DavePreciado.com
Feb 19
by Dave in CG, Work 0 comments tags: animation, maya, mayahikretargeting, mocap, mocaptutorial, motioncapture, motionediting, performancecapture, previsualization, previz, VFX, vfxtutorial, videogameproduction, virtualproduction

New Mocap Tutorial! Maya HIK Retargeting

Hey guys, I’ve been asked over the years how to work with Mocap data in Maya and if I could share some of my workflows. I’ve done the 1st of a few I have in mind to go over some basic workflows starting with Maya’s native HIK system, and how to retarget motion capture data to a custom pre-existing animation rig. I cover basic concepts, what retargeting is fundamentally doing, retargeting from fbx mocap skeleton to custom rig, 1st of 3 methods I use and is a good segway into more complex plugins, briefly cover fbx workflow, and some basic Motion Editing concepts. I hope this helps – enjoy! Maya HIK Retargeting Tutorial #mocap #mocaptutorial #mayahikretargeting #maya #motioncapture #performancecapture #motionediting #animation #vfx #vfxtutorial #videogameproduction #virtualproduction #previz #previsualization
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Jul 06
by Dave in CG, Film Maker 0 comments tags: 3d, animation, BFG, cg, Disney, film, mocap, motion capture, Motion Edit, Steven Spielberg, technical animation, TheBFG, VFX, Weta Digital

The BFG

It’s been a while since my last post due to an immense amount of work that has fallen into my lap these past few months, including an epic battle between me and the dark corners of the internet. After finishing up the the Gallipoli project for Peter Jackson, ANZ, and the New Zealand Government (http://www.wellingtonnz.com/discover/things-to-do/events/the-great-war-exhibition/) I went back to work for Weta Digital on Steven Spielberg’s feature film:  The Big Friendly Giant (The BFG by Roald Dahl). I’ve worked on many great projects in my career, but The BFG was the absolute most fun film I’ve ever done.  I had a lot of artistic freedom on this show, and much of my work on body animation was left untouched and sent straight to Final Motion.  You’ll find much of my work were close ups on BFG’s hands – a fully animated shot of BFG placing labels inside a chest – animated, not simmed – by me 😉 and perhaps a tight shot of BFG closing/locking a dream in a jar.  Hands are tough, but seemed to be my speciality on this show. There are few films the come along every generation that define a persons childhood – I think The BFG […]
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Nov 13
by Dave in CG 0 comments tags: animation, cg, Compositing, Massey, maya, mocap, motion builder, motion capture, music, music video, new zealand, nuke, NZ, Pacific Heights, VFX, virtual production

Pacific Heights – Airborne

Here it is!  I’ve been working on this in my spare time since the beginning of May 2015.  Working on a feature film while doing a music video…oy!  We finished a week ago and it premiered today, Friday November 13th! I’ll post a more thorough update soon – stay tuned!  
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Jul 07
by Dave in CG 0 comments tags: 3d, animation, cg, Disney, keyframe, practice, reference, Tangled

Mike vs the Zombies – Tangled reference animation test

Been ages since I’ve done any keyframe animation. Brushing out the cob webs – using a scene from Tangled as reference for some animation practice. Start to finish this was about a 1 1/2 weeks of full time work broken up over 2 months while I was at my day job. Used the Mike free rig on CreativeCrash and the free Maya World Zombination Character Rig by Proletariat Inc.. Looking at reference is something animators have been doing since the 9 Old Men days – Disney’s Snow White is a perfect example.  What I do in the performance capture world is no different.  We look at reference footage of what the actor did, and make our timing and pose adjustments accordingly.   Keeping close eye on arcs, pops, etc – no different than adjusting your base layer animation. For this keyframe example, I took the Tangled reference and got my key poses down first.  Adjusted keys in the graph editor for timing, then did all the in between fixes so I got cleaner arcs.  This isn’t perfect, but for not doing any pure keyframe in several years it’s not too bad.
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