Animating for Games - Game Character Development with Maya - page 960

Note
When creating the walk, the first and last frames must be the same so that
the animation loops. This will cause the animation to pause slightly when
played, so remember this when you play it back, or create a playblast that
only runs up to frame 31.
We use a power-of-two range (0 to 32) because it's then easier to divide
the animation into stages. For example, the first and last poses of the walk
are on frames 0 and 32; these key poses are known as “extremes.”
Halfway, we would place a new pose (when the legs cross over the oppos-
ite way) on frame 16; this is known as a “breakdown” or “passing posi-
tion.” We can then place additional poses called “in-betweens” on frames
8 and 24, before breaking down the animation further if we need to. With
all the main keys evenly spaced, the animation will play at a steady pace
throughout.
Now that we have a locator acting as a basepoint for the character, you can parent other
cameras to it in order to see the character cycling from other angles. With the scene ready
now, we can begin to animate.
Legs and Waist: Blocking Out Poses
The first step in creating any animation is to block out the main poses. These are the ex-
tremes,breakdowns,andanyin-betweenposesneeded.Thisnotonlygivesyouagoodidea
of how the timing feels as the character moves, but also how each pose looks.
Before you do anything else in Maya at this point, get out of your seat and walk around the
room. Observe where your waist and feet are at certain stages in your walk. See how they
rotate, what speed they move. When do your hips dip? If you are a male animating Kila,
try to imitate a feminine walk. It's one thing to watch someone else walking—but to phys-
icallydoityourselfwillgiveyouinsightforapplyingittoyourcharacter.Trytodothisfor
all your animation work; don't be afraid of looking silly—in the long run, your animation
will be better for it.
1. Let's create our first extreme. With your own walk fresh in your mind, move along
to frame 0, switch to the side view, and position Kila's feet to match the crossover
point in the walk ( Figure 16.12b ).