenty of rambling! but in the meantime, have a gander at the test renders and little things I’ve worked on over the months! 😀

Test for a scene from the final animation: