Walking Up Stairs

This one I actually found to be the most challenging of the body mechanics tasks. I found its difficultly along the same lines as doing a walk cycle, but having the entire body ascend as it moves. This was my result:

Though simple, I liked how the character’s weight seemed to affect her ascent up the stairs, and the positioning of the feet I am happy with.

Sitting Up

Another weight exercise. This time I wanted to portray a character getting up from a nap on their bed, and having the bed be raised so the character’s feet wouldn’t be touching the ground, they would have to drop slightly. This was the result:

I really liked how this one turned out because it’s not one continuous action like the sitting down animation. The character appears to think about what she is doing and tries to solve a problem. A little touch that was a challenge to work around was that I placed the character too far away from the edge of the bed, so I had to make her shuffle closer so she could get her feet to touch the ground. Overall, this is my favourite of the body mechanics animations.

Sitting Down

A fairly straightforward exercise in weight and character. I decided to go for a bouncy, excitable yet elegant female character who would leap onto her seat yet sit with a pose that would make anyone assume that she was in charge of her friend group. This was the result:

I am pleased with the result. I like the way her legs swing upwards like she is ready to assume her sitting position. Even though the way she assumes the final pose is a little too smooth, with no overbalancing or slipping, it could be debated that this is a cartoonish way of depicting this character sitting down.

Body Mechanics

To begin with animating weight, I turned once more to the Animator’s Survival Kit.