Refining the animation - The run
The run is the final segment of the animation demo and also the one I considered the hardest to work on. Although I have put time and effort into making this running animation look at least decent the results are somewhat underwhelming and it's now too late to sink my time into it anymore since the submission deadline is getting close (I do plan on submitting the artefact tomorrow, one day ahead). I will however discuss the iterative process I went through and the issues I have encountered.
The most relevant issues I identified were, again, the wobbliness of the character when running and the timing. Because the timing was the most crucial and because it wouldn't have made sense to re-adjust the poses without getting the timing right first, I've started from there.
One of the principles of animation, as I have previously said, states that humans for example don't reach full speed in an instant when running, nor do they come to a full stop instantly either. However, during the blocking stage of the animation I did not take into account this one factor, which led to the character reaching full speed as soon as it transitions from the confident walk to the running animation. In other words, the character instantly reaches full speed as soon as it starts running.
To rectify the mistake I have decided to do some research on how to use the animation curves in order to drag out on a certain segment or slow it down. I have ended up reading about a 'Retime Tool' in the Autodesk Knowledge Centre where they teach and explain the multiple and complex tools of the program software. As found on the page, the tool 'allows you warp time by changing the animation rate for any number of tracks within one or more frame ranges' (Knowledge.autodesk.com, 2019). Having watched a few tutorial videos as well, I tried to do just that: slow down the running animation by making it cover more frames than it initially was set to. To my surprise unfortunately, the program simply crashed each and every time I have tried using the tool.
As it can be seen in the footage above, the first thing to do is select the 'Retime All' tool and then add the limits represented by the two yellow brackets. On dragging on to the ending bracket towards the exterior, whatever is found within the two bars area gets 'extended', or slowed down. The process can be reversed into speeding up a segment by pushing the yellow bracket inwards, towards the keys. I have then used the 'Re-scale time' tool to extend the limit of 700 frames to 750, as some of the frames were left out after using the warp tool. The next and final step is 'baking' or applying the timing changes by pressing the yellow 'Bake' button available in the upper right hand corner of the Track View window. Upon pressing it, the program crashed each and every time.
Using a more recent version of Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2019 didn't help either, as the 'Retime' and 'Retime All' buttons were nowhere to be found within the Track View (Curve Editor) window even after research has been done. I couldn't find the options in any of the sub-menus also:
I have assumed the problem was due to the hardware my personal computer is equipped with, although everything inside is recent and definitely up to date in terms of performance. So I have tried using the computers available in our university tech labs, but all were running a recent version of Autodesk 3D Studio Max as well and I wasn't able to find the options there either, aside from all the other file conversion and legacy components issues that I was greeted with upon opening the master file.
As an alternative I thought about using the 'Re-scale time' tool with which I am familiar at this point, but the tool is only able to stretch out the whole animation as opposed to a specific segment as the 'Retime All' tool supposedly does. Spacing out the key frames (poses) individually was not an option either as there are far too many and very close in proximity to each other.
Although underwhelming in terms of quality, I have decided to keep the running animation as part of the project and the demo reel I will submit. The segment serves me as a reference for future animation projects I will undertake and marks the starting point of my animation skills development journey. That being said, the running animation segment can simply be cut out of a future complete 3D animation demo reel through editing, thus not impacting my employment chances by lowering the overall quality of the portfolio.
References:
Knowledge.autodesk.com. (2019). Retime Tool | 3ds Max | Autodesk Knowledge Network. [online] Available at: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-66063B44-9F65-46A6-B878-54118546CAF7-htm.html [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].
The most relevant issues I identified were, again, the wobbliness of the character when running and the timing. Because the timing was the most crucial and because it wouldn't have made sense to re-adjust the poses without getting the timing right first, I've started from there.
One of the principles of animation, as I have previously said, states that humans for example don't reach full speed in an instant when running, nor do they come to a full stop instantly either. However, during the blocking stage of the animation I did not take into account this one factor, which led to the character reaching full speed as soon as it transitions from the confident walk to the running animation. In other words, the character instantly reaches full speed as soon as it starts running.
To rectify the mistake I have decided to do some research on how to use the animation curves in order to drag out on a certain segment or slow it down. I have ended up reading about a 'Retime Tool' in the Autodesk Knowledge Centre where they teach and explain the multiple and complex tools of the program software. As found on the page, the tool 'allows you warp time by changing the animation rate for any number of tracks within one or more frame ranges' (Knowledge.autodesk.com, 2019). Having watched a few tutorial videos as well, I tried to do just that: slow down the running animation by making it cover more frames than it initially was set to. To my surprise unfortunately, the program simply crashed each and every time I have tried using the tool.
As it can be seen in the footage above, the first thing to do is select the 'Retime All' tool and then add the limits represented by the two yellow brackets. On dragging on to the ending bracket towards the exterior, whatever is found within the two bars area gets 'extended', or slowed down. The process can be reversed into speeding up a segment by pushing the yellow bracket inwards, towards the keys. I have then used the 'Re-scale time' tool to extend the limit of 700 frames to 750, as some of the frames were left out after using the warp tool. The next and final step is 'baking' or applying the timing changes by pressing the yellow 'Bake' button available in the upper right hand corner of the Track View window. Upon pressing it, the program crashed each and every time.
Using a more recent version of Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2019 didn't help either, as the 'Retime' and 'Retime All' buttons were nowhere to be found within the Track View (Curve Editor) window even after research has been done. I couldn't find the options in any of the sub-menus also:
I have assumed the problem was due to the hardware my personal computer is equipped with, although everything inside is recent and definitely up to date in terms of performance. So I have tried using the computers available in our university tech labs, but all were running a recent version of Autodesk 3D Studio Max as well and I wasn't able to find the options there either, aside from all the other file conversion and legacy components issues that I was greeted with upon opening the master file.
As an alternative I thought about using the 'Re-scale time' tool with which I am familiar at this point, but the tool is only able to stretch out the whole animation as opposed to a specific segment as the 'Retime All' tool supposedly does. Spacing out the key frames (poses) individually was not an option either as there are far too many and very close in proximity to each other.
Although underwhelming in terms of quality, I have decided to keep the running animation as part of the project and the demo reel I will submit. The segment serves me as a reference for future animation projects I will undertake and marks the starting point of my animation skills development journey. That being said, the running animation segment can simply be cut out of a future complete 3D animation demo reel through editing, thus not impacting my employment chances by lowering the overall quality of the portfolio.
References:
Knowledge.autodesk.com. (2019). Retime Tool | 3ds Max | Autodesk Knowledge Network. [online] Available at: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-66063B44-9F65-46A6-B878-54118546CAF7-htm.html [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].
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