Introduction to the module
This semester's module titled 3D Character Animation involves the creation of a short 30 second animation to mimic a chosen human emotional behaviour. Over the next couple of weeks a selection of 3 videos displaying alternative characteristics of human body language will be analyzed. One of these emotions will be chosen and replicated using in 3DS Max to portray the bevhaviour as accurately as possible.
3D Character Studio
To start with 3D Character Studio was introduced which is a unique set of tools combined into 3DS Max specifically dedicated to the construction and control over fundamental aspects of character animation. One of the main features that stands out is the Biped tool consisting of a pre-made bone system resembling the human skeleton. The bones within this "skeleton" can be adjusted to fit inside a created character mesh for example, that once attached to the biped allows for full manipulation of the characters limbs simply by moving the bones. Other features include footstep path placement, motion capture, keyframing etc. Although this selection of tools are extremely useful for character animation sequences, they are not always applicable to certain scenarios where a manual approach is required to achieve the desired results. For example a complex creature mesh consisting of numerous limbs would be extremely difficult to animate using the Character Studio tools alone, the necessity of using Bones Systems is a lot more labour intensive yet in the end will yield the best results.
Tutorial
Having been introduced to the basic features of 3D character studio, it was time to practice with these new tools. To begin a biped was created using the biped button under the systems menu. A reasonably sized biped was then dragged out and positioned in the centre of the perspective viewport home grid.
Biped Creation |
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A rudimentary character mesh was then fashioned roughly following the shape of the biped to produce an approximately sized human character. This was constructed in one half using basic cylinder primitives which were converted to editable poly's then attached together using edge loops and the bridge tool.
Character Mesh Before Mirror |
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The right half of the character mesh was then cloned and mirrored for the left side of the body. The two halves were then attached using the same techniques as before and a head was added.
Final Stickman Mesh |
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Having positioned the biped on the centre of the grid it was straightforward to align the character mesh by centering its pivot point then changing its x & y axis locations to zero. Once the two objects were perfectly aligned the bones within the biped system were then scaled to fit the character mesh more appropriately. Doing so will reduce the amount of tweaking needed to the individual bone's envelopes effecting each area of the mesh. The character mesh was then linked to the biped via a "Physique Modifier" which is similar to the "Skin Modifier" used on standard bone systems. Before modifying the envelopes the result of applying the Physique Modifier was tested to roughly gauge how well the bones had been scaled. This was judged by observing any pinches or stretching present when moving the character's limbs.
Biped Bones Align & Scale |
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Physique Modifier Test |
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One of the immediately apparent problems occurred at the based of the neck which pulled unwanted vertices when tilting the character's head back and forth. This was therefore rectified by editing the radius of the head bone's envelope merely be reducing the Falloff to exclude the offending Verts.
Before - Envelope Falloff Adjustment |
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After - Envelope Falloff Adjustment |
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Once the remainder of the envelopes had been adjusted accordingly a basic walk-cycle was setup using the "Footstep Mode" of the biped sub-menu. With this feature enabled a serious of footprints were created in the Top viewport for the left and right legs of the biped.
Footstep Placement |
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These footsteps were then selected then activated by using the "Create Keys for Inactive Footsteps" button which automatically creates a walking animation following these footsteps by adding the necessary keyframes to the animation timeline. The "Create Multiple Footsteps" button was used to create a series of evenly spaced footsteps by specifying a number of options in the provided dialogue box. The result of this first practice using the Character Studio tools can be seen in the video below.
Final Stickman Animation
Stickman Walk from Rob Harwood on Vimeo.
