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By TimStannard - 6 Years Ago
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Trialling CTA4 Pipeline. (as HitFilm doesn't do bones)
I can create the sprites for different body parts in Affinity Designer and successfully import them and rig the bones so they respond as expected in CTA. So far, so good, but ...
I cannot find any tutorials or hints about how to animate the character so it walks.
Notes:
1. I do understand that a walking animation is not easy and is one of the fundamental skill required for animators so I'm not after a quick fix, but expect to spend some time on this.
2. I have looked at numerous (general) tutorials for animating walks but these all tend to be aimed at frame by frame animation rather than the puppetry/bone/skeleton
3. I looked at using the built in animations - but (a) those with tails only have quadruped walks (my T-Rex walks on two legs) and if I ignore the tail, the human walks don't really look like what I want.
Has anyone got any pointers?
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By vepop - 6 Years Ago
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Try using the dog template for the T-Rex bones.
Then, animate it using the pre-made animation.
Tweak whichever is necessary.
Hopefully, this will work for you.
I made my dragon moves using this technique.
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By thomasway - 6 Years Ago
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I'm assuming your dinosaur is G3 Side facing? You can animate any actor by manually key framing it, but I'm no expert on key framing manually. I created a few standing G3 animal characters like cats and dogs and I use the G3 walk animations/motions in some of the premium animation packs - they work well. Of course without seeing the proportions of your dinosaur, it's hard to know if they would work for you. You probably noticed most of the standing actors made for CTA3 and CA4 use thin arms and legs because they work best with the canned motions. I make the tails separately. I use the Spine motions in CA4 to animate them in their own track but I link the tail to the standing dog torso and when the dog walks, its tail wags. I got that idea from David Arandle, who used that method with his standing Reddy monkey characters.
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By TimStannard - 6 Years Ago
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Thanks both for your quick replies and suggestions. Lovely dragon, by the way.
Yes the dinosaur is in profile and yes I am trying to create the animation myself and I was really hoping for some guidance/tips on how to create a walk cycle using bone based puppets. I should have been clearer - I did say I was a noob!
It appears to me that most users use built in or purchased animations, is this the case? Isn’t that rather limiting? I can’t see any way of modifying the animations. For example vepop’s dragon would work fine as a stating point, but I’d want to increase and slow down the rear leg movement and decrease the front leg (arm) movement , particularly as my T. rex is carrying something.
Sorry if these questions are basic - I have tried to find the answers myself - hours of looking through tutorials.
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By vepop - 6 Years Ago
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Though the pre-made animation is used, you can still do the tweaking to your liking ... the only problem is that our own skill is limiting it.
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By vepop - 6 Years Ago
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T-Rex by Gary Pye
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By thomasway - 6 Years Ago
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Have you looked at these?
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G3 Character Keyframe Animation . Basic Motion Clip Editing
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By thomasway - 6 Years Ago
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Every time I click Submit for a Post it double-posts. Must be my mouse.
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By TimStannard - 6 Years Ago
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Thanks vepop. But how can you tweak the animation? It appears as a block on the timeline - it's not editable as far as I can see.
If I put an animation onto an actor, I can see the animation in the "Motion" timeline.
I can expand that timeline via a drop down on the and see timelines for different sprites if I place a tick next to them.
However those timelines do not show keyframes for each of the movements so that I can adjust them.
Confused.
BTW Another nice T.rex character but the movement demonstrates a problem - the sliding feet.
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By TimStannard - 6 Years Ago
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Thanks thomasway. Yes I've watched both of those (plus many others) several times. I'm comfortable with how to animate - as in the mechanics of moving bones etc, - although I'm very much at the start of the learning curve. My question is more what sort of movement should I be attaching to which bones in order to achieve a walk (or a particlar type of walk). It's so much more than just moing one foot in front of another.
If I could see how the predefined animations are done I might gain some insight.
It looks like there are quite a few Toon Boon tutorials which may give me what I want so I'll study them over the week. If I find anything i think may be of use to others I'll make sure I post them back here.
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By vepop - 6 Years Ago
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Apply a pre-made motion to it.
In the timeline, keyframe the movement for each body parts that you think need the tweaking.
Once done, use Collect Clip to save the new movement that you have made.
Delete the one in the timeline. Apply the new movement.
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By kylelee - 6 Years Ago
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TimStannard (10/20/2019)
Thanks vepop. But how can you tweak the animation? It appears as a block on the timeline - it's not editable as far as I can see.
If I put an animation onto an actor, I can see the animation in the "Motion" timeline.
I can expand that timeline via a drop down on the and see timelines for different sprites if I place a tick next to them.
However those timelines do not show keyframes for each of the movements so that I can adjust them.
Confused.
BTW Another nice T.rex character but the movement demonstrates a problem - the sliding feet.
Hi, I have recorded a video to explain how to tweak the T-Rex walk animation.
You can use the lock key to solve the issue of sliding feet.
This is my testing, provide to you as a reference, thank you.
More information you can refer tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuEUXq_qiuQ
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By TimStannard - 6 Years Ago
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Thanks all for your help and patience. kylelee that is a perfect demonstration of exactly what I am trying to do. You make it look so simple (and it is, if you have the knowledge snad skills).
Thanks so much for sharing.
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By thomasway - 6 Years Ago
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While looking for something else today I ran across this dinosaur motion video I had forgotten about - though I like kylelee's better.
click on the video under the title: Works with All Kinds of Cartoon Characters
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