Temp Animation (Blocking Plus)

Inbetween Blocking, where you can show your animation to an audience, and they know exactly whats going on. But, its not Final. This is where you want to fine tune and add in detail of foot placements.

• Placing additional foot poses 2 frames before and after foot contact / foot lift off.
• Later you can adjust the timing of the in between poses.
• In between Feet 
• 2 frames before contact pose (barely touching)
• This is where the toes are just touching the ground.
• Create a nice contrast between before floor and flat on floor.
• Example - touching with the toes then rolling onto flat foot. 
• 2 frames after contact pose (weight smash)
• This is where you want the foot to have it take on weight.
• Have the foot go into the ground, then later you will counter it with the toes.
• This gives an illusion of wight
• Create a lift off pose if you have not already done so, (little weight)
• Angle the the foot 45 degrees down and have the toes clip through the ground. The will fix this issue during toe pass.
• The heal will be reversed, going forward.
• 2 frames before lift off (free off weight)
•  The foot will be flat on the ground, and weight will be off of that foot. So do not need to have in in the ground.
• The heal will be back in an angle then flip forward reverse during lift off 
• 2 frames after lift off (no weight)
• The foot is continuing to rotate inward.
• The claw will be the pivot point of the roll off.
•  Building it in the clavicles
• 2 frames before contact pose
• clavicle is just reaching forward
• 2 frames after contact
• the clavicle will start to move up while the chest is moving down.
•  2 frames before lift off
• the clavicle goes back down
•  
•  Back feet follow the same principles, but is also easier then the front feet. Don't have to do a complicated roll off, like the front feet.
• Set keys 2 frames before planted and after
• So 2 frames after plant, the heal continues to go down.
• The have the foot go into the ground like the front feet.
• Refineing the Pelvis, Chest and Head.
•  

Workflow - Quad Blocking out shot

This is from my lecture on week 3 - Advance Walking

1. Gathering reference close as possible
1. Copy poses all the way through.
2. Add in little body machanics.
3. Alter your poses to do what the scene requires.
4. Pay extra attention to clavicle and scapula.
5. Build your compilation, in the sequence you want your animation.
2. Start Blocking
1. Lay in poses.
1. Create a pose, every time the animal lands with its front feet.
2. Create a walking chart that shows the foot placement from top view.
3.  Use the chart to figure out where all the legs are at when front foot is planted.
4. Do not put in to much details on the feet.
5. Pose out clavicles to get a better shape, use rotation.
6. Move Body controller to move the body.
7. Remember chest leads the body, use rotation Y on both chest and pelvis
2. Double Poses, fix timing.
1. Double your poses to figure out timing
2. Rough out head animations, for it to lead the look at.
3. Add in one level of body mechanics.
1.  Rough out the chest
1. Rotate the Y into the step.
2. During passing,  transition body up then rotate the chest towards the leg that is being lifted.
3. Rotate the chest slightly up, when foot contacted the ground.
4. Transition the chest left and right, which ever side of the foot contacts, transition into the contacted foot.
4.  Leg Poses
1. Since you moved all the basic body parts.
2. Go back and view all legs

Workflow - Quad Walk Cycle

Goal is to make a vanilla walk cycle with no personality, and walk on the treadmill.

1. Position and Rotate character forward and tilting down.
2. Set up your feet placements.
1. Set up your time frame to be around 30 frames.
2. f1 and f30 place all your legs extend forward.
3. f15 place all your legs back.
4. in-between 15 and 30, lift legs off the ground and rotate al legs forward.
3. Offset the left legs to be extended on f15.
4. Watch the pattern and know that the back legs plant the foot where ever front legs plant foot.
5. Fix Front view
1. Bring the front legs closer in. They step beneath their body.
2. And know that front foot placements are close, and have them move out during passing pose then brought in.
3. Rotate the foot placement pointed slightly outward during planted.
4. Add Wicked rotation inward during the roll. Mid Stride   (Like a Lion).
5. Do the same as the back legs, but not as far in.
6. Frame before contact pose on the front feet, have it rotate upwards (Like a Lion).
7. Hips and chest.
1. Back hips move just like the human. Rotates into the foot placement.
2. Exaggerate the hips to go up and down.
3. Rotate the chest into the foot placement in top view.
4. Translate down during contact, then back up during mid stride.
5. Front view
1. When the leg is up in mid stride, rotate the chest down.
8. Shoulders (translation)
1. When the front leg is extended out, translate the shoulder forward.
2. Then translate back and up, no so much, when the leg is going backwards.
3. Right before the the leg lifts, the shoulder will lead that action by going forwards and up.
4. Then back down for the extended reach.
5. Offset the shoulders to continue to move after the chest is done rotation, in front view.
9. Head
1. The head will slightly bounce down after the front foot comes down takes a step on contact. 3 Frame Dip then drag it back up.
10. Refine the legs -  Foot Paws
1. Rotate the foot into the ground so that the feet can prep for a peal off. 
2. Counter rotate the paws up, off the ground.
3. Foot Control channels.
1. Leg Twist - twist the elbow out during mid stride when leg is up.
2. This is to really refine the legs.
11.  Toes
1. Spread the toes out when the foot touches the ground and applies wieght.
2. Revers spread when foot goes up.
3. Refine each toe during polish stage.
4. During the foot roll off, its alright to have the toes to go into the ground.
5. The toes zip under pretty fast.
6. The foot roll off happens fast.
12.  Head 
1. Roll the head left and right in front view. Have drag/ and follow through from the chest.
13.  Tail
1. Is used to balance and communication.
2. For walk cycle, its best to just have it lead and follow.
3. Tail is simple drag and follow through.
4. Its best to start with the base of the tail, and have it aligned with the butt in top view.
5. Add up and down in side view, drag and follow through with the butt.
6. Do the same down the chain of the tail.
14.  Scapula
1. Add extra value to have it follow with the clavicle.
15. Polish the toes to have a better peal of by animating each to individually.

