The goal of this project was to create a 2 minute animation that had a plot, rig, and followed the 6 of the 12 principles of animation. I chose to create an animation of a lion hunter woman following and hunting 3 lions. I used these 6 principles of animation: timing, anticipation, arc-motion, overlapping action, squash and stretch, and staging in my animation.

Problem/Assignment

Proposed Solution and Planning

I created a storyboard that mapped out the animation and used that as the guide to add in my 6 principles. I planned to add sound to reinforce these principles such as anticipation and timing.

Solution

I gathered sound clips based on my storyboard and what I perceived to be necessary to imply the correct mood and anticipation. I used the spear as an example of arc motion, walking combined with grabbing weapons to show secondary motion, I utilized timing when I paced the walking animations, I showed anticipation in camera angle and motion, and I displayed and stretch in the way the lions jumped to attack. I created a human and lion mesh through box modeling techniques. After my meshes were created I added bones inside of the meshes to match the skeletal structure and make the motion of the character work properly. Next, the IK controllers were added to create the required motion. Lastly, I skinned and animated the scenes to create the final render.

Challenges Faced

What I Learned

The most challenging part of this project was making the lions bones bend correctly as I am better with human forms over animals. I had to recreate the lion skeleton five times and the mesh twice due to complication with this process. Another major problem I had was during the rendering stage, I created several test renders that showed up being corrupted as a result I had to screen record the final animation.

Through this project I learned that there are going to be set backs and when they arise you have to keep on pushing. I learned a lot about box modeling and how to create bones in 3Ds Max.