BLENDER

 

 

ANIMATION TASK

 

A) TASK

You will create a simple unpainted animation that demonstrates a model doing an action.

 

Examples:

  • Create a dancing figure that is animated between different poses.

  • Make a figure slam a basketball into a basketball hoop.  You can create a ball and hoop for this animation.  And, if you want, you can have another model trying to block the dunker.

  • Make a figure do a flip or summersault or cartwheel.

  • Make a figure walk or run (walk/run cycle).

 

B) INSTRUCTIONS TO CREATE AN ANIMATION

 

Open the rigged model in Blender.

 

Switch to Pose mode.

 

At the top, click on the Animation layout (by pressing on Animation).

 

You can now see a time line at the bottom.

 

Create your starting pose.

 

To save this as your first keyframe:

 

  • Hit A to select all armature bones.
  • Hit I to insert a keyframe.
  • In the pop-up menu, choose Location, Rotation & Scale.

    Notice that your timeline now has a layer for each bone in your model.  The yellow circle means that you have a keyframe at that location in the timeline.

 

To add a new keyframe:

 

  • Click on the timeline where you want to new keyframe to move the playhead to that location.
  • Create the pose you want.
  • Press A to select all bones in the armature.
  • Press I to create the keyframe.
  • In the pop-up menu, choose Location, Rotation & Scale.

 

If your animation strangely stops before it should, you might have to adjust the overall length of it.

 

C) HOW TO MAKE A COPY OF AN OBJECT

 

In Object mode, select the object and its armature (if it has one).  You can press A to select all of you do not have other objects in your project.

Press SHIFT-D to duplicate.

 

D) HOW TO BRING IN AN OBJECT FROM ANOTHER BLEND FILE

 

At the top, pick File > Append.

 

Choose your blend file to navigate the components of that blend file.

 

Go inside the Objects folder and choose only the objects you want.  (No cameras or lamps.)

 

Note: You will not see any material on the imported objects unless you hold Z and change the type of view.

 

E) HOW TO MOVE THE CAMERA

 

When you render, your render will be based on the camera’s view.

 

If you do not have a camera, hitting SHIFT A will add one.

 

To change your view to camera view, hit 0 on the numpad.  (Need an alternative for computers without numpads.)

 

Now, to move the camera, hit SHIFT ~.  (The ~ key is to the left of the 1 at the top left of your keyboard.)

 

You now have control of the camera using A W S D and the mouse.  Right clicking will end the camera movement.

 

You are now ready to render.

F) HOW TO RENDER

 

First, you need to set your Rendering Settings.  This will be done on the right hand side in the Output Properties section.  (Note that you might want to look at the Render Properties section as well.)

 

In Output Properties, look at the bottom in the Output subsection.  There, specify the output folder.

 

For File Format, pick FFMpeg Video.  Just underneath, for Container, choose MPEG-4.

 

That’s it.  You are ready to render.  At the top of the screen, choose Render > Render Animation.  Note that this can be quite time consuming.