Start this during class time and submit before class on Wednesday in an H7 folder in your Dropbox submission folder. One great tool for modern animators is the use of video reference to help figure out timing and movement without going to the use of motion-capture hardware, yet.  Here is a link to the sample files that we will use with this exercise (note that you’ll need to either be on campus or logged-in via the UNCW VPN — see directions on the campus website to be able to download these): Lazy Vault. The video file was broken-down into a still frame sequence which will be loaded into Maya as an image-plane attached to our shot camera.  I used Quicktime Pro to do this, but most video editors can export to an image sequence as well.  Nuke also primarily uses image sequences, so it can be useful for this as well, particularly with the free non-commercial version.  You’ll want to make sure to shoot at (preferably) the same frame what to which you plan to animate and export your image sequence based on that rate. You can use the files above, or shoot your own action that you’d like to animate.  Use the Goon, Groggy, or another rig of your choice (if you’ve explored it enough to feel comfortable using it). Complete the following:

• Create a new camera and name it “shotCamera”.
• Under the attribute editor, with shotCamera selected, find the environment tab and load a new image sequence.
• Point the file browser to the first image in the image sequence of choice, and check the box below the image plane to indicate that it is animated.  (The frame numbers on the image sequence need to specifically match name.#.jpg as in the LazyVault video to work properly).
• If you’ve done the above properly, the video-based image plane should change as you scrub frames in the Maya timeline.
• You’ll want to keep your shotCamera fixed to match the camera in the video reference.  A very helpful setup is to lock the channels for movement in the channel box on the shot camera and pull up a two-panel layout under your panel view.  In the panel on the left, look through your shotCamera.  In the panel on your right, look through ‘perp’ and use it to move around and work.
• Here’s where technique enters the picture.  One could, of course, keyframe each individual frame and have a close match, but we want to avoid that level of work.  We’ll approach things with our workflow we’ve discussed all semester.
• First, make sure that your shotCamera setup is close to what your video reference camera looks like.  In this case, the real video camera did move a bit, but we could mostly imagine it stationary — set it up a similar distance (and in this case, you might want to make a quick prop wall and floor to match).
• Think of the story and major actions to decide extremes then breakdowns per our usual workflow.  From there, treat the video as the thumbnails with timing diagrams that I’ve been encouraging you to make.
• Keyframe the major movement and match the timing, possibly using stepped tangents.  Once the location is good and timed well, look at the center of gravity, working your way down the hierarchy to legs, torso, arms, head, etc.  Think about secondary movements and follow-through as you do this.
• Once you hit the major poses, you could also go for a finer-grain keyframe approach if you like.  Still rather than key framing every frame, look to set keys every few frames instead (perhaps every 5 to 10 depending on the speed of each part of the action).
• The video should serve as a guide for posing, quick changes in timing, and other elements — go through your mental checklist on the principles of animation while doing this.
• Complete your animation of the Lazy Vault (or your chosen action about the same length), and submit your video and Maya project folder per usual instructions.
• We’ll work on lip-sync and facial animation next class.  If you find video-reference useful, it could be very helpful on your project performance and/or walk-cycle animations.