Portfolio Piece #4: Quadruped Animation

Quadruped Animation:

For my Quadruped Animation I made an animation of a dog chasing a ball and then flipping over trying to grab it. This was based off of a Youtube video I watched featuring dozens of hilarious dogs failing. I took one clip from it and referenced my animation based on that 3 second clip. 

To make this animation I first got my references and planning in order. I used my reference clip to make hand drawn key frame thumbnails. I then set up my Maya scene by making a plane which was the ground and a ball which was the tennis ball the dog goes after. I got textures and applied it to the scene objects to make it a little more visually pleasing. The next step was to get a puppy rig and play around and test to make sure it was in proper working order. After making sure nothing was broken with the rig I put it in the scene and I was ready to start animating.
As with any animation  first started by making the keyframes of the scene and getting the posing correct. I then went on to my breakdowns to further a strong animation base.  After making sure all the important poses and timing was correct I went on to check the arcs and how every different part of the rig was moving. Once this was done it was time to polish the animation and really give it a sense of life. This process of polishing and finishing up the animation is much different than blocking it in and starting it. You have to be very critical of your work and make sure that this is what you want.