How to Cheat Maya - Chapter 7

Setting up your Maya file

• Create Reference is similar to 3dsMax's Merge in File.
• Go to File > Create Reference and select Rig file to reference into your scene.
• Create a Camera and go into Camera View
• Go to to Create > Camera, then rename it.
• Go in the Panels menu of your viewport, then Perspective and select the camera you created.
• Turn on the Gates
• Show safe frame in Max is the same in Maya.
• Press the Film Game Button found next to Grid button on the toolbar.
• Create a Quick Selection Set
• Select all the objects you want to group up in a selection set.
• Go to Create > Set > Quick Selection Sets
• A Shelf Button will appear for you to name your selection set.
• To Delete a Selection Set you have to go to the Outline.
• Go to Window > Outline
• Select selection sets and delete.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• The best way to move keys around is to use the dope sheet.
• Go to Window > Animation Editors > Dopesheet
• In the dope sheet, set the filters to show Scene Summary.
• Select Keys and move them around.
• Manipulate the Manipulator
• When you want to select an object's x and y axis, and not z, then hold down control and select Z.

 I found it easier if you Edit your own (userHotkeys) and set it to read only, other wise Maya will save over it with defaults and screw up your hotkeys.

Maya - Constrains

• Moving Pivot - Hold down [insert], select and move pivot.
• Parent objects - Select Child shift select parent then press [P].

Constrain

• Position - Select Parent first, then child, drop-down tab (Constrain - Point)
• Maintain Offset - Select Parent / Child (Point Options) Press [Add]
• Rotation - Select Parent first, then child, drop-down tab (Constrain - Orent)
• Pos / Rot - Select Parent first, then child, drop-down tab (Constrain - Parent)
• UnConstrain - Select all objects, drop-down (Constrain - Remove Target)

Constrain Multiple objects and animate

• You can constrain the child to multiple parents, then adjust the weighting to favored which side to follow.
• Link the child to both parents with Zero Offsets.
• The child will favor both sides 50/50, but you can adjust the wight in the channel box.
• And you can animate the weights by right clicking weight constrain, and set key.

Constrain Props to characters

• Its best to create a Locator "kinda like a dummy box in max" and use it for more flexibility.
• Locator - drop-down tab (Create - Locator) then align it to prop.
• Link the locator to the character, during the contact points in the animation.
• Parent Constrain the prop to Locator.
• If your animation is popping, then try to set a rest position on the frame before or after the pop.

Damn I spent the whole day trying to fix Maya's Hot Key bug.

• When ever I make a change it reverts back to default at some point.
• Here is a fix I found on a website
• http://www.the-area.com/forum/autodesk-maya/autodesk-maya-2012/maya-2012-hotkeys-swap-to-default/
• Went with option 2.

3ds Max vs Maya: Part 1 - the Curve/Graph Editor, by Ricardo Ayasta

Notes were taken from
http://kronkhal.blogspot.com/2012/04/3ds-max-vs-maya.html?showComment=1346339398911

Graph Editor
First in line is every animator best friend: the good ol' Graph Editor, a.k.a. Curve Editor in 3ds Max. In general, both editors do the job right but there are some small differences that are actually not so small for some people.

Tangent Selection
In the Curve Editor (CE) in 3ds Max, the tangents are part of the key, in the sense that if you want to move the tangents, the key must be selected. In the Graph Editor (GE) in Maya, the tangents are independent objects from the keys. So in order to move a tangent, you have to select a key and then select the tangent. Basically, in 3ds max it's easier to select the tangents, but in Maya you can select (and adjust) multiple tangents at the same time.

Breaking Tangents
Another difference in the tangent handling is the way you break them. In the CE, if you want to move one tangent independently from the other one, you just have to press SHIFT and that's it. In GE, there is a button in the toolbar called "Break Tangents" (see image), which is a command to break the tangents of the selected key.

