All language subtitles for 04-08-02-Mech space switching - secoundary

- [Instructor] In this video,

we will continue on using space switching

to finish the animation of our character.

I will slightly speed up the video

since it's going to be
very repetitive based

on what we have done just before.

We will start with the antenna.

They can only rotate on one axis

and they can't move.

So we will directly use
a tracking constraint.

First, we need to align our empty,

so we add a copy transform.

We source one of the antenna,

apply the visual transform,

get rid of the constraint
and then offset the empty

on the y-axis.

Then add to it a child of constraint,

source the rig and source
one of the antenna,

click the set inverse
and bake the animation.

From there, select the first antenna,

add a locked track
constraint, source the empty.

The track axis is positive y

and we want to rotate around the x-axis.

From there, we can get rid of
all the undesired channels.

Make the Z location curve cycling

and offset it by a couple of frames.

Then you can play on the
influence of the constraint

if you want to reduce the
amplitude of the motion.

Remember that offsetting the curve

will change the timing

and changing the influence
of the constraint

will change the spacing or
the amplitude of the motion.

From there, we can bake
the action onto the bone,

get rid of the useless transform channels

and since both antennas
were originally aligned,

we can directly constraint the big antenna

with the empty.

Just go back into pose
mode on to the armature,

select the antenna, go
into the bone constraint,

add a locked track constraint,

source the empty, track with y,

rotate along x and check the animation.

Since this antenna is slightly bigger,

it will have a bit more motion

and I've also decided to
offset the empty curve

by one additional frame.

This way, the big antenna will
be slightly delayed compared

to the motion of the small antenna.

And we will have a more
interesting motion.

Then I've baked the action

and cleaned my curve.

Now that the antennas are done,

I will unhide all the controllers,

select my visibility property bone

and display the arms

and we will work on both arms.

The idea is to input a
slight rotation delay

on the shoulders of the robot.

To do so, we will again use aim space

and a locked track constraint.

I will first align my empty

by adding to it a copy
transform constraint.

To work a little faster,

I've just copied the name
of the arm controller.

This way, when I'm adding
the copy transform constraint

to the empty, I can source the rig

and then just paste the
name in the bone field.

As the empty is now aligned
with the arm controller,

I will apply the visual transform,

then get rid of its constraint

and offset it on the x-axis on the side.

Then as usual, I will add
a child of constraint,

source the armature, then the arm.r,

click the set inverse
to reset the position

and bake the action.

I will get rid of the useless curve

and then for the remaining one,

I will make them cycle,

pressing Shift + E, click make cyclic.

Then we will get back to our controller,

go to the bone constraint

and we need to add a locked
track constraint pointing

toward the negative x-axis and
rotating around the y-axis.

So in the constraint, I
will source the empty,

choose the track axis minus X

and choose the locked axis y-axis.

Now I believe that you
do know the process.

Whenever I move the empty,
the arm will follow.

So I can offset the
animation curve of the empty

and then bake back the motion.

Don't hesitate to play a bit

with the animation curve of the empty.

If you scale it on the y-axis
using the bounding box,

you will increase the
amplitude of the motion.

Don't hesitate to experiment again.

If you fail, you just
need to rebake the motion.

So as I'm happy with the result,

I will bake the action onto
the arm right controller,

get rid of the transform channels

that are useless and I
will repeat the process

on the left arm

and also the connection
between the rocket launcher

and the left arm.

So I will leave you there
with a little time lapse

and we'll go ahead at 7:54.

(tranquil music)

Now we can work on the mini gun.

It has already a track mechanism.

So we can go ahead with
a simple copy location

of the empty, source the mini gun target

and bake the motion.

As the action is baked on the empty,

I will select the mini gun controller,

add a copy location constraint

and source the empty.

As we did for the head,

I'd like to remove a bit
of the bounce we have

on the Z location axis

for the mini gun

because it looked like
it's not very controlled

by the robot.

So having a bit of
follow-through motion is okay

but too much make it looks
like it's very clanky

and not a very reliable weapon.

So what I'm doing, I'm first
smoothing the Z location curve

of the empty.

Getting rid of the bumps.

And since we have two up and
down motion over the 72 frame,

I can work on half of this curve

and then remove the second half.

The cyclic modifier will take care

of repeating the curve seamlessly.

So what you need to understand

is the time you will
save using this method

for this kind of motion.

We will use space switching
later in the course

to smooth some animation

but for this kind of robotic motion,

that's so handy.

I will repeat the process
on the X location curve

to kind of remove a bit of the
noise we have in the motion.

So this time, I will have
to work on the whole curve

because the left to left motion uses

the 72 frame of the whole
cycle to be performed.

