Test animation with Stickman

The aim of this project is to create a test animation with a simple character (a stick man) in order to learn Blender and test some of its many, many features...

1- Opening

Start with stickman (http://www.blendswap.com/3D-models/characters/stickman/) as it is, without any texturing. The screen is black and a pair of feed pan into view. Slowly pan up and away so as to reveal the whole character, standing there, arms outstretched, as in the default position.

Time: 6s.
Frames: 0~150.

2- Turntable

Do a quick turntable of stickman.

Linking to stickman: file >> link >> stickman_model.blend >> /Object/stickman_model >> link >> select armature >> CTRL + ALT + P to make proxy.

Time: 5s.
Frames: 150~275.

3- background and shadow

Added some background (world) texture.
Added a plane that receives shadows only.

Time: 5s.
Frames: 275~400.

4- waking up

The character is starting to slowly wake up. He's shaking his head, moving his arms, etc.
Added some random objects around to give a sense of perspective.
Deleted the character animation. It is now static.
Instead, added a path which the camera will follow above and around the character.

Select the camera >> Object constraints >> Add Constraint >> Follow path >> select the path in the Follow path field. Clear all the previous camera key frames. Position the camera at the start of the path.

Select the curve >> Object data >> Path animation >> insert key frames in "evaluation time".

To make the camera always point at the character, we added an empty within the character's head. Then added a "Track to" constraint to the camera, selecting the empty as the target, To = -Z and Up = Y.

Time: ?s.
Frames: 400~?.

Issues related to this page:

ProjectSummaryStatusPriorityCategoryLast updatedAssigned to
BlenderAnimate stickmanactivenormaltask29 weeks 4 days