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Animating a 3-Hit Combo for Games in Maya

Mocap, HumanIK, Retargeting and Animation with Brandon Yates

Description

Learn how to animate a three-hit combo for videogames using motion capture as a base. This is an advanced workshop for animators looking to use mocap for games, detailing Maya’s Human IK motion-capture package, including the retargeting and animation settings.


Brand Yates is an animator with nine years of experience in videogames. He shares how to use Maya’s retargeting and HIK system and explains some of the important advanced posing, timing, and layering techniques used when animating for AAA games. He also discusses how to branch out your combo into different strings while ensuring all animations flow together — no matter what inputs are entered by the player.


Upon completing this workshop, you should feel confident using a combination of animation layers in Maya, along with the Time Editor and the Time Warp, to achieve a three-hit combo in Maya with the goal of achieving AAA game quality.


Duration: 6h 33m

Format: HD 1920x1080

Brandon Yates

Lead Animator at Omeda Studios

Brandon Yates graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. He has worked in the videogame industry for 9 years, specializing in gameplay animations as well as cinematics. His credits include Injustice 2, Mortal Kombat 11, Days Gone, Just Cause 4, Rogue Company, and Red Fall, and he is currently the Lead Animator for Predecessor. Learn more about Brandon and follow his career on LinkedIn.

  • BBB! His work is AAA, but BBB stands for Best Buddy Brandon!

    - Kelly Huffine
    Producer at Riot Games

  • Brandon is a unicorn! A rare breed that is a great artist and technically skilled.

    - Dave Hanson
    Senior Animator at Hi-Rez Studios

  • Brandon is an incredibly talented animator with an aptitude for mentoring. I was just starting my career when we worked together, and I learned so much every day while sitting across from him. In addition to producing top-quality animation, Brandon also used his skills to develop our motion-capture pipeline and create tools that improved our team’s efficiency. He is always glad to help his teammates with creative and technical challenges, and we still share tips even now that we’ve moved to other companies.

    - James Blackmer
    Animator at Insomiac Games