characteranimator,aveespelita Details
Intro
Mastering Combat Animation: From Character Creation to Cinematic Action
Triple A Game Animator Ave Espelita will help you bring your combat animations to life.
You'll work through an entire character creation and animation pipeline together. At each stage, you'll learn the fundamental concepts to help you advance your own techniques and workflows.
You'll work through an entire character creation and animation pipeline together. At each stage, you'll learn the fundamental concepts to help you advance your own techniques and workflows.
For character creation, you'll start with Reference Analysis, gathering inspiration and fleshing out your character's look, feel, and personality. Then, you'll move on to 3D Modeling, Texturing, Rigging, and Skinning.
In the animation stage, you'll plan your shots and movements by analyzing fight choreography from various media. You'll then apply these insights to your own video references to establish the hero poses that form the foundation of your animation.
At the end of the course, you'll learn to spotlight your animation with dynamic camerawork, staging, lighting, and VFX. Finally, Ave shares his industry-tested career advice to help you navigate your own journey as an animator.
Whether you're a novice or a seasoned artist, you'll complete this course equipped with a sharper eye and better technique to bring your combat animations to the next level.
In the animation stage, you'll plan your shots and movements by analyzing fight choreography from various media. You'll then apply these insights to your own video references to establish the hero poses that form the foundation of your animation.
At the end of the course, you'll learn to spotlight your animation with dynamic camerawork, staging, lighting, and VFX. Finally, Ave shares his industry-tested career advice to help you navigate your own journey as an animator.
Whether you're a novice or a seasoned artist, you'll complete this course equipped with a sharper eye and better technique to bring your combat animations to the next level.
Class Perks
Special Gift from Ave Espelita
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Female Character Rig -
Male Character Rig -
VFX Assets & Templates -
Final Animation Files -
Industry-Tested Checklist
Class Material Details
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Rin Rig- A fully rigged, painterly female character ready for action! -
Cop Rig- A fully rigged, painterly male character ready to take a beating! -
VFX Kit- All VFX assets used in the final animation, plus customizable templates -
Ave's Project Files- Full access to the instructor’s final animation files for reference and study -
Ave's Animation Checklist- A battle-tested animation checklist refined over 10+ years of experience in the game industry
Recommendation
Who should take this class?
Animators looking to give their animations a professional polish and add another portfolio piece to their demo reel that showcases their skills in fight choreography, staging, and camerawork
Beginner to Intermediate Blender Users interested in learning the entire production workflow, from original character creation and basic rigging to animation, lighting, and rendering
Intermediate Blender Users looking to specialize in combat animation and dynamic camera movements while developing their skills in fight choreography, staging, and character performance
Expert Senior Animator Ave Espelita's Portfolio
* This Portfolio includes fanart and client works.
Why Take This Class?
A world-class animation is built on intentionality, and that requires originality. Go beyond simply buying and building on rigs to bring your unique and creative vision to life; instead, own the entire creative process. This course offers a comprehensive breakdown of how to sketch out a mere idea and flesh it out into your own dynamic, vibrant, and lifelike animated characters.
This pipeline will hone your fundamental production techniques, teach you to analyze real fights and apply them into your animations, and sharpen your artistic eye to highlight your style and flair. You'll walk away from this course with a portfolio-ready combat animation that you can showcase with confidence. Beyond the production pipeline, the course concludes with career advice from an industry veteran to help inspire and guide you on your own animation journey.
Get Ready for the Real-World
19 Class Exercises
Part 1. Character Concept Development
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Original Character Sheet -
Original Character Sketch -
Big Shapes Modelling
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Low Poly Modelling
Part 2. Character Modeling & Texturing
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Topology Tips & UV Preparation
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Painting Normals
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Details, Dirt and Grime
Part 3. Character Rigging & Preparation
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Laying Out the Skeleton
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Ready to Animate Rig
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Pose Testing
Part 4. Combat Animation
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Shooting Your Own Reference
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Setting Your First Keyframes
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In Betweens
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Basic Body Mechanics
Part 5. Cinematic Polish, VFX & Final Render
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Animating the Camera
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Polishing to the Camera
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Smear Frames
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VFX, Dust and POW POW
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Lighting & Rendering
Final Product Example(s)
Polished Combat Finisher
Create a dynamic painterly animation that gives professional polish to your portfolio and shows your skills in fight choreography, keyframe animation, staging, and camera work
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Your Very Own CharacterCreate and rig a ready-to-animate painterly character with box modeling and an easy normal map hack to create the popular painterly look
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VFX KitCreate your own VFX Kit that you can use for future projects, which is easily customizable to any project's needs and goals
Highlights
Class Highlights
Character Creation: Modeling, Texturing, and Rigging Your Own Animation-Ready Character
Understanding the character creation pipeline enables you to make your own characters and tweak existing characters to fit your specific animation needs. Mastering the pipeline means you are no longer blocked by buggy rigs or incomplete assets and characters. You can create your own! You'll develop the essential skills to create, debug, rework, and improve on rigs that you'll come across your animation journey.
Creating Dynamic Animations With Body Mechanics and the Camera
Well-executed dynamic animations are a dance between the character's body mechanics and the camera itself. Understanding how these two flow into each other is essential to making or breaking your animation. The body mechanics of the characters need to dictate the momentum, while the camera, acting as a spectator, follows the action. At the same time, the characters need to portray clear and readable poses for the camera, while the camera should find the most appealing angles to frame the actions of the characters. It is a back-and-forth dance between the camera and its subject.
Bridging the Gap Between Different Roles in the 3D Pipeline
Being acquainted with the various roles across the 3D animation pipeline and understanding how they interact is a huge asset to your animation career. Problems get solved faster when you know who is responsible for fixing what, as well as how one issue links to another discipline. Here, you'll learn each discipline's core focus and where their responsibilities overlap.
