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Project 2: What Kind of Creatures? Walk Edition

Animation Guidelines

Part 1. Creature Concepts

Note: Check this list to see if your creature might be a cliché.
Questions to Address

Written Portion

Answer the Questions to Address in full sentences. Do the first draft by hand. This means you handwrite your answers.

  1. Describe the climate of your environment: Is it pleasant or stormy? Is it easy or difficult to inhabit?
  2. What kind of protection would a creature require to survive in this environment?
  3. Identify the top and bottom of the food chain in your ecosystem.
  4. What type of creature do you want to create: a prey or a hunter?
  5. What do they eat, and where does their food grow?
  6. Do your creatures live solitarily, in small groups, or in packs? Explain why.
  7. Are there different genders among your creatures?
  8. How do they procreate? How many offspring do they have, and how are they born?
  9. What does the childhood/adolescence of their offspring look like?
  10. Describe the appearance of your creatures in old age.
  11. Do they coexist with similar or different species? How many different creatures populate your environment?
  12. Is there an organizational structure, such as a religion or government, among your creatures?
Sketches & Turnarounds

Concept sketches. There should be several pages of concept sketches starting with quick gestural rough drafts, these should be unfinished and sketchy, they may contain color but not be "filled in." Then these sketches should progress to an intermediate stage where you create silhouettes and include drawings from different angles and sides. The final stage should be drawings showing a full 360. Front, back, profiles and three quarter views in both directions. These should be in color and have the silhouettes on the same page.

Character turnaround sheet should have:

  • 2 Silhouettes
  • Views should be:
    • Front, 3/4, Side, Back view
  • 3+ facial expressions
  • Fully colored
  • If you aspire to work in the industry, it is recommended to complete a turnaround sheet that best fits into your animation studio. Research the studios you want to work at and follow their recommendations and examples

Character turn-around sheets

YouTube Tutorial: Character Turnarounds

Examples of Creative Creatures

Part 2: Image to AI for 3D Character Base + Paint + Rigify + Walkcycle

This portion will be demoed in class:

🚶‍♀️

Take an image of your creature and create a 3d base mesh for it using an Image to 3D AI.

Find an image to 3D model maker. There are many paid ones and a few free ones.

Here are some free that I suggest:

And Meshy.ai also has free credits. This is the best of the commercial available, in my own opinion.

Bring these into a new Blender file and Vertex or Texture Paint them, do careful edits and then get ready for rigging.

In order to rig you must follow this step-by-step: RIGIFY/Metarig Step by step

Choose to make a humanoid and download it according to the demo in class.

Rig it using Rigify (shown in class). Follow the guide step by step.

Finally: Make it go through a walk cycle to establish its character.

Resources

For tutorials and additional help, please refer to the Blender How-Tos

Submission

  1. Animated Character saved as a GLB with a stopped pose that transitions into a walkcycle.
  2. Export your creature in an idle pose which transitions to a unique action. Choose something distinctive to your creature (refer to your answers in Questions to Address). For example, a cat has a specific way of circling before lying down. What characteristic behavior does your creature display? This animation should last 10 seconds.
  3. This animated character must be exported with its animation. Research how to do this using my notes, your own notes, the Blender manual, or through an LLM. Export your creature as a GLB file with Animation.