Breaking tangents toolbar in Maya
So it might seem like an additional step, but the problem in the CE comes when you want to unify the broken tangents while keeping the changes you did when you broke them. In GE, you just press the "Unify Tangents" and it's done. In 3ds Max, you'll have to follow this procedure.

Tangent types
The CE gives you the option to change each tangent to a different type (ease-in ease-out, linear, etc) from the toolbar by means of drop-down buttons (just click-hold a button and more options will appear), but changing the tangent type to something different than Auto or Custom will make the tangents disappear. In the GE, you will have to select the tangent first and then select the type of tangent you want, but in this case the tangents will never disappear.
Another thing regarding this topic is that there are some types of tangents that vary from one software to the other. While in the GE you have more variety (spline, plateau, clamped) - and in my opinion, better naming-, in the CE you'll find auto, custom, fast, slow and smooth.

Buffer curves
This is a feature that is present only in Maya, and for most animators, is a game changer. The Buffer curves allow you to take a snapshot of the f-curve at that moment in time. When you start modifying your curve, you can always go back and forth between the current curve and the snapshot (even when playing the animation) and compare how the changes affected the animation, and go back in case you screw it up.
It's worth mentioning that buffer curves are not saved with the file, so once Maya is closed, they're gone.3ds max does not have a feature like this.

Selecting the whole curve
The only way to select the whole curve in 3ds max is to select all the keys that are part of the curve. In Maya, the curve is another object (separated from the key and the tangent). Selecting the whole curve by, well, selecting it can be very useful, but it's also very easy to select it by mistake.

f-Curve Scaling
Scaling keys is one of the things that mostly differ between both 3D packages. In 3ds max, there are two different types of scaling : Scale Keys and Scale values. The first one is used to scale keys in time only (horizontal scaling), while the second one scales the values of the keys (vertical scaling).

When scaling values, the curve is scaled from a reference point, i.e. whenever you select the scale tool, a yellow-ish reference line will appear in the CE and it will serve as your reference point to scale the curve (or keys, if you want to select only a couple of keys).

The problem with this feature is that the line will always stay in the same place no matter what you select. So let's say you scale some keys in the Y-Rotation axis between 270 and 360 degrees. If you want to scale some other keys in the Z-Translation between -200 and -300, you'll have to drag the scale reference all the way down by yourself (one workaround is to close and re-open the CE, so the reference line position will reset to its default position). It would be nice if the reference line pops closer to whatever you have selected.

When scaling keys (horizontally), the position of the time slider will serve as the reference line.

In Maya, the same scale tool that you use to scale polygons and other things in the viewport, works in the GE. So taking the same previous example, you only have to select your keys (or f-curve) and scale them as you would in the viewport (BTW, tangents can't be scaled). On this feature, I see a clear winner.

The Euler Filter!
It's worth to note that both programs have the the Euler Filter command (most 3ds Max users don't know about it, that's why I'm mentioning it), it's just that in 3ds max, it's hidden under the Utilities menu, while in Maya is found in the Curves menu. To my knowledge, both filters work properly.

Zooming
The Zoom tool is another feature that I found works better in Maya than in 3ds Max because you use the same zoom hotkey that is used in the viewport for the GE (that would be the default "f" key, that comes from the english word "Frame").

However, there are some things that I like in the CE. For example, when you have a key selected from a specific axis and you select another axis, the CE will automatically zoom to the key in that same frame, so you don't have to re-zoom every time you select a different axis (there is the Auto Frame option in the GE, but is not quite the same). Another nice feature is that in the CE you can zoom only in time (horizontally) but not in values (vertically).

Out-of-Range values vs. Infinity
They do the same thing: Replicate the f-curve over time so you can adjust you walk cycles (or any cycle, for that matter).

Basically, both tools work the same way, but there is one very small difference that make me go to Maya for this one, though it's something most people won't find it's a problem at all: in 3ds Max, when a f-curve is on cycle mode, you won't be able to add keys after the last key on the cycle. Instead, it will add a key to the equivalent frame inside your cycle. You still can add keys however, by copying an existing key and moving it on to a different frame, but you can't just hit "k" and add a key. For me, this limitation is sometimes annoying, and I feel like it's just too much work for something so simple.

In Maya, you can add keys to your cycle wherever you want. Freedom is priceless, I guess.

Bake animation
This is something that is only present in Maya and for me is not a game changer. Basically, it allows you to "bake" an animation, i.e. add a key per frame to a certain object in order to preserve the animation.
You can get the same feature in 3ds Max through a script (google it, there are a couple of scripts available), or by saving your animation through "Animation\Save Animation..." and selecting the "Key per Frame" option. Then you reload the animation into your scene.

The Art of Animation and Motion Graphics | Off Book | PBS