Toolkit 2: Maya Pt 6

In this Maya session, I worked on the final touches of my Barbell animation. The videos below introduce a stagger (subtle movement surrounding each pose) to my animation:

Bar Bell Stagger Fail:

 This first attempt failed because I had moved my keys off-key (whole numbers). They were on decimal numbers. To prevent this in the future, I must remember to hold the shift key when moving keys in the graph editor, this helps snap to whole number frames. 

Stagger Repair:

With some extra support, I was able to re-assign my key frames and remove the strange judder from the previous video. I have also cleaned up the graph editor. 

Successful Stagger:

By moving the keyframe arch's in the graph editor, I was able to create a stagger in the animation. This is evident in a subtle head jolt at the end of the animation, creating life-like body language. 

Final Product: 

A fully lit and rendered edition of the finalised animation. This was achieved through Arnold rendered and After effects along with a subtle motion blur effect. Subtle flaws are evident in Moom's knee joints (displaces and distorted from alternating between 'linear' and 'spline' keyframes), and Moom's hands (Parented to the Barbell so adjustments are limited). However, I believe that the fundamental movements are believable and lifelike. Alan was able to adjust the timing of my keyframes, which helped me identify the overall movement. I could then clean up the graph editor and add final touches. 

Above, the settings and steps I used to render and export a finalised animation, including lights.