Introduction
This week, I created my previs animation of my animated artefact and imported my reference videos into my Maya file.
Creating my Previs Animation
My animation will take place indoors, so before working on my previs animation, I created simple props (bed, table, pictures) to setup the environment.
Previs Animation
In order to start planning the timing of the movements, I created a previs animation.
I used some basic volumes to represent both: the character (in red) and the creatures (in green).
Importing Reference Videos
Creating New Expressions
Importing the reference videos was a huge challenge as they all started by default in frame 1 even though I moved them in the graph editor.
In order to fix this issue, I had to manually change the expression of each image plane and write on which frame I wanted the sequence to start playing.
Retiming Reference Videos
Retiming Reference Videos
After having both my reference videos and previs animation, I combined them into my scene.
However, I needed to retime the reference videos according to the previs animation.
In this sense, my reference videos will guide me on how the character is moving and the previs animation will help me understand the timing of each movement.
Further Thoughts
Now that I have my previs shots and reference videos, I can start blocking my animation. Furthermore, in the following weeks I will replace the placeholder props with smoother 3D models.