1. Reference Videos and 3DS Max Rig Animation
3D Animation
Reference Videos and 3DS Max Rig Animation

2. Task Brief:
Before I begin the animation of my character’s moves in 3DS Max, I needed to better understand how they would be performed and the different poses his body would be in. To do so, I recorded a series of reference videos to use as a template for my 3D Animation.

3. Recording the Moves:
Having previously created the story boards for my character’s moves, I took those concepts into the studio and began performing the moves. I had to make some changes due to the inability for me to include a functioning tail into my moves. This meant completely changing the kick and the damage reaction move sequence.

4. Punch Frames:

5. Kick Frames:

6. Damage Reaction Frames:

7. Special Frames:

8. Using these frames as reference:
Now that I had performed this moves, I can use these individual frames to help me re-create the positions that my character needs to be in, starting with the punch.

9. Punch Animation

10. Kick Animation

11. Damage Reaction:

12. Special Animation

13. Stretch Task: Celebration Animation
For this animation, I don’t have reference videos because I didn’t originally plan to include this movement. I wanted to create the look of a monkey banging it’s chest as his celebration animation.

14. Reflection:
Overall, I’m happy with the result of the animations and I feel they closely resemble the movements I performed myself in the studio. I did have to add some frames to the damage reaction animation because I felt that it wasn’t a smooth transition, but this was an easy fix and I think it still clearly shows a reaction to damage.
I feel more confident in my ability to 3D animate and am excited to work on these skills more. I can now see myself considering this path as an option for my final project should I continue to develop my ability in this field.