CHARACTER CREATION AND ANIMATION

The goal

In my second year at university, I briefly worked for the university’s research team. They are making a game based around the mechanics of a cowgirl using an elastic band to traverse the world, fight enemies and save her herd of animals.

I was responsible for the creation of the player character, from concept art to modelling, rigging and animating the character.

What did I do?

Concepting

The research team had previously created some concept art of a male character, and asked me to recreate the design on a female character instead.

Modelling

– I used 3Ds Max to create my low poly model.
– I focussed on topology to allow for expressive animation, including tris in the areas that fold (elbows and knees) and extra topology on the face, especially around the mouth.
– The poly count is ~2k.

Texturing

– I created a high poly version of my character using ZBrush.
– I split the various elements into polygroups, which allowed me to vertex paint them to create ID maps for texturing.
– I used Adobe Substance Painter to create smart materials for each part of the character.

Animation

– I used 3Ds Max’s CAT rigs to set up my character, then animated various states.
– I animated every state separately to make them easier to implement.

The result

This was my first time creating and animating a character from start to finish, and I absolutely loved the process.

What did I learn?

I learned:
– How to create good character topology for animation.
– How to set up and customise a CAT rig.
– How to animate a character for gameplay.