Character Performance Practical Assignment - Weight Lift Animation

Character Performance Practical Assignment

06/12/24 - 03/01/24

Introduction

This blog post shows the exploration of the Character Locomotion module’s practical assignment. The task is to create a walk cycle that incorporates a storytelling element. The plan for this project was to incorporate numerous elements of character locomotion including walks, weight shifts and weight lifts to create an engaging scene demonstrating skill with character locomotion.

The Concept

The goal of this project is to create a short animation set in a warehouse environment. In this animation we will see a scene with construction workers walking in the background with a table and wooden crate in the foreground. An athletic warehouse character with a hard hat will strut in from screen right, inspect the wooden crate on the floor, lift the heavy wooden box onto a workbench and step back into a heroic pose with their fists on their hips.

Theory Analysis

This section of the blog demonstrates a study into animation theory to support the development of the outcome. There are also two links below demonstrate further analysis into walk cycles and weight lifting theory from other blog posts.

Walk Cycle Theory Analysis : Walk Cycles [Locomotion and Mechanics for Animation - Unit 02 to 05]
Weight Lift Theory Analysis : Animate a Weight Lift [Locomotion and Mechanics for Animation - Unit 12]

Strut Theory Analysis from The Animator's Survival Kit (Williams, 2009, pp. 164-166):

High energy positive walk.
Twist in the body.
Shoulders move in opposition to the hips.
Hips rotate down towards the down leg.
Rotation on the head up and down.
Features a double bounce.
Extreme ups use the ball rotation on the foot to gain extra height.
Hands drag behind, with the elbow leading, and whip up.

Strut Thumbnail Analysis from Cartoon Animation (Blair, 2020, p. 74):

Strong curve to the spine.
Up curve to spine opposes the down curve.
Down spine curve acts as a squash pose.
More rigid swing in the arms than the previous.

Research

This section demonstrates the research that has been used to support the development of the animation.

This first video features an array of different characters walking with a strut to inspire the walk section of this animation.

In this video (Strutting Down the Street - A Video Montage, 2019, 0:49) there is a particularly confident strut by a character that is useful to this project. The key observations from this strutting walk are :

Confident walk.
Head up.
A little stiff.
A little slow.
Would need exaggeration in the swing of the arms and body tilt.
Good high shoulder lift.

This next video (WWE Vince McMahon - Power Walk, 2009) demonstrates the Vince McMahon character from WWE strutting in an extremely exaggerated fashion.

The key observations from this video (WWE Vince McMahon - Power Walk, 2009) were:

Closer to The Animator's Survival Kit (Williams, 2009) ) version.
Very wide spread steps.
Drag, swing and rotate on the arms.
Shoulders a little restricted by the suit - more raise up and down here would exaggerate it further.
Confident.

This next video (Walk Strut, 2017) demonstrates a person strutting in real life. There is some element of exaggeration but not quite as much as the Vince McMahon character from the previous video (WWE Vince McMahon - Power Walk, 2009).

The key observations from this video (Walk Strut, 2017) were:

Poor angle.
Good swing to the hips.
Wide arm positions - out to the side.
Very stereotypically, masculine.
Feet out to the side.
Shoulder tilt.

This last video (Fortnite Swagger Strut Emote vs Dr. Livesey Phonk Walk, 2023) showcases a strut created by another animator. Whilst this won’t be used as a direct reference it is good to study how another artist has stylised and executed a strut animation.

The key observations from this video (Fortnite Swagger Strut Emote vs Dr. Livesey Phonk Walk, 2023) were:

Shoulders lead and arms drag.
Shoulders have a down to up motion.
Head recoils on step.
Snap down on the feet.

The following reference images are to inspire the heroic end pose.

(Koldunov, no date)

(Deodato Jr., no date)

(3dtotal, 2019)

Reference

This section shows the exploration of the animation through acting, inspired by the research.

Strut :

Strut and Inspect :

Weight Lift :

Heroic End Pose :

Final Reference:

This video edits the strongest clips together to form a final piece of reference footage.

Thumbnails

This next section creates thumbnails from the reference footage to study the key poses and timing to build a solid foundation for the animation.

Strut :

Inspect :

Weight Lift :

Resources

This section shows the resources that were used in the production of this animation.

The Body Mechanics rigs (Daniels, 2014) were the characters used.

(Daniels, 2014)

To give more character to the Body Mechanics Rigs (Daniels, 2014) this construction hat (Naira, 2021) was used to help integrate the characters into the scenario and support storytelling.

(Naira, 2021)

This warehouse style building model (Morais, 2022) was used to provide a key background to the animation. This provides a setting that gives context to the weight lift, which will be a wooden crate.

(Morais, 2022)

The following workbenches models (Caxtor, 2023) will be the platforms that the crate will be lifted onto by the main character.