The idea is just to get rid

of the few glitches we have on the curve.

What is so powerful about aim space

and this technique

is that even if the root of the mini gun,

the point where it is
attached is very shaky

because we add a lot of
noise and secondary motion,

if we have a smooth motion of the target,

then the tip of the gun will
have a very smooth motion

and so you can create very
complex animation with ease

while that will be almost impossible

to counter animate in a classic fashion.

For the rocket launcher cap motion,

I will simply use a
locked track constraint.

It's gonna be the usual process,

so I will repeat it for you.

First, we need to add a
copy transform to the empty,

apply the visual transform,

get rid of the constraint,

offset it, in this case, on the y-axis,

add a child of constraint.

As a target, choose the armature

and the cap controller, set inverse

and then bake the action.

Get rid of the useless curve.

Again, you don't need to do it.

I prefer to do it for
demonstration purpose.

Then onto the controller,

add a locked track constraint.

From there, I get back onto the empty

and make the Z curve cycling.

Offset it in time and see happened.

The only little difference here

is that our controller
has already a constraint

that belong to the rig.

So this time when I will bake the action,

I will uncheck the clear constraint box.

It will bake the action as usual

but now I can manually get rid

of the locked track constraint

without losing the original constraint

that has been put there
by your lovely rigger.

The last step is to work
on our artillery piece,

so using the visibility bone,

I will enable the
visibility of the artillery.

It can move up and down and rotate a bit.

So what we will do is
that we will first use

our copy location constraint

to create the up and down
follow-through motion

and then a tracking constraint
to get the rotation.

With my empty selected,

I've added a copy location constraint.

I've sourced the armature,

then sourced the
artillery pivot controller

and baked the action.

We can then reverse the constraint,

meaning that I will select the controller,

add a copy location constraint

and source the empty.

Now I feel like I've repeated this enough

but I will go ahead either way.

I will slightly offset
the Z location curve

just after I've made it cycling.

I like the result,

so I will bake this action
onto the controller.

So I need to select my armature,

select the controller, click bake action

and this time, I can get
rid of the constraint

by checking the clear constraint option.

Let's now work in aim space.

So I will select back the empty,

add to it a copy transform constraint

to align it with the controller
of the artillery piece.

Then as usual, I will
apply the visual transform,

get rid of the constraint

and offset it on the y-axis.

Then we need to add a child of constraint,

source the armature, source
the artillery pivot controller,

click the set inverse to rest the position

and bake the action.

Then I need to use a
locked track constraint

onto the artillery

since it can only rotate around its x-axis

and the forward axis will be -y

and the rotation axis will be x.

From there, I will
repeat the process I did

on the mini gun.

I want to show that this piece
of artillery is very heavy.

So I don't want too much glitches

and too much bounces onto its animation.

Since we are using the up and down motion,

we can work on half of the curve

and then what I will do
is that I will remove

as much keys as needed to smooth the curve

and get a very smooth motion of the tip

of the artillery cannon.

Again and again don't
hesitate to remove keys.

Don't hesitate to fail

because you can just rebake the action

and start over again.

That's very fast.

It's a very iterative process

until you get to the results you want

and that's a very easy process.

So in a way, that's very creative.

What is super interesting about this piece

is again the root or the pace

of the artillery is shaking a lot

while the tip of the artillery

will be moving in a smoother fashion.

This bring a lot of
texture to your animation.

And while it can be very subtle,

all those little variation

in the motion of your character

will make this robot believable.

And while it's a piece of machinery,

it's also a way to put
life into this character.

What makes it alive

is that this robot is
communicating something.

Weight, strength, power,

that's some kind of dreadful
character we have here.

So as we are almost done
with this animation,

take the time to watch it entirely.

I feel like the head
motion is a bit too strong.

So what I can do now is simply
take the head controller

and reduce the amplitude
of the curve I want.

In this case, I feel like
the up and down motion

is a bit too strong.

So I will head up to the Z location curve

and I can see that my 2D cursor

is currently aligned with the value zero,

which means no motion.

So I can switch to the 2D cursor pivot

and scale the curve down on the y-axis

and it will reduce the amplitude

of the up and down motion of the head.

And since we've baked all the motion

of all the other parts
in their local space

and they are kind of
attached one to the other,

whenever we modify one piece in this way,

the other follow.

So if I want, I can select
the cap of the rocket launcher

and increase the amplitude of the rotation

and get more motion.

I can also offset the whole curve

on the y-axis and change the
whole orientation of the cap.

And here we are, in a very short time,

we were able to animate
this full character

with a lot of variety, texture
and interesting motions.