Maya Pushing Action
Here is some initial research I've done prior to the workshop to try and gain an understanding of the pushing action before trying to create it. I have looked at YouTube videos and took some stills from them which i
Reference Material
During the workshop for this assignment, we were encouraged to go and film our own reference videos before beginning to animate in Maya. Therefore, I was able to film several people pushing on a wall in different ways. From this I can then plan out key frames and timings.
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Attempt 1
Here is my first attempt that I did on the day that we were given the workshop, after filming some of the reference images above.
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The key frames on this one worked well and it was successful using the two different approaches to the push. To improve it, I want to make the figure move more when it's pushing the block to show a lot of effort and tension instead of just remaining still. The shoulder push is good until the end when the leg slides out and the figure stands up very soon after that.
For the next attempt I want to try and use slightly more extreme poses to exaggerate the movements, especially the shoulder one as I think the body could show more tension. |
Key Frames
Here are the key frames that I drew from the stills that I took from the reference videos above. I've drawn all the pictures and annotated them to get a better understanding of the posture and why the body is in the certain positions when pushing a heavy object. After this, I then ordered the key frames that I was going to use to then reinterpret them into Maya.
Attempt 2
This is my second attempt where I used the keyframes that I drew and planned much more, making it easier to create in Maya.
Some of the movements were much better on this one and I tried to pay more attention to the timing. So when the figure goes to push the block, it moves very quickly in comparison to the anticipation and the actual push. I'm not sure it works too well on the first push where the character slides down the block as they are pushing harder, so to improve it I could add more inbetweens where they come away from the block slightly and then lower. Also, when the figure is using it's shoulder to push, and so the angle of the body turns to face forawrd, the back foot remains facing the block and looks very unnatural. The actual movement of the block worked a lot better this time and I tried to get some variations in the speed of it as the charater adjusted thir feet when moving.
For my next attempt, I still want to try and add a slight wobble or shake in the arms when pushing the block, to show the tension, and pay more attention to the arms during the push as on this one the inside arm sometimes stays in the same place inbetween two key frames. |
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New Anticipation Key FramesHere are two new drawings for the aniticipations of both pushes as they were a bit too extreme before and unrealsitic. Therefore I looked at the refereence videos again and altered them so the front foot lifts up but still remains on the ground and so the torso only twists slightly for the shoulder push.
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Attempt 3
This is my third attempt that I did after filming more refernece videos and experimenting more with moving the body whilst it's pushing.
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This one worked much better than the previous ones because the steps and leg positioning is more realistic and smoother, especially for the shoulder push. I've also tried moving the body slightly when trying to push the block to show effort and tension. To do this I mainly moved the elbows and the centre of gravity ever so slightly. This looked much better than when the body was completely still during the push. I also added sections after the pushes where the body suddenly relaxes becuase the character gives up on pushing anymore to help make sense of what is happening.
However, after rendering and playing it back, I thought that the head pulling backing during the first push was a bit extreme and some of the timing wasn't quite right. Therefore I added some slight changes, making the head lift up less and altering the timing when the character goes into the shoulder push, making it faster to build more momentum. |
Attempt 4This is my final attempt of my Maya push, which is basically a slightly edited version of the one above. I also added a small action at the end of the character bringing their hand to their head and shaking their head to add a slight bit of emotion and finalise the video. However, after showing it to some people there were a few adjustments which could be made.
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Final
This is my final video which is a slightly changed version of the previous one, amending some movements slightly. The main difference is before the character exerts the push on the block, there's a few more frames of preparation and anticipation, mainly in the shoulders and back. This makes it more obvious when the character is pushing rather than there being no disctinction between before and during the push.
Further Pushing Reference Videos
After completing the vide above, I was able to film someone pushing a box across a room. This is useful to analyse how the body moves during the pushing movement, especially how the legs move when still trying to maintain the same amount of force to continue pushing the object.
This video shows how the arms stay very straight and extended even when the legs are moving quite drastically. There is a slight bend that occurs at the elbow as the movement in the legs cause the back to move as a whole.
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This second video has an interesting rhythm and bounce in the body as it's pushing the box. When the back leg is fully extended, the body is very low to the ground. As the back foot bends to step forward, the body raises quite significantly creating a 'bouncing' effect in the body as it pushes the box.
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