(Caxtor, 2023)

This crate model (Taskurt, 2021) will be the main weight that the character lifts onto the workbench platform above. It will also be littered around the environment to help further contextualise why the character is lifting a this box.

(Taskurt, 2021)

These various construction models (kyuandzo, 2024) will be used as background assets. These will help show that the area this animation takes place is under development which gives reason for the construction workers to exist in this area.

(kyuandzo, 2024)

This HDRI image (Majboroda, 2024) will be used to light the scene using an Arnold Skydome light. This will provide colour and background imagery to help make the render feel realistic.

(Majboroda, 2024)

Environment Construction

These images show the initial integration of the resources above to build the construction site environment to support story telling for this animation. This provides a space for the animation to take place in and it will be refined later to build the final environment with full set dressings.

This image below shows an initial render using a skydome light with the construction yard HDRI (Majboroda, 2024) plugged into a skydome light. There are also some area lights inside the building to brighten up the shadows that the warehouse model casts.

Animation Development

This animation builds on a previously created 'Weight Lift' animation of which the development can be viewed here : Animate a Weight Lift [Locomotion and Mechanics for Animation - Unit 12]

This animation was sent this animation to Williams (2024) for feedback to make improvements. This video below features his feedback :

These are the key aspects of feedback :

Add time at the beginning to look at the box and size it up.
When the character crouches down to life the box, shuffle the feet towards the centre of the box for more weight on the lift.
Faster timing up on the jerk up of the weight to make it snappier.
Faster timing on the weight dropping to make it snappier.
Drop the weight quicker when the character places onto the counter to make it snappier.
Improve the final pose to add more interest.

Animation Update 01

20/12/24

The animation playblast below features the following developments :

Implementation of the timing tweaks of the lifting of the weight informed by the feedback.
Added weight shift movements to show the character inspecting the weight.
Added a heroic end pose to make improvements to the end of the animation.

Animation Update 02

21/12/24

The animation playblast below features the following developments :

Blockout and development of the stut walk.

Animation Update 03

31/12/24

The animation playblast below features the following developments :

Animation polish pass all over using graph editor, focussing on

Improving the walk to make this flow better.
Overlap on the arms during the transition from end of walk to hands on hips pose.
Improvements to the transition from dropping the weight to the heroic end pose.

Animation Update 04

01/01/25

The animation playblast below features the following developments :

Added the character shuffling their feet and weight over the box as they crouched down, informed by the feedback received.

This looked quite janky and it wasn't clear whether this improved the animation or not. Further polish and developments were needed to effectively integrate this action into the sequence.

The animation was then further developed, as seen in the playblast below, by :

Improved the feet shuffle across the box as noted in the previous comments. This now looks more pleasing and benefits the animation sequence.
Subtle camera animation was added to prevent the static camera shot. This included a subtle zoom and tracking of character motions with some lag and overshoot to prevent it from looking perfect.

Animation Update 05

02/01/24

The animation playblast below features the following developments :

Final general animation polish.
Inclusion of background characters walking around to make the scene feel busy. These feature:

Natural 'normal' walk.
Masculine walk.
Feminine walk.
Angry walk.
Run.

Set dressing to populate more boxes around the scene so that the main weighted box fits in amongst the other boxes better.
Tweaks to the UV scale of the bricks on the warehouse building so that the individual bricks are larger and appear more realistic.
Inclusion of the cement truck and other minor screen right background elements.

Lighting and Rendering

Now that the scene was complete the lighting and rendering settings were tweaked to achieve the results shown below. This included:

Tweaks to the shadow colour to make them feel warmer and more natural.
Tweaks to the interior warehouse lighting so that it wasn't too bright or too dark.
Tweaks to the depth of field settings. Including animation of the focal point to ensure the main character is always in focus.

It was apparent that the character shader had some reflection on and it was removed to make the character look more natural. This image below shows this in contrast to the images above.

Rendered Animation

The video below shows the full rendered animation without any audio. This proved there were no render errors or artefacts and the overall quality of the render was good.

Audio

Audio and sound effects were added to the Premiere Pro project in sync with the animation. The image below shows the inclusion of various sound effects across the animation, sourced from Sidearm Studios (no date) and Gamemaster Audio (2020). These included :

Gravel footsteps
Background construction site noise
Wood impacts
Wooshes and swishes
Vocal audio recorded and editted by myself.

The image below shows the Audacity project that was used to record my audio. To make the vocal sound more cartoon-like the pitch was edited, inspired by (How to make Cartoonist Voice in Audacity, 2023) .

Final Animation

The video below shows the completed animation featuring audio.

