Portfolio Spider Character Final Year of uni

craig_jj

I am making a playable character for unreal. This character will be a spider (Black Widow) I will be animating this spider using key frames. I wont have time to model this spider as my skills are lacking in creature design, so i will be having a friend model the spider. I am picking to use a cat rig as it comes with a spider already so it helps with time.

craig_jj

This is the spider i got from my friend.

Rmunday

Looking forward to seeing this, spiders have such intricate movements will be good to see if you can nail them and make it look cool as a playable character! Collect lots of reference for this, there are a lot of limbs to keep a track of. 

craig_jj

This is the first test of the walk cycle still needs a lot more work mainly with the legs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwG2gh1ejxo

kylebunk

You might wanna check out this video of a spider running https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CxOPakRsSU. It might help with your animation since at the moment the leg plants aren't broken up like they should be. I think that's all it will need though, its on the right track!

KielFiggins

One trick I've used for animating spiders/insects, is do hide the legs and animate the body first.  Getting that to look right then adding the legs in after.  But this is more for world space animation, not so much cycles.  Good luck.

craig_jj

https://youtu.be/GoBwahHxj8E

got the spider walk to a standard that i am happy to carry one with other animations. thanks for the info about the spider legs moving at different speeds i think i got that down but not to a perfect standard but ok for a simple walk

craig_jj

I have finished my final walk cycle and made a bunch of animations that i will need for my playable character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LGtWZXjth0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxz-YQNkU04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ecqXHvlaSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTB_F-zlho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VblJvngH0VI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ecqXHvlaSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G86ij6j5G_g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPI-V1hk34U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX1Z6fvGEL8

craig_jj

Now that i have all my animations i created the animation set up in unreal. I made all the inputs and actions i need and made a 1D animation blend, two montages, character blueprint and a animation blueprint.
http://i.imgur.com/46dpalU.png
http://i.imgur.com/xkWMbsm.png
http://i.imgur.com/m2WaL3s.png
http://i.imgur.com/SKsEfC3.png
http://i.imgur.com/MyhvGTJ.png
http://i.imgur.com/v5ISO7T.png
http://i.imgur.com/diwAVlf.png
http://i.imgur.com/cqhOz6h.png
http://i.imgur.com/FRjAJiE.png
http://i.imgur.com/LYxnwuu.png
http://i.imgur.com/jmdGiIA.png
http://i.imgur.com/iyowxRj.png
http://i.imgur.com/MTvquwZ.png

craig_jj

Here is quick video of my level and character so far. I need to change a few things and find away to make it crawl on the wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL6aaKQcBrs

13randO

Just one thing involving the spider's jump: I think that the spider is following a consistent arc when it moves in the y direction, and is not easing into or out of the jump. When I look at videos of spiders jumping, it seems that they 'spring' into the action from rest (probably because of all of those legs pushing off of the ground :P). Hope that helps in some capacity.

jacky_ruan

also, i think it would make it more realistic if you have different movement speed as the spider slows down to move with the other set of legs. so it doesnt have a constant movement speed. Right now it looks as if it is gliding or sliding.

PeteHawk

A few quick things from me. This is more for a second pass on the animations when you come to it.
- Your walk animation needs more then one cycle. This will give you more frames to play with and more importantly to hide the loop that is currently quite clear.
- The attack animations need a bit more weight to them, I understand spiders are small and light, but just to sell the action more I'd work in some more body movement.
- Your idle seems off balance when the spider scratches his abdomen. Perhaps move the body forward over the other 6 legs to balance him out. Also careful when making your idles, that you don't pose the character to far from their neutral pose. Since you'll be blending from neutral to walk/jump/death/etc.

Back to work for me sorry. I think this is a good exercise to try out so keep up the good work and let us know how it's going.

craig_jj

Thanks for all the helpful advise and i will try and do my best to input all the help you guys have given me and correct the animations. My deadline is this Friday, so what every i cant get done i will continue after deadlines.