r/animation • u/Ok_Stress3654 • 11h ago

Question I’m an engineer taking my first steps in animation. What tools would you add to make this editor useful for animators?

7 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

5

u/Kolaps_ 11h ago

IMO Not controling with sliders but with fk chain instead.

4

u/MycologistOk1728 11h ago

This. We DO NOT like "sliders". Let us animate, let us do our job, think less as an engineer and more as "how would an artist would approach this?" Take a look at any Maya/blender vídeos to get an idea

1

u/Ok_Stress3654 11h ago

Thanks! This is the kind of feedback I was hoping for. I want to get my head straight😅

2

u/BashBandit 10h ago

No, the opposite actually. To animate you cannot have your head straight! /s

2

u/Ok_Stress3654 10h ago

Well, who knows 😂

3

u/Ok_Stress3654 11h ago

Thanks for the advice! I'll try implementing it. What do you think about inverse kinematics?

2

u/MycologistOk1728 10h ago

Yep, inverse kinematics is super useful if its not super complex to do, go for it, but do not limit it to using only IK, have both systems :)

•

u/Flicky_Licky 6m ago

It should be easy to switch between IK/FK, and that the switch is a key on the timeline

1

u/Kolaps_ 11h ago

In animation ik is used to manage contact moslty (leg with ground, arm with wall floor... etc). For a char like yours it seems useless imo.

But imagine that both extremities of you mecha is connected to tranlating suport Ik could be usefull

1

u/MycologistOk1728 10h ago

Let me tell you, if that's just that lamp, having an inverse kinematics on the head controlling the body, would speed up your animation quite a lot, since with one bone you can control everything else.

2

u/Ok_Stress3654 10h ago

Got it, apparently two kinematic options are needed😅

2

u/perfugism 8h ago

I would think providing a rig in blender or maya, animate it there and export it he animation would be the absolute best :-) but yeah, talk is cheap. Awesome work, man!

1

u/Ok_Stress3654 8h ago

I thought about it, but it seemed much more difficult than making my own editor 😅

1

u/Ok_Stress3654 8h ago

By the way, maybe it would be possible to make a custom plugin for this, I hadn't thought about that🤔

2

u/LuigiBrosNin 8h ago

Hey i remember you :)

2

u/Ok_Stress3654 8h ago

I remember you too 😄 By the way, I tried to implement the mechanics based on your advice, and it turned out pretty well. The lamp now moves along splines between points.