Scene 2 & 3 Creation

This scene was created by using the footstep tool in the biped options attached to the motion panel to create a walk sequence for the character between the jungle and the cave. Footsteps where created using the ‘create multiple footsteps’ tool. These footsteps would be part of the run sequence in the scene, where the character appears to be running from the animal chasing him. Using the bend option, the footsteps were made to lead to the entrance of the cave. In the middle of the scene the character injures his foot by stepping on a rock. At this point in the scene more footsteps were added, this time for a walk sequence. To make the character hop, to avoid using his injured foot, the footsteps for the left leg were deleted. The footsteps were then repositioned to make the hop sequence look more comical and lead the character into the cave. Once in position the automatic key frame creation button was used to apply the animation.

The cloth material modifier applied to the characters cloth was then also animated using the simulate tool in the modifier options. At this point it was clear that the walk sequence did not look natural in regard to the arm movements. Also the arms were catching on the cloth object and distorting it. To fix this the key frames on the arms were deleted and manually redone, so that they looked more natural and did not affect the cloth object. The characters spear was then linked to his hand using the link constraint tool. Finally the cloth object simulation was deleted and re done.

Using the morpher modifier, the expression of pain was assigned to the character models face at the point he steps on the rock using the auto key tool previously used in the created of scene 1. This led to yet another problem with the morpher modifier. Yet again there was a random distortion in the vertices once the morpher effect was applied. I thought this had already been fixed, however this time it was the combination of the footstep tool and morpher modifier. A proper fix could not be found for this as a lot of forum posts led me to believe this was a common problem when using editable polys instead of editable meshes with symmetry. The best solution for this problem was not to turn the percentage of the morpher effect up so high. This gave the character a less than ideal expressive pose, but at least some change in facial expression to let the audience know the characters emotion had changed.