Model Animations in Maya and UDK

Right, showing the actual result I mentioned in my earlier post, "Model Animations _ stretching problem and solution", took a little longer then anticipated. This was due to some other work I had to do and things I wanted to test out with the blends and animations in Maya as well.

Here below is a video of the animation on the block-out character in Maya. This video shows what the transformation animation should look like. The transformation is from Human form to Bipedal werewolf form.

In Maya the animation fluid, the reason for this is because I re-applied the blendshape on the human form and set keys for the blendshape in the animation bar.

Unfortunately I cannot export the models with this method in the .FBX export. Why? Because the export does not allow the set up of applying a blendshape after the model has been skinned to the rig. For some reason it exports both the human and bipedal rig but only the bipedal model, even when you want to export the human model and rig.

So for UDK I held the set-up of the idea I mentioned in my previous post. Which was:
Play the animation on the Human form model and rig -> Swap to the Human form model in pose and apply the morph -> Swap the morphed human model in pose to the Bipedal werewolf form model -> Play the animation on the Bipedal werewolf form model and rig. Which results in the video shown below.

As you can see the animation is not as fluid as in Maya, this is mainly because of the simple rig structure and simple skinning I applied on the model. With more practice and greater detail this is problem that should be resolved.

For the upcoming weekend I hope to finally finish writing out the pipeline and explain the structure and set-up of the matinee sequence in Kismet,UDK in greater detail.

Model Animations _ stretching problem and solution

First off I would like to explain why I haven't updated anything over the past week. The reason is because I have been caught up with other project and classes which required my attention. Unfortunately I was unable to work on this project earlier this week. I have managed to work on it over the past the days so here is a quick update.

I continued to test some of the animations on the block-out model of the human form, which I managed to get working in UDK. However I noticed something crucial I overlooked when writing down my initial ideas. Here below is a video showing the animation in maya with the blendshape.

As you can see in the video the animation works, but as the model changes size the rig remains the same. This results in that the position of the joints, where the model should turn its arms is off as to where the joint should be in the arm. The result is that the arms stretch, becoming longer then the arms from the bipedal werewolf form, the model that would be switched into.

This is a problem, that I should have forseen when creating the rigs and models but I simply overlooked. Though I am glad I noticed, since I already formed a solution. This is a simple set-up which I will explain together with a video shown below.

The video above shows the animation on the human form rig. But instead of letting the blenshape occur along the entire lenght of the animation, it now occurs in a certain pose. The idea is to set the character in this pose play the morph and switch the model in UDK, and then let the animation continue on the other rig.
I also posed the bipedal werewolf form and used the posed model as a blendshape target on the human form. You should be able to see the bipedal rig in the video.

This would create a set up like this: Human form model animation -> Pose and morph -> Switch human form model to bipedal werewolf model -> continue animation on bipedal werewolf model.
The length of the animation would not change, the only thing that will be increased is the speed of the blendshape/morph.

It is a simple, but most likely necessary adjustment, of which I hope to show some final result in UDK tomorrow.

Character Transformation _ Animation Sheet

Here below you will find the animation sheet for the character transformation. I have added both transformations on the page. The transformation will be controlled by buttons. So first the character will transforms from human form to bipedal werewolf form. And once in the bipedal form transform to the quadruped werewolf form. 

There are however a few poses the will most likely be improved during production. like the starting pose of the second transformation. I might work on the sheet to improve it, but this should give a rough indication of the idea of the animation.

Both animations will be 4 seconds or 96 frames. I hope that over the course of the upcoming weeks I can block out the test models, just to get the feel and as proof for the documentation.

This weekend I will be working on the final set-up for the matinee sequence which I hope to show next week here on the blog.

Materials transforming together with morphing

The past week I have been working on the materials of the torso/back model(s) and tried to get them working in UDK. The video below shows that the materials are now changing overal on the torso/back model when morphing. 

When you look at the morphing and the materials you might notice that when going from the human torso/back to the bipedal torso/back there is a switch in tone of color, going darker. This is due to the fact that I did not add the same material nodes on the specular material of the model.

I will implement this later when I will set-up, the entire 'final' matinee sequence in kismet, UDK. Which will also give the opportunity to transform back.
Additional features that would be nice to have, would be control as to how the fur grows since now it just blends on the entire model.
And perhaps fur patch geometry that would grow out on the back/ neck area to make the model look more full of fur.

For the upcoming time I will be working on the animation sheet(s) for the animation of character during the transformation and setting up the 'final' sequence. Plus check more in the additional features.

Quadruped Werewolf Form Character Sheet

So last weekend I finished the character sheet and a concept sketch for the quadruped werewolf form. The head, tail, feet and hands will transform further, gaining length and changing shape in comparison with the bipedal werewolf form.

I hope that in the upcoming week I can work on the material transformation in UDK and update it here.