005 More Animations for the 4th Character
Updated: Jan 18, 2019
Wednesday 9th Jan, 2019
5:50am
Trying a new early start tactic today. I dive out of bed to shock myself awake, stumble like a zombie to the home office (grabbing my water from the night before on the way) and immediately fire up the PC. It’s amazing how quickly I become engaged in what I’m doing.
I have a new model to work with now, it’s the same character as before but she has her outfit on. It’s going to be a little tricky as a) there are lots of leafy outfit attachments, and b) I’ve never done something like this before. I will have to start by figuring out how to make this work, wish me luck!
8:30am
Been pretty good so far, I’m still in the setup phase but pretty much done with it now. The leafy skirt is proving tricky though. Time to take a break for some breakfast.
9:10am
Back to animations, after struggling to get the leafy skirt to play nicely I decide to accept my failings for now and leave it as is (parented to the spine, doesn’t respect knees rising up, so there’s clipping). I will instead focus on finishing the animations (including adding facial anims and blend shapes to the ones I made yesterday).
1pm
Well, that was a pretty hardcore don’t-think-I-looked-away-from-the-screen-once session! I was in the zone, completing 70-80% of the animations! I’m having an absolute blast animating this little sprog, she’s got tons of personality, Ant has been updating character models daily this week and they’re all looking fantastic. I can also see my animations starting to improve now; and the consistent focus is giving me a lot of momentum. Time for lunch and a shower!
2:20pm
Slightly longer lunch today due to missing a shower first thing this morning, but now back in the office ready to finish these animations!
2:50pm
Slight change in focus comes about after Ant sees this tweet from Laura Kate Dale, a news editor for Kotaku. Time to jump on that quickly and send her an email!
3:45pm
Sent the email to Kotaku (fingers crossed*) and replied to another whilst I was at it. Also briefly looked into what it would cost to attend Play Expo in Manchester which is happening in May (I saw an email from the events manager about it). I felt myself procrastinating looking at hotels (for Play Expo) for a good 10 mins before I snapped myself out of it! Back to – you guessed it – animating!
*spoiler alert: sadly we didn't make it in, but there are loads of great games in the article so check it out here!
4:30pm
Another great session, 90% done with these animations now! Stopping for a bit as I need to go and pick my daughter up from dance lessons, but will be back in the office for a bit tonight to do as much as I can.
7:45pm
Putting in some extra hours today to try and get slightly ahead of the game. I’m almost done with the character animations but there are a few more left so it’s back to Blender I go!
9:45pm
99% done and just wanted to make a note now that I’ve been animating for a while. The tiny little nuances and seemingly small touches really do make the biggest difference when they are all added to the mix. I am certainly appreciating more than I ever have just how patient and talented you must be to become a master at this craft. Also; I f*@king love animation!
I’m running out of juice now, will likely call it a night shortly I reckon.
10:30pm
And I am officially pooped, but managed to finish all of the animations for the 3rd character! I put a lot more effort into this one, mostly because she demanded it with the complexities of her model (leafy outfit, long ponytails) but also because I really enjoyed bringing her to life! This effort should allow me to have her plugged in and playable before lunch tomorrow, freeing up my afternoon to move onto something else ahead of schedule.
Adios amigos!
Signed by my face.
