Lesson 7 - Character Animation
In the previous lesson you have designed the main character for your final project. You have also created a character sheet outlining its main features and how you envision its behaviour/movement in relation to its environment and other characters introduced in your story. In this lesson you will learn basic concepts for character animation, such as forward and inverse kinematics, and character rigging. You will also learn how to create a walk cycle. At the end of the unit, you will apply these concepts in two short animations that show your character moving and one depicting emotion/personality traits.
In this lesson we will use a plugin called DUIK. This plugin is free, and it is an indispensable tool for working with character animation in After effects.
You can download it from this link:
https://rainboxprod.coop/en/tools/duik/duik-download/
Additional Examples and Resources
Walk cycle:
Walk Cycle, by Chris O’Hara (2012)
Janeane’s Walk Cycle, by Andrew Chesworth (2010)
NONAME Walk Cycle, by Ariel Victor (2012)
Zombie Hand, by Juan Carlos Cruz (2016)
https://www.behance.net/gallery/32868805/Zombie-hand
Emotions:
Untitled [orange], by Marie Martirosyan and Tigran Manukyan (2017)
https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/1400/63b06b58246739.59f4f65e35558.gif
Pizza’s Days, by Tigran Manukyan (2017)
https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/1400/d240e649037235.58aa19728e17d.gif
Untitled [blue monster], by Tigran Manukyan (2016)
https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/1400/75ed2944224795.581b9967127ac.gif
More examples by Tigran Manukyan
https://www.behance.net/gallery/58246739/GIF-Collection-v2?tracking_source=curated_galleries_list