Blade motion capture gif
I think the quality of animation in games is constantly on the rise, with improvements in technology and game engines allowing for higher and higher fidelity, closing the gap with movies quite rapidly. Once this part is approved and everyone is happy, I’ll keep iterating on it and improving the animation quality. This gives everyone a constant working prototype that allows other parts of the pipeline to start their first pass work, such as VFX and audio. As time is precious, it’s important not to waste it by taking the animation too far only to have to start all over again because it doesn’t work in the game. The next thing is to get a rough “first-pass” version of my idea in the game engine as fast as possible so I can see if it’s going to work. This step is mainly so I have something to refer to when breaking down the mechanics of the motion I’m going for, and is in no way meant to be copied frame by frame (if you’ve seen my reference you’d know why). The first thing I do is gather video reference, which usually involves me getting in front of a camera somewhere quiet and isolated in the office so that I can make a fool of myself in peace. My workflow from this point is pretty common and involves a largely iterative process. If we get this part right then the rest usually comes together later on. I find that seeing the character actually moving in 3D really gives a good sense of what we’re going for and what to expect in the game. After that I’ll usually do some kind of movement cycle like a walk or a run. So, my first task is creating a few poses with the character to try and figure out the personality and physical limits.
After my internship ended, I was offered a position as Junior Animator, which I gladly accepted, and I’ve been there ever since!Īlong with Enslaved and DmC, I got to work on some DLC content (DmC: Vergil’s Downfall), Disney Infinity 2, 3, and most recently Hellblade. This was super exciting, I was a big fan and the possibility that I could get to work on it was amazing. During this time, I was also told that they were working on the next Devil May Cry game. The internship was initially for 3 months, and I got to work on Enslaved: Odyssey to The West. Fast forward a couple of weeks, I went for an interview and was given a position.
Having nothing to lose, I decided to take a shot and see what happens. My new demo reel wasn’t ready yet and I really hesitated to apply. After finding their website and the careers page, I discovered they were advertising for an Animation Internship. I had never heard of Ninja Theory, so decided to look them up online. On this one particular episode, they had a guest on called Espen who worked at a company called Ninja Theory. One day is was listening to the “Reanimators Podcast”, which was a show where bunch of video game animators would get together and talk about the industry. After updating my demo reel and a few failed applications, I started to work on my second demo reel.