Before the beginning
This semester I want to try some animation that I haven’t done before and I’m not good at. I chose to make an animal animation. The initial idea is to make three animations, animals flying in the sky, animals running on the ground, and animals swimming in the water. But after the first tutorial, I realized that I should focus on carefully making an action animation. A high-completion animation is better than three low-completion animations.
Finally, I decided to make an animation of the wolf walking
The movement law of quadruped summarized after online investigation and research：
Quadrupeds can be divided into claws and ungulates.
Claws, generally carnivores. There are long animal hair on the body, sharp claws on the toes, and elastic muscles on the soles of the feet. He has a violent temperament. The body has flexible muscles and soft fur on the surface. It is good at running and jumping, flexible in movement, and changeable in posture. For example Lion, tigers, leopards, wolves, foxes, dogs, cats, etc.
Ungulates are generally herbivores. There are hard foot shells (hoofs) on the feet, and some of them have a pair of weapons for self-defense – horns. He is gentle and easy to tame. The body muscles are strong, the movements are vigorous and straight, and the body shape changes little. He who can run is good at running. For example horses, cattle, sheep, deer, antelope, etc.
The basic movement law of quadrupeds
Walking — most of the mammals belong to four-legged “toe walking” or “hoof walking” animals
Warm your toes and walk. Its basic movement law can be divided into the following parts
(1) The four legs are divided and closed, and the left and right sides alternate to form a complete step
(2) When the forefoot is raised, the wrist joint bends backward; When the hindfoot is raised, the ankle joint bends forward. (3) when walking, due to the bending and extension of the leg joints, the body has slight ups and downs.
(4) When walking, in order to coordinate the movement of legs and maintain the balance of the center of the body, the head will move up and down slightly. Generally, when stepping out of the front foot and about to land, the head will start to move downward,
(5) Because of the soft and soft fur, the outline of joint movement of claws is not obvious
The joint movement of hoofed animals is more obvious, the outline is clear, and it appears hard and straight.
- （6）In the process of animal walking, we should pay attention to the high and low radians of toes when they fall to the ground and leave the ground.
Body characteristics: when the front leg is raised, the wrist joint is bent backward, when the rear leg is raised, the ankle joint is bent forward, and the four legs are divided into two parts to form a complete step. When walking, the body changes height due to the movement of the legs. Usually, when the forelegs step on the ground, the head will move downward to maintain the balance of the body. The claw animals such as lion, tiger, and leopard are soft because of their weak joint movement, while the hoofed animals such as horses, sheep, and deer are stiff because of their obvious joint movement.
Key frame decomposition of walking of claw quadrupes
The action difference between wolf and dog
When I watched and looked for the guidance video, I found that most people choose dogs first when making quadrupeds, which made me suddenly think about the difference between wolves and dogs in action. Finally, I found that the biggest difference between the two similar animals in movement is the movement of the tail. The tail of the wolf is low most of the time, but the tail of the dog is very active. Secondly, when walking, the head of the dog is often higher than that of the wolf.