Finally Got the Movement Feeling Right! (Patreon)

Hello, everyone!

The character control work I have been doing for a while now has finally reached a point where I am satisfied with it.

A little while back, I had already built a version with quite a bit of movement in it, but something about the motion still felt off, so I ended up rebuilding the whole thing from scratch.

With the previous control setup, wide shots like long shots looked soft and natural overall, but when the camera got closer, like in a bust shot, the movement looked stiff, and that bothered me.

My goal with the movement is to get rid of that stiff, "3D" feeling that shows up so often. So I reworked the character control, aiming to fix that stiffness while also allowing for more delicate, detailed expression.

What I Adjusted

The base design is roughly the same, but I adjusted things like the shift in center of gravity and the way the body bends when it moves, and added fine, connected motion throughout the shoulders and the whole body.

Instead of just making the movement softer, I also wanted it to keep up with quick motions. The smoother you make a movement, the more the quick, subtle motions tend to disappear. But I wanted to include small, fine movements, the kind you would see when a character moves in tiny increments to the rhythm of music, so I added detailed motion to areas like the chest and shoulders to make that happen.

I added this kind of subtle jiggling motion not just to the shoulders and chest, but to the hips and spine as well. It ended up giving a nice, jelly like softness to the movement.

I also designed it with versatility in mind. I made sure the character can move naturally even after changing its pose.

When you change a pose, the orientation of the bones changes too, which means the direction of rotation changes as well, and that turned out to be trickier than I expected.

I have also been testing it with different characters.

The core design for how the character moves is more or less done, so from here it is mainly a matter of testing it with different characters and different poses to call the movement side of things finished.

What I Want to Do Next

Next, I am thinking about working on character swapping that includes facial elements, facial expression changes, and UI controls. I feel like the overall picture is finally starting to come together.

I also want to try full body tracking, so I would like to work on that in parallel with everything else.

I am hoping to get things into a solid shape by the end of the year!