Assassin's Walk : WIP
January 27, 2016 Assassin's Walk : WIP
I have animal animations for my new demo reel. Now I need human animations. I need realistic, natural feeling, human animations.
There are many free rigs online waiting to be animated. I believe the animation needs to match the character. The more cartoony the character looks, the more cartoony and exaggerated the animation needs to be. The more realistic the character looks, the more natural and subtle the animations need to be. Just about every free rig I found was very cartoony.... This was an issue. Video games studios want realistic animations not cartoony.
I extended my search to 3D models. Then I figured I could rig them myself using Mixamo.com. I found The Assassin's Creed 3 model. I ran it through the auto-rigger at Mixamo.com. After that I applied the HIK control rig to the rig in Maya. Now my Assassin's Creed 3 model is fully rigged and ready to animate. I can even apply motion capture data to the rig.
I have big plans for this guy. For now here is a hand keyed walk cycle. All animated with the HIK righ in Maya. I am going for a determined, dangerous, natural feeling, walk.