Oklahoma City, Ok. - Digital-Tutors, an Autodesk Authorized Publisher, has announced the availability of Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya: Pushing Objects and Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya: Pulling Objects -- both interactive guides to learning body mechanics and character animation techniques and the newest release in a growing series of interactive training products for emerging digital artists.
Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya: Pushing Objects consists of more than 5 hours of instruction, while Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya: Pulling Objects consists of 7 hours. Both products deliver project-based training concentrating specifically on the body mechanics involved with pushing and pulling.
"For new and experienced animators alike, learning body mechanics and character kinetics is among the most critical components to achieving life-like animation and character performance," says Delano Athias, lead animation curriculum developer. "The Body Mechanics Series from Digital-Tutors blends animation techniques and fundamental physics for a truly enjoyable experience to traditional learning."
Highlights from Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya: Pushing Objects include: body mechanics overview of pushing light and heavy objects, driving force through leg animation, creating character kinetics for believable weight, using action and counteraction to create tension, using line of action to define the movement, preplanning animation with example storyboards, forward locomotion, maintaining balance though foot placement, measuring appeal and pose clarity though silhouettes, timing and spacing of keyframes, blocking animation, adding follow-through, arcs, and overlapping, adding exaggeration for believable performances, animating the body in sections, using the Graph Editor to refine blocked animation, holding poses with weighted and free tangents weights, and utilizing character sets for multiple keyframe modification.
Highlights from Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya: Pulling Objects include: body mechanics overview of pulling objects, driving force through upper-body animation, compensating body motion for mass of objects, animating believable weight and tension, utilizing storyboards for pre-vis, backwards locomotion, adjusting performance through timing and spacing, roughing-in animation through blocking, adding follow-through, arcs, and overlapping, exaggerating poses for dynamic movement, adjusting keyframes in the Graph Editor, understanding weighted tangency and free tangent weights, and optimizing the workflow with character sets.