Resting Tiger, an animation demo created in Autodesk Maya
The Design Brief
In the course IMS 319 which I took during my Junior Year at Miami University, my class was tasked with creating a 10-20 second animation demo utilizing Autodesk Maya. The primary goal of this project was to learn fundamental animation principles, and apply them to a concept of our choosing. This would ultimately be my first attempt at 3D animation.
The Concept
When coming up with an idea for this animation, I decided that I wanted to animate something with very slow, deliberate movements with higher attention to detail. The image of a big cat lazily resting kept coming to me, and so I decided to storyboard a short sequence of just that. In my animation, a tiger would be depicted lying on the forest floor, looking around his environment, and yawning. As the tiger would not move from his resting place, the challenge would come in animating a lot of subtle details, such as blinking, ear and tail flicks, and the secondary movements of the tongue and lips in order to create a fluid, lifelike animation.
The Research
Animating a living animal, and a mammal at that, would be a hefty undertaking. Cats in particular seem to have constantly-moving parts, with their ears, tails, and eyes all moving in corresponding orders.
In order to best depict this for my animation, I spent a large amount of time researching and observing videos of tigers and other big cats to see how all of these disparate parts move. For example, when tigers yawn, it’s not just a simple opening and closing of the jaws, but rather the tongue peeks out of pursed lips in a slight arch, before the animal throws its head back and bares its fangs fully for one big yawn. Verisimilitude and accuracy was very important to me in this animation, especially since the subject would be static.
Furthermore, I would need a 3D model of the subject that was properly rigged in order to give me control of all of the necessary moving parts. The model for the tiger was obtained from CG Spectrum, who generously provide a range of rigged character models for use in Maya.
The Process
Creating this animation was an intensive process, as it demanded constant iteration and polishing. Due to the subject matter, a great deal of refinement was necessary in order to reduce the stiffness of the tiger’s movements and make them more lifelike. This meant that many of the animations had to be taken “off-axis” so to speak. When the tiger is idle, for example, there should be a subtle sway to imply breathing, as well as more secondary animations such as the paws or shoulders adjusting with other bodily motions.
The goal was to create an animation which looked as organic as possible, reducing stiffness and honoring secondary anatomical movements that big cats display in real life. Below is a test animation, showcasing how rigid the initial renditions were before more secondary movements were added.
Once the animation was finished, next came the sound design. Pulling from multiple sound libraries online, I created a sound library that complimented the scene, such as birdsong for the background as well as all of the vocalizations created by the tiger. Tigers are known for their powerful roar, but as this was a low-energy and relaxed scene, I instead incorporated much more mellow sounds such as groans, purrs, and growls to better communicate a sleepy, relaxed animal.
The Reflection
Being my first ever dive into 3D animation, alongside familiarizing myself with a notoriously difficult software, I couldn’t help but be pleased with the final result. This demo showcases a great blend of understanding anatomy, movement, and sounds in order to create an atmospheric and immersive animation that feels tangible.
That’s not to say that this demo is perfect. The shoulder area of the tiger can be a bit stiff, and with more time, I would have liked to add even more secondary motions in order to further reduce the stiffness and make the animation more true to life. However, ultimately I am proud of the work done here, and feel that it is a great launchpad for future animated endeavors.