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.
pneumatictuna 