[Tutorials] CGWorkshops - Animating Creatures for Games

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Working in video games requires you to have an understanding of a wide variety of creatures. Knowing how to approach different creatures and animate them quickly & efficiently is key to success.
In this 3 week course Kyle will demonstrate how to animate various game animations on 3 different creatures: a dog, spider, & dinosaur (Albertosaurus) You'll learn how

to gather & analyze reference to better understand their locomotion and behaviour. And how to use/exaggerate that reference to create game animations. Kyle will

demonstrate various techniques to speed up your workflow and how you can approach different creatures in different ways to create quick, appealing video game

animations.

5-­12 hours of video lessons each week will go over step by step how Kyle creates animations for each of these creatures. The entire process will be shown, no editing

or jump cuts through the process. Outside of the video lessons, the course will require about 6­-15 hours per week to work on assignments (depending on skill level).

Each week there will be a 2 hr live Q&A where Kyle will critique assignments and answer questions. There will also be a dedicated forum for you to post your progress,

ask questions, and get daily feedback from Kyle.

This is an intermediate entry level workshop. Students should have a basic understanding of Maya and the fundamentals of animation.

For each of the assignments we'll be using 3 provided rigs. Note: if you are taking the combined 3 course package you will be free to use your own quadruped rig for

week 1.
- Dog Rig - Brian Evans
- Spider Rig - Wasim Khan
- Dino Rig - Harry Gladwin Geoghegan
What You Will Learn

In this CGWorkshops you'll learn how to gather & analyze reference to better understand their locomotion and behaviour. And how to use/exaggerate that reference to

create game animations. Kyle will demonstrate various techniques to speed up your workflow and how you can approach different creatures in different ways to create

quick, appealing video game animations.

WEEK BY WEEK OUTLINE
Week 1
Lesson: Dog
- Animals In Games
- Gathering Video Reference
- Analyzing Reference
- Animating Quadruped Walk
- Animating Quadruped Trot
- Animating Quadruped Run
- Using Layers to add flavor to Cycle
Assignment: Dog, following along with the videos and animate 1 of the following: walk, trot, or run cycle

Week 2
Lesson: Spider
- Understanding Arachnids
- Arachnid Movement Analysis
- Exaggerating Movement
- Animating Spider Walk
- Animating Spider Moving Through Environment
- Animating Spider Attack
Assignment: Spider, following along with the videos and animate 1 of the following: walk cycle or attack.

Week 3
Lesson: Dinosaur
- Coming Up With Behavior
- Using Multiple Animals for Reference
- Understanding Video Game Idles
- Animating Dinosaur Walk Cycle
- Animating Dinosaur Standing Idle
- Animating Dinosaur Jump

Assignment: Dinosaur, following along with the videos and animate 1 of the following: walk cycle, standing idle, or jump.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED
Ability
Basic knowledge of Maya & Animation

Software
Maya 2010 or later
Quicktime Pro or video editing software for converting playblasts to h.264 & converting videos to image sequences to be imported into Maya (premiere, after

effects, etc)
Dropbox account (or similar service for uploading videos)
* Newer versions of the above software are also acceptable.

Time Requirements
6 - 15 hours of independant study for assignments, depending on skill level.

HomE:

http://training.cgsociety.org/course/animating-creatures-for-games
Category: Other 3D