Hello again, this is Janz. I want to talk about how I enjoy my job as a game animator, especially when working with weapon animations.
What research do you do before you begin animating for a specific weapon, especially weapons that are based on real-life ones?
First, it will be about how the weapon works, how it functions, and how it's supposed to be used. I'll watch online videos either real life footage or a military video instruction or a 3d animation video of how the weapon is being used.
Second is, you need to observe how the person feels about the weapon and how it impacts the person. Let's say an Assault Rifle; how strong the recoil is or how the user react to the recoil, how they reload the weapon in fast or slow speed, panicking or not panicking.
Lastly, here’s the fun part: you need to re-enact or to imagine yourself as that character you’re animating, how your character will feel and act with their weapon. Either you experience it directly by having a real weapon or an imitation of the weapon or maybe just having a replica or just a branch or any object that you can use to visualize how your character will feel about the gun. You can even use yourself as a reference by recording yourself. It can also motivate you to have fun with your research.
What is your process when it comes to developing the weapon animations for each weapon? Is it different for each one or do you follow the same base process for every weapon?
It's almost the same for most weapons, but when it comes to, for example, melee weapons, let's say a standard knife, it only requires you to watch online videos of people doing a slash or a stab, flashy or straight to the point. There's no "weapon" movements but just character movements (except if the knife is a switch blade that requires a bone to draw the blade, etc.). But when it comes to guns, there are internal and external movements such as the slide of a handgun, or an AR's bolt release action or a reciprocating charging handle, which also need movements.
After watching the reference videos and enjoying the re-enactment/imagination/visualization, you need to prepare the weapon rig with these questions in mind:
- How the character will hold the weapon in-game, or how will it be implemented to the character?
- How the gun functions and how you will animate it: Does it need complex rigging (takes a bit of time) or does it need to be a simple rig? (faster and helpful for tight deadlines).
- How the reloads will work: Will there be a tactical reload that requires you to add another bone for the other magazine? Are there parts of the weapon that needs an appearing and disappearing effect? How will you handle gun effects? etc.
- How the rig looks like in-game: Will there be a bone or a guide where the muzzle flash or smoke effects will be placed?
After rigging, make some test animations first. On this stage, you might still need to go back and forth with your rig for adjustments and modifications.
When I'm ready for animations, I'll ask our director on how I should approach the weapon animations and what he has in mind. At this stage, you'll need to communicate every animation sequence, for example: ask how long a reload should be, or if the poses that you come up with need changing, etc.
Then of course, presenting your work can be nerve-wracking most of the time… BUT! it can also be fun and enjoyable. You can see above Seo-Yeon’s animations in third-person then it goes to first-person below. It’s enjoyable to present it that way to the team. It does not take that much time and effort to do if you’re willing but it can also be enjoyable. The extra effort to do some cool stuff rewards me with joy.
How do you balance making sure that the weapon animations look authentic while also not taking up too much time or impacting the gameplay in a negative way?
It only takes too much time when you don't test things and when you don't ask the team for their feedback. As an animator, you need to discuss with the director and with the team about the weapon. Even after implementing, you might change some animations down the line, either major or minor thing, when the director or majority of the team votes for changing and it seems that it's really needed, then you'll need to adjust and edit, recreate or remove the animation. You need to test it in-game whether it feels right or whether it needs tweaking or it needs changing.
How do you enjoy the whole process?
You need to be passionate to enjoy your work. Not only by words but by giving time and effort, as long as it doesn’t take your work hours, do it. If you can’t enjoy it, do something to enjoy it. What made it enjoyable is how I imagine or re-enact the animations that I want to do and how I present my render videos to the team. It can certainly boost your morale and the team’s morale and will affect you positively, as it was for me.
Until next time, Janz
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