Animation Breakdown

This shows the evolution of one of my shots from blocking to spline to final.  The idea of the shot stayed very much the same though out the whole process but the animation definitely improved the whole way, largely due to the some great friends at Firaxis Games Studios giving me feedback.

This is early blocking, just sort of getting the idea on paper and also getting used to this character and rig.  Trying to find what poses work and what shapes you can create.  The camera is just temporary but it actually didn't change too much since the angle seemed to work for me.



After hitting the spline button things start to fall apart.  I think I wanted to get to spline early just to try out a new workflow, it's a lot like trying to mold a wet piece of clay where you work on one part and the other side is sagging due to gravity so you have to continue to massage the whole thing until it comes together.



After some revisions and feedback I have a more clear idea of where to go and an exciting finish so it doesn't just stop with his yelling petering out.  I was actually trying to avoid putting in the extra time and effort of having him run off screen but the feedback and push I received really helped, thanks Justin.



This was were I felt the shot really came together, I was hesitant about adding the jump at first because the idea came late in the process and it meant re working a lot of what was already there but again my man Justin was convincing in his critiques.  I sometimes have a tendency to play it safe and it was just the thing to really push this.  Add in some facial animation and the character really starts to come alive.



Final Animation and Lighting: