[Riot Creative Contest 2017] - Adam Kania

Egyptian Penguin

In this thread I will be doing a 3D animation for the Riot Creative Contest.

I will be doing some Rig hunting and pre-work soon! (Leaning towards an animal)

Egyptian Penguin

I found my rig of choice, my time opened up a bit so expect some progress soon!

Rig credit goes to: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-model-beast-rigged/991951

ajramsey28

awesome! Thats a cool looking character. I cant wait to see what you come up with!

KielFiggins

Nice!  I'm thrilled to see Hawk Beast animated, really excited to see what you come up with.

Good luck!

Egyptian Penguin

Current progress at the moment. After spending a day or two on it, I'm probably going to trim a frame or two off as it feels kinda sluggish. Once I nail his speed I'm going to actually start adding the personality details.

I felt that almost a month without posting anything would be weird.

Egyptian Penguin

I finally got the tail where I want it. I'm going to do a "stage 2" to the run animations where the legs interchange.

Egyptian Penguin

https://syncsketch.com/playground/bb029844b0bf4667be9dfc0dac7f81ee#312645

I got a sync sketch link if need be.

KielFiggins

I added some paint overs.  Good luck!

Egyptian Penguin

KielFiggins said:

I added some paint overs.  Good luck!

Funnily enough I have made a few changes before the sync sketch but none based around the legs so this seriously helped!

Egyptian Penguin

Strictly an update but I got the concept my ability down. Basically I'm going for an ultimate thats a mixture of Renekton's E dash/corkscrew and Draven's E where he knocks aside all enemies in his path.

Alot of work to do but hey its a progress update!
 

AnthonyAnimation

You mention Draven and I'm in, haha. Cool idea! This character doesn't have wings correct? I think an antic where the silhouette changes from large to thin as he enters the main phase of the ult is important. Make sure to check it from game cam too, sometimes things get lost when you switch perspectives.

Egyptian Penguin

AnthonyAnimation said:

You mention Draven and I'm in, haha. Cool idea! This character doesn't have wings correct? I think an antic where the silhouette changes from large to thin as he enters the main phase of the ult is important. Make sure to check it from game cam too, sometimes things get lost when you switch perspectives.

Funny how I sorta get "Shyvana-esque" towards the end. I'm currently in the midst of spreading his limbs during his spin more to generate both a corkscrew feel and make the silhouette from the top more interesting towards the mid-section.

Egyptian Penguin

So after a few days of working on this I feel like I'm hitting a wall. I'm not sure if I should scrap the whole "Opening" i have towards the end or find a way to better incorporate it into the barrel roll.

I'm thinking of having him "open" during his initial barrel roll but I'm not sure if thats the best move. Having him tuck in before he opens is feeling awkward. I'm refraining from doing too much polish on something that may not be working but I am looking for maybe pointers or ideas on what might end up looking better.

EDIT: I have an idea of turning this barrel roll into a cork-screw motion. I'd have to scrap about 70% of the spin but I feel it'd help him for clarity and smoothness purposes...no point in fixing something that won't work right?

AnthonyAnimation

I think the barrel roll could work, it's a matter of rotating the character around the correct point. Keeping him lower to the ground and having his head more stable will help it feel less wobbly.

There could be a larger antic at the start. Ults are usually telegraphed. Think of having him rear up on his hind legs.

You could go with the corkscrew idea as well, be sure to track arcs!

Edit: You can also keep the "opening" of the character. It helps add contrast and a nice finish. The barrel roll can be faster, maybe have him spin twice as much? Then really hit the open pose hard and stick it so it reads.

Egyptian Penguin

I went through with the corkscrew idea and I already like the results:



Should that final spin be slowed down? I'll be looking into something to make it more "built up" on the anticipation.

Egyptian Penguin

More progress. Gave him more anticipation pre-launch by having him reel up. Starting to feel it come together more.

I got alot of work to do on polish (especially the tail) but right now I'm trying to get the timing of everything *just* right:

AnthonyAnimation

For the antic you can have him go straight from that pose into the corkskrew. Having him go back to the ground muddies the motion.

Egyptian Penguin

Now we're starting to get somewhere with this. I took Anthony's suggestion on the anticipation and only had him make contact with the ground to help propel him.

Been doing bits and pieces of follow through and polish. Again, a ways to go but there's some stuff actually happening and I like it!

KielFiggins

Cool!

Egyptian Penguin

Progress update before I get some sleep, gonna mess with the landing/gliding timing (since it feels very weightless ironically) more but aside from that its coming out better and better IMO:

KielFiggins

Nice man, very fluid.

Egyptian Penguin

More progress, Slowed things down a bit, gave him a better landing and made his antic more feline-like. I'll probably show-case the run cycle I finished later:

Egyptian Penguin

These are what I'll be submitting more than likely aside from an edit or two, gonna do one quick one-over pass before I submit to catch any more polish I need to do. Its been a fun contest that's for sure!

Ultimate:

Run:

Egyptian Penguin

And so here I am at the end of my long journey. Final submission and a screen cap included. The Hawkbeast has a Run and an Ultimate.

KielFiggins

That turned out really well! So happy to see that character animated.  Great job.