A Sync Sketch link to leave feedback : https://syncsketch.com/sketch/0gosG0W9MDwW/

Conclusion

This was a challenging animation to complete, however, the results are good in all aspects. Thorough preproduction, research and theory analysis has provided as strong basis to start the animation. Acting out a variety of takes and editing these together to build the final reference allowed analysis of timing and key poses to ground the animation in reality. The development of an existing animation helped contextualise the walk into a storytelling scenario. The weight lift animation is strong with the box feeling very heavy. The strut adds a lot of personality to the character which is further emphasised by the heroic pose at the end. The personality reads as a confident but not the most intelligent. The implementation of Alex William's feedback has lead to a strong, multifaceted short animation sequence. Background construction worker characters and environment sets contextualised the characters actions and made the scene feel alive to further supported storytelling. Render quality was good to finish the animation professionally. All these factors lead to a strong and engaging animation featuring light storytelling elements.

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

Animation theory has been studied to inform practises. This has fed directly into acting and reference capture, which in turn has provided a solid foundation for the animation production.
Tutor feedback has been implemented to improve the quality of animations.
Problems with IK/FK switching and constraints have been solved to modify timing and fix glitches with the rig.
Storytelling and narrative concepts have been implemented through the design of the animation and further reinforced by background animation and environment sets.
The animation was iteratively developed showing growth through the myriad of playblasts on this blog. This demonstrates a reflective practise that drives a continuous cycle of self-improvement.

Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of specialist approaches, processes, and techniques of 3D animal and creature animation.
Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of enquiry, methods, practices and theories in 3D animal and creature animation and its interrelationship with other relevant disciplines such as zoology and comparative anatomy.
Analyse and problem solve in unpredictable and complex contexts applying advanced creative and specialist techniques in animal and creature animation.
Develop and critically evaluate their work with informed reference to theory and current practice in 3D animal and creature animation.
Effectively employ animal and creature animation techniques to communicate narratives or information and evoke emotive responses in audiences.
Show a critical awareness of current practices, structures, audiences and registers of communication in 3D animal and creature animation and adopt a reflective, informed approach to creative development

Reference List

3dtotal (2019) Strong, classic hero pose [Online]. Available at https://www.facebook.com/3dtotal/posts/the-first-image-is-a-strong-classic-hero-pose-the-chest-is-pushed-upwards-to-ind/10155950840090689/ (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Blair, P. (2020) Cartoon Animation with Preston Blair. Mission Viejo, CA: Walter Foster Publishing.
Caxtor (2023) Old Table, June 10th [Sketchfab]. Available at https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/old-table-83263d9be3324586b2dab895230bc1d7 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Daniels, J. (2014) Anim rigs, art of Joe Daniels. Available at: https://artofjoe.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Deodato Jr., M. (no date) Spider-Man [Online]. Available at https://br.pinterest.com/pin/561472278517343449/ (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Fortnite Swagger Strut Emote vs Dr. Livesey Phonk Walk (2023) YouTube video, added by Stealthy [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGohkZw3-n0 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Gamemaster Audio (2020) Pro Sound Collection. Available at https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/audio/sound-fx/pro-sound-collection-50235 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
How to make Cartoonist Voice in Audacity (2023) YouTube video, added by Flame Studios 2.o [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivw5Z6u4CC8 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Koldunov, V. (no date) Handsome young man standing like a super hero. He is proud of himself [Online]. Available at https://www.dreamstime.com/handsome-young-man-standing-like-super-hero-handsome-young-man-standing-like-super-hero-proud-himself-image120307598 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
kyuandzo (2024) Lowpoly Construction Vehicles Set, April 18th [Sketchfab]. Available at https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lowpoly-construction-vehicles-set-8164c456f9f8443bbe180d1914ccfae3 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Majboroda, S. (2024) Construction Yard, April 12th [Poly Haven]. Available at https://polyhaven.com/a/construction_yard (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Morais, R. (2022) Customs, September 27th [Sketchfab]. Available at https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/customs-0be6680c75844eb797aeedccc314ea06 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Naira (2021) Hard hat, September 14th [Sketchfab]. Available at https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/hard-hat-a1328e74b0f44b4284af05eb2aa5cfb6 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Sidearm Studios (no date) Ultimate Sound FX Bundle. Available at https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/audio/sound-fx/ultimate-sound-fx-bundle-151756 (Accessed: 23 April 2021).
Strutting Down the Street - A Video Montage (2019) YouTube video, added by CaptainJZH [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkDnVhy9kAk (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Taskurt, E. (2021) Wooden Crate – Wooden Box, September 7th [Sketchfab]. Available at https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/wooden-crate-wooden-box-62411693da734fdd97d37ceab494bfd6 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Walk Strut (2017) YouTube video, added by Jaded Melody [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8thcLar8bs (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
Williams, A. (2024) Linkedin instant message with Matthew Lawson-Hall, November 1^st
Williams, R. (2009) The animator’s survival kit. London: Faber and Faber.
WWE Vince McMahon - Power Walk (2009) YouTube video, added by PRGOONS [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLBUd3r1y3I (Accessed: 03 January 2025).

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