Hopping Fox and Tail Animation

This challenge entailed completing a (fox-like) ball animation, hopping between platforms, with a tail flip. The animation principles involved are overlap, follow through, secondary action, arcs and squash and stretch.

Fox and Tail Animation Tutorial

Body Step-by-Step

Steps to make a hopping fox between the platforms.

1. Key frame start X- axis animated movement first. 0-8-16-17 frames. In graph, remove slow-in and out. Curves in graph to diagonal straight line.
2. Animate Y-axis, a natural height. Judge the shoe of the arc and height by the weight, mass- type of ball. Key Frame 0: start. 8: peak of bounce. 16: land.
3. Key frame the pause on the 17th frame (this is when the ball will be squashed after landing).
4. Make the tangents rounder.
5. Key frame animation: Angle the fox downward at start. At the peak, angle it a bit upwards at the nose. At the landing the nose will be more forward. At the paused frame, level the model out.
6. Add squash and stretch to the model. Remember to reorient the handle by double clicking the move icon, and orient it to object not world.
7. Copy and paste whole animation onto the further placed platforms from the graph editor onto the animation timeline, excluding the X-axis.
8. Copy X-axis from within the graph editor onto the animation timeline, paste connect.

Tail Animation Option 1: Follow-though tail (Normal and natural).

This type of tail animation is very natural, where the tail follows through after the body. If I have time I want to try and animate this style as well.

Tail Animation Option 2: Back Flick (Unnatural animation).

1. Start pose: ‘S’ shape.
2. Peak of curve pose: 0 the angles and then make an downwards ‘C’ shape.
3. Landing pose: Gentle upward ‘C’ shape, almost horizontal.
4. Add additional edits within the timeline. The first, at frame 2-ish downward ‘C’.
5. Secondly, at frame 12 make it likely up but mostly straight.
6. Then check the animation, smooth out and edit the curves in the graph editor.

Note to self:

When duplicating a character with its rig (e.g. if you want to make another version of the animation) you need to duplicate special – and add select/ tick the ‘Duplicate input graph’ box.

Altering pivot: D key.

Snap to grid: X key.

Snap to vertex: V key.

For the jumping up the stair platform animation, I think that it does not look correct. When I slow it down it feel as though it is not jumping with enough momentum. I believe this is due to the fact that the whole animation and rig was duplicated and then all I edited way the Y-axis to increase the jump arcs accordingly. The squash and stretch was not touched, so I think this needs to be adjusted for the new arcs as it does not align properly.

Play Blasts

Final Animation