Animating weapon movement

armagon

Hi guys! I'm kind of new to animation so I'm starting with something simple: animating the scifi weapons in my pet project. It is an FPS and there are no hands, just the weapon model itself. I've been trying to create a smooth animation for the walking and then the running clips, but it's been hard to make it look good. I'm pretty sure I'm missing some basics here.

My initial approach was to add a transform based on a Lissajous curve. Very subtle, reminding a lot of the Doom sprite animation. However, it still looks very mechanic and "it's just an 8-figure motion looping, boring". Other than adding noise, what are my options? Do you guys recommend any good videos or books on the subject? Tips & tricks are welcome.

armagon

Bump?

slrove

From my own research on the matter, I have a few referenced GDC talks and videos discussing FPS animation:

Art of Destiny's First Person Animation

First Person Animation of Overwatch

Animation Pipeline of Overwatch

AI and Full Body Animation in DOOM

Animation Prototyping for Games

In terms of animating the weapon without hands.... it might be difficult to understand the motions with a floating weapon. Do you envision the weapon being held by someone or integrated into a character? Why not make a character, or even just some arms to hold the weapon? Do you have anything that you could show us to give us a better frame of mind?

armagon

That's really useful, thank you!