Walking through beginner animations.

     Today is the walk cycle test for one of the bad guys. It is Spikey's turn! His walk cycle was a bit different from Roundy and more closely related to a humanoid walk cycle. Once again, using the reference that I noted in an earlier blog, I started mapping out Spikey's walk animation. I figured that I wanted this one to last 40 frames, which is just under 2 seconds. So at the 0 frame I added the initial pose. The reason I set it at the 0 frame is because when you go back to repeat the process and loop the cycle your 40 frame will be the same as 0 frame. Since the player won't play 0 frame it skips to 1 frame where you are already in the process of moving to the next key pose. Basically, it just smooths out the transition from end of cycle to beginning of cycle so it can be repeated. I got the copy key frame and paste mirror commands to work, finally! I'm not sure if it was an issue with the roll in the bones or how I was naming them. For that to work the bones need to have a ".L or .R" extension on them if they are not down the center. Here is the finished product of Spikey's walk cycle test.

     Now, I added a background sky and a plane for Spikey to walk on. It was suggested that I also add a bone in the foot to make it flex like the rest of the body. So, now you can see how he interacts with the ground and how his foot bends to add some realism. I've made a comparison video, it has Roundy and Spikey walking side by side. Interesting side note, this is my biggest animation to date! Kind of excited about that. Anyways, in the next video you can see the two characters different styles of walking. Each had to be animated separately and then I started a new scene and linked to the two separate characters. Once they were in the scene I was able to position them and then add the camera a lights rig that rotates around the walking in place models.

     Thinking I may start working on stages for Roundy's Adventure this week. I've got a few planned out, but I think I want to change a few things around. I was thinking of doing more "vertical" levels but for some reason the Mario Brothers style of long "horizontal" levels with jumping obstacles sounds fun too. Oh decisions decisions... I guess maybe I can make one of each and see which I like better.