Animate a Weight Lift [Locomotion and Mechanics for Animation - Unit 12]

Animate a Weight Lift

30/10/24 - 01/11/24

Introduction

This was a challenging but exciting animation exercise! Lifting a weight in animation is challenging because there is no actual weight! Instead it is all timing and posing to create the illusion of weight so that the audience feel the weight from the character. Reference and acting would be key to understand the subtleties of motion to observe how the body positions itself and reacts underneath the weight. This blog post documents the progress from preproduction to completion with this weight lift animation!

Theory Analysis

The below images show analysis of core theory and the highlighting of key parts within them that can be used to support a weight lift animation. 

(Whitaker and Halas, 1990, pp. 72 - 73)

These are the key observations from the Timing for Animation book (Whitaker and Halas, 1990) :
  • Highlights the importance of the anticipation on frame 17 showing that they are preparing to lift the weight.
  • Contract / grab pose is on frame 25, however, there is another anticipation on 31 to show that he is anticipating to lift the weight.
  • In this concept the weight doesn't lift and he needs another bigger anticipation to lift the bar.
These next images study the theory from The Animator's Survival Kit (Williams, 2009) :

(Williams, 2009, pp.256 - 257)
  • Highlights the importance of feeling the weight and understanding the transfer of weight. This is similar to the weight transfer between legs and understanding where the centre of gravity is. If an object is further away from the body it will appear lighter. If it is closer it will appear heavier. If the character squashes under the weight it will appear heavier still.
  • Spreading of feet allows the character to root themselves in a strong stance ready to lift the weight.
  • Get the character as close to the weight as possible to almost hug the weight.
  • Readjustment of the hand/feet/body positions might be necessary to reinforce the idea of how heavy the object is and how the character is preparing the most optimal position to lift the weight.
  • Body moves backwards to absorb the weight.
  • Back arches as it lifts to try and raise the weight. 

(Williams, 2009, p.258)

  • This showcases how the centre of gravity is important and how a person could hold a weight to keep it centred.
  • The lower the character is to the ground the heavier it will appear.
  • If you were to walk with a weight the feet will not raise very much, if any, at all.
  • You will move more slowly when carrying the heavy weight.
  • There are likely to be pauses between steps if moving with the weight.

(Williams, 2009, p.262)
  • This shows the hips action as the main source of action. Almost like the scoop or driving force behind the weight lift. 
(Williams, 2009, p.267) 
  • This shows some further poses and ideas to make a weight lift more interesting.
  • Reinforces how the weight moves up the body but close to the body.
  • Discusses how trembling can be used to suggest the heaviness of the object.
This last study returns to the Character Animation Crash Course (Goldberg, 2008, pp. 186 - 187) to study how a tremble or shake can be animated.

(Goldberg, 2008, pp. 186 - 187)
  • Animate the smooth path between the 2 key poses first on 2s.
  • Go back to the in betweens on 1s to add the eccentric in-betweens to create the shake.
  • This will add jitter to the smooth action to create a tremble but keep it rooted on the core path rather than looking too random. The red images on the right show the tremble frames.

Research

This next section explores research into characters lifting heavy weights in various animations. This will be used in association with the theory analysis to inspire the development of this animation exercise.


The video above (2. Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut Mark 4, 2013, 08:40) is a clip taken from The Thief and the Cobbler (1992). The key observations are :

  • After contact there is a pause before a slow lean into the lift.
  • There is a big lean backwards as the character catches himself with the steps backwards.


The video clip above ([HD] One Last Hope - Hercules, 2016) is taken from Hercules (1997) and the key observations from this are :
  • Good example of the rules being broken with Hercules lifting large and heavy objects but away from his body. This stresses how strong he really is. 
  • At the end you can see he lifts the Pegasus and there is a nice down pose before a clear present pose that shows him absorbing the weight.

Reference

Now that effective study of weight lifting theory and research has been undertaken acting and reference capture will take place to provide a base for the animation. This section details the development of this.

Treatment and Posing Plan : 
  1. Resting
  2. Anticipation for the grab
  3. Contact
  4. Hug the Object
  5. Readjust
  6. Anticipation to lift
  7. Lift to hips
  8. Anticipation for the second lift
  9. Lift to chest
  10. Push forward and place
  11. Return to rest

Final Reference


Thumbnail Development and Analysis

To understand the key poses the reference footage was analysed, translated into frames and annotated. This helps understand the key poses and understand where the animation theory features in the reference. It will support the blocking out of the animation in Maya.


Animation Development

This section details the development of the animation over time.

Scene Setup

To keep focus on the animation itself, simple primitives were used as the props.


Whilst the animation was not traced from an image sequence, due to a one monitor setup, the thumbnails were integrated into the Maya scene to view them easier.

Blocking


31/10/24

Blocking Plus

Spline Refine

Final Animation

01/11/24

Conclusion

The outcome was a success! The weight feels particularly heavy through the multiple stages of lifting the character goes through. This is likely due to the strong preproduction and reference capture to understand the motions of the character which in turn inspired the posing. The end of the animation is the least successful part was the transition to the end pose and the end pose itself. The idea with the end of the animation was to return to the starting pose to create a loop, however, this pose was fairly static an uninteresting. This animation will be sent to experts for feedback and is a potential candidate for this module's assignment or a portfolio piece.

The learning outcomes, listed below, have been achieved because:

  1. Animation theory has been studied in-depth to build knowledge and understanding of the important aspects of a weight lift animation.
  2. Effective reference capture and study has lead to the development of a strong weight lift animation. Playblasts show development over time showing continuous improvements across the animation production pipeline.
  3. Parent master plugin was used to constrain the weight to the left hand and the right hand to the box. Whilst this worked well, it would have been easier to constrain both hands to the weight and then animate the weight itself. This would have allowed for more flexibility to move the hands around the weight and track the motion path of the weight itself.
  4. Timing was thoroughly analysed through theory and then through analysis of the reference material to create a base for blocking. This was then tweaked in Maya during the animation development to stylise and exaggerate timing to stylise and better communicate an engaging weight lift animation.
  5. Realistic and engaging animations were created due to all the reasons listed above. This resulted in a believable weight lift animation that will be sent to expert for feedback for further development and recognition of what is working well.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Understand the principles of simulating weight
  2. Animate a convincing weight lift
  3. Use the Parent Master plugin for animation efficiency
  4. Apply timing and specific techniques for weight
  5. Create realistic and engaging animations 

Reference List

  1. [HD] One Last Hope - Hercules (2016) YouTube video, added by KonohagakureYondaime [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDVM62XBdyw (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
  2. 2. Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut Mark 4 (2013) YouTube video, added by The Thief and the Cobbler Archive Official [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMRBC7sQkkk (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
  3. Goldberg, E. (2008) Character Animation Crash Course. Los Angeles: Silman-James Press
  4. Hercules (1997) Directed by J. Musker and R. Clements. [Film] United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
  5. The Thief and the Cobbler (1992) Directed by R. Williams [Film] United Kingdom: Majestic Films.
  6. Whitaker, H. and Halas, J. (1990) Timing for animation. London u.a.: Focal Pr.
  7. Williams, R. (2009) The animator’s survival kit. London: Faber and Faber.

Comments

Post a Comment