Animation

Rigging

• Various great Rigging and Weight Paint tips .

  • Explanation and use of Parental and Deform techniques.

• Building and improving an advanced IK .

  • Some tips and problem-solving involving stretching and snapping of bones when using IK. Only needed in specific cases.

• Walkthrough 'Tripod Monster' .

  • Uses Parental and Deform techniques.

  • Inverse Kinematics is not explained, but it is a very good intermediate video explaining the whole workflow.

• Walkthrough 'Biped Monster with Reverse-joint Legs' (knee backward) .

  • Very interesting video.

  • Shows several Inverse Kinematics setups without explanation.

  • Creating a dynamic and articulated tail using 'Curves + Array'.

• Walkthrough 'Biped Monster with Digitigrade Legs' (knee forward) .

  • Explains Inverse Kinematics.

• Walkthrough 'Stylized chibi skeleton' .

  • Explains very little, not recommended for beginners.

• Walkthrough 'Tentacles' .

  • Complex and unusual video. The presenter explains almost nothing; it is advanced.

• Mouths .

• Feet, advanced .

• Dress .

• Using Bendy Bones to avoid manual Weight Paint .

  • Elegant solution, but does not work outside Blender, unfortunately.

Shape Keys

• Shape Keys: Good explanation and example in Godot of procedural generation .

  • Tutorial is dated.

• Shape Keys: Good explanation, export tips for Godot, and simple movement example in Godot .

• Shape Keys: Documentation .

Animating Shape Keys

• 'Dope Sheet -> Shape Key Editor' can be used to create "animations" of Shape Keys.

• Adding keyframes is a bit tricky. The method that worked for me was to right-click the Shape Key Value and select 'Insert Keyframe'.

• Export:

  • Animations are exported to Godot normally.

  • The 'sliders' of Shape Key Values are also exported as a new mesh property; useful to change values via code or AniPlayer.

• Limitation:

  • Shape Key animations cannot be combined with "normal" animations, not even using the NLA Editor.

    • If you want to combine both, it can be done in Godot to merge easily.

Animating

• Animation: How to create multiple animations .

• Animation: Rush of various animation tips; intermediate and advanced .

• NLA: Brief explanation of the NLA Editor .

• Animation: Interpolation Modes .

• Animation: Create non-destructive movement animation for an object .

  • Translation is done using an Empty parented to the Armature.

  • This is likely the same reasoning for having a Root Bone, where the root bone's transform is changed without destructively affecting other bones.

• Animation: Polish and simplify an existing animation .

• Motion Paths: Use to visualize and polish an animation (1) .

• Motion Paths: Use to visualize and polish an animation (2) .

• Import: Importing animations and rigs from a .fbx or .bvh file {0:14 -> 6:12} .

  • Comments on Apply Scale issues and 'Automatic Bone Orientation' option to fix strange imports.

Philosophies and Walkthroughs

• Animation: Planning the animation list for Game Dev .

• Animation: Tips for "Wind-up", "Extension", and "Recoil" .

• Animation: Tips for Video Tracing .

  • Animation of the video is made inside Blender to keep the reference in place.

• References: UltimateFrameData .

  • Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

• Animation: Jump, moving only from torso down .

• Animation: Female walk .

• Animation: Walk for a Stylized Human .

• Animation: Directional walk while looking forward .

• Animation: Tips for character rotation .

  • In general, always use Euler if planning to make '~automatic' rotations with the Record button.

• Animation: Weapon draw movement .

Motion Capture

• Rokoko Vision .

• MoCap Libraries:

  • Mixamo: Site  (Free).

  • Deep Motion: Free Package  (Free).

  • Rokoko Studio: Download App  (Free / Paid).

  • TurboSquid: Site  (Free / Paid).

  • ActorCore: Site  (Free / Paid).

  • Mocap UTD: Site  (Free. No preview).

  • SFU MotionCaptureDatabase: Site  (Free. No preview).

  • MoCap Online (Paid).

  • MotekEntertainment (Paid).

  • TheMotionCaptureLibrary (Paid).

  • FreeGameArts: Site (Free. Amateur, old, no preview, no content).

• Rokoko: Using the website and suit .

• Rokoko Studio: Using the app .

• Rokoko Studio: Edit and export animation .

• Motion Capture: {Playlist} Using Xbox Kinect and Blender for animations .

Retargeting

• Curiosities:

  • Link Data:

    • Not actually 'retargeting'. Just a lazy solution, only works if Source and Target have exactly the same Armature.

    • It makes more sense to give the Target the Source animation instead of linking movement. This can be done safely if names and Armature are identical, using the NLA Editor or Action Editor.

• Retargeting: Transfer Weight Paint from Source Armature to Target Armature {1:40 -> 2:24} .