I just picked up “The art of Game Design” by Jesse Schell. If you are interested in video game design or if you are a seasoned veteran looking for some new ideas, this may be just the book for you. I am only a few chapters in so my final review is pending. I will say that so far this is a compelling read. The table of contents weaves a tapestry of potentially useful and inspiring information. I will provide a more elaborate review once I am finished reading.

I need some eyes on this.  I am trying to jump back into the basics as a sort of refresher course.

I am honored to have obtained my Purple Belt before leaving for Christmas break.  I have been learning so much about myself, and the mechanics of motion and look forward to a lifetime of practice.

Creating a great rig takes a lot of time and patience to create.  It is important that you examine the needs of the animator and tailor your design to provide a fast, friendly and efficient rig.  On that note, I have been toying around with a lot of simple rigs so I can discover what I think works best.  Earlier I released the ball and tail rig which is an examination into what comprises a great tail setup.  Now I present “Bucket Head”.  I started this rig with several purposes in mind, but it is primarily an opportunity to refine my leg rigging techniques.  The rig is functional, however this is by no means my finished version.  Currently the legs only feature stretchy IK as I intended to use this rig for some simple walks.

As always, feel free to use this rig and report back with any questions or comments.  I will likely be updating the rig as my leg rigging experiments continue.  There is an excellent chance that my updates will crush any animation you did on previous versions.  So use the rig at you discretion and don’t get to attached because improvements are sure to come.

Get the rig here.

I just finished up my first version of a ball and tail rig. I know a million of them must exist out there, but I wanted to try my own spin on the concept. The rig is designed to be simple yet functional. Feel free to use the rig for animation exercises, for use in the classroom, or for virtual science experiments on primitive rodents. If you make a million dollars with this rig feel free to send half the $$$ my way, otherwise just have fun. I appreciate any tips concerning how I could improve the rig.

Get the rig here.

I updated a previous post with the changes to my animation WIP. The post is below and here is a link just in case.

I am always delighted when my interests intersect. I feel like I just received a two for one coupon, or I hit it big on the slot machine just when I decided to put in two quarters rather than one.
Tonight’s Kenpo Karate lesson cover the concepts of “harmonious motion” and “counter action”. To summarize, this means that the human body can generate more force during a strike by simultaneously performing a counter action or a complimentary action. For example, if I throw a right outward block I can compliment that action by allowing my left hand to follow the movement of the right hand. This in turn sets the entirety of my body into a harmonious motion that follows through my torso all the way into my hips. It is possible to compliment this harmonious motion with a counter action. By stepping back with my left foot at the same time I perform the harmonious blocking action, I am able to layer on additional force.
I hope this makes some sense. It is can be difficult to describe an action without showing some visual reference. If you want to get a better idea of this concept, try this exercise. Put both of your fists against your chest. No punch straight ahead with one arm while trying to leave the other arm firmly planted against your chest. Now stick one arm out as if you had just finished throwing a punch and keep the other fist against your chest. Now go ahead and quickly draw in the outstretched arm as you extend the fist that was lying against your chest. You should notice a significant increase in power.
I feel like my body has always known this lesson, yet I never had the appropriate words to quantify it until this evening. The real kicker is that this same lesson can apply to my animation. Think about a run cycle. We are taught that your right arm goes back as your left leg goes forward. Now consider this with the ideas of harmonious motion and counter action in play. Now you have a why behind the action. Conversely, this principle can be used to portray a physically week character. Just think about the punching exercise I described earlier. If you were to animate a boxer, you could make that character feel week by eliminating some of the harmonious and/or counter action that would be displayed when observing a stronger fighter.

The elephant is now modeled, UV mapped, and I have begun texturing. So far I think this is a fair effort considering my lack of modeling skill. Once I get all the texture work done I will begin rigging. Yay!. So stay tuned. Updates are on the way.

I always have several personal projects going at once. To be honest I usually want to do more than I can actually handle. I am modeling this elephant with the idea of rigging him for animation. I will continue to update this image as I progress.