Motion Building

1 Jun (Monday) OJT - Motion Builder (Trainer: Takabe-san)
As planned, we proceeded to learning how to create and edit motion data using Motion Builder, under our new trainer Takabe-san. We were given some sample character data for a PSP game in development and asked to familiarize ourselves with the program, creating an animation using any character of our choice. I proceeded to search the internet for relevant reference videos of the popular anime character which I had chosen to animate. It was interesting to be able to examine and analyze the model and texture data for a PSP game character, as well as learn how to animate properly from a professional game animator.

2 Jun (Tuesday) OJT - Motion Builder (Trainer: Satou-san)
Today we had another new trainer scheduled, but he only arrived in the late afternoon, which is fine since Kian Bee arrived in the late morning and we had things to discuss. Satou-san is evidently another expert at Motion Builder, and he taught us how to edit motion capture data and blend mocap animations together fluidly.

According to Takabe-san, different PA animators adopt different working styles when using Motion Builder. Takabe-san likes to plot his Control Rig to the Skeleton often, effectively flattening his motion layers so that he can make additional changes using new layers. In addition, both Takabe-san and Satou-san use the default hotkeys, while Ron and I find the Maya hotkeys binding easier, since we are more familiar with Maya. Takabe-san says we should find a working style that is most comfortable and efficient for us individually.

Motion Builder is an extremely complex piece of animation and motion editing software. It would certainly take a long time to master and to fully exploit it's capabilities. I'm grateful for this rare opportunity to study how it is used in actual Japanese game productions to produce game character actions and cool cut scenes.