Animated Narratives: Assignment 2

In our animated narratives class, we were given a rigged 3D model called "ultimate walker" I must have missed the start of this project as i wasn't aware of its existence until about a week before writing this part. I decided the first animation of the walker would be a sneaking walk cycle, and the second, a Russian squat jumping dance, that ends up in the walker losing his balance, and tipping over.

I started by just looking up "Cartoon sneak walk" on YouTube as i wanted to go for a more exaggerated style. The first result was by a Ralph Rosa who also did an animated sneak walk in 2D for his school project in 2010. (Slight volume warning, the music is quite loud)

After viewing this, I also looked at classic cartoons, such as Tom and Jerry, Where Are You, Scooby-Doo?, and Pink Panther. I suppose the main characteristic of a cartoony sneak walk is the step always either begins, or is fully carried out on the toe tips.

It was time to get animating. I thought i was confident enough for the walk cycle to do it without a sketch, and I wanted to keep the second, dance-fall animation fairly simple as well, so I got straight to animation. And I will be honest here, I also was running short on time, and doing everything was just not possible at this stage, unfortunately.

Here are some screenshots straight from Maya. I tried to keep it fairly simple, but it took me a very long time trying to smooth it out, so the walk cycle loops as smoothly as I could possibly get it to. In the end it worked out quite decent, at least i think, and I am sort of pleased with it. I think.

Next onto the jump animation. I tried to keep this one fairly simple and short as well, trying to demonstrate the clumsiness and the top-heavy nature of the character. I decided to keep it this simple, again, because of how late I became even aware of this project, but decided to give it my best anyway.

Screenshots from Maya

After all this I genuinely feel regret for not starting on this project earlier, and working on it more intensely. Because of current events and the impossibility for me to travel home, I got stuck in a loop of procrastination and depression, which didn't help. I know this submission probably feels very rushed, and I apologize for that. Still, though, I think the animations are okay, and even though foolish me did them without sketching it out first, I think this was an excellent practice run, and here is hoping i can finish the main project on time with my team. Overall, for once, I don't think this project was a success. Could i travel back in time I would have disciplined myself to do more work, more often. Still, though, thank you for your time.