Animation - Part A - Moving SteamBot

First up, how did I do SteamBot's movements? The movement of SteamBot was a little bit more intricate than I first predicted it to be. The original plan was to simply move the wheels, and then push the chassis along. However, this created a very 'static' effect of movement. It was very linear, with no sense of realism to it. It was flat and particularly underwhelming to say the least... not exactly what I wanted to portray! I then remembered back to when I created DiscoverBot in Year 2, and how the little details and movements added the largest sense of realism to the animation. Fortunately, the same applied here. The key element to the animation was the lurching / rocking of SteamBot. This worked particularly well when SteamBot would stop and start moving. It gave the effect of momentum, which helped to add a stronger sense of realism. In addition, the rocking motion helped to give SteamBot a more 'rugged' edge, as opposed to being a perfectly stabilised model.

Of course, the wheels and the chassis weren't the only components of SteamBot. There were a ton of cogs on the right hand side, and the Steam-Pump on the left. There were also a ton of dials and gauges, not to mention the all-important arm! The arm in pariticular needed to have a personality (An odd thing to say). The fact that SteamBot's eyes and top-section were static meant that it was difficult to put across any emotion from them. The personality of SteamBot had to come directly from its movements and the arm. As a result, the arm would swing as if SteamBot was taking a casual stroll, and wave about opening and closing when in a state of panic. It's very subtle and, to be honest, probably not noticable, but it adds a strong sense of personality and character.

Now, there was a lot to move! It was made easier by being built up in stages, where each new element would be incorporated into the entire film, before the next one was made. The 2 bare essentials were the arm and the chassis movement. Everything else is eye candy. So I started with the basic movement (Not even rocking) and letting the arm move and grab the essential things. From here, I added more rocking and lurching and arm flailing. After this, I was able to rotate the wheels to mirror the movements, and work in the cog and pendulum movements too.

The key thing here is that realism comes from subtle motions. The small, intricate movements are what separates a stale animation from a stronger one. If anyone finds that their animation seems to be very lackluster and lacks that "edge"... try adding a few more smaller movements to other areas. I mean, a good example is a classic 'Walk Cycle'. Almost the entire body moves/bobs/rotates to create this. Don't be afraid to exaggerrate movements either.