Mar 162012
 

Transformers week draws to a close with this video training from Dan DeEntremont. Master key animation skills in this Transformer-style tutorial as you rig a robot to animate its transformation from train to humanoid

To celebrate Digital-Tutors’ new Transformation training, we thought we’d make an event of it and post online all things Transformery!

We’ve already posted up two making-of Transformers articles:
The making of Transformers
The making of Transformers 2

And you can also read a making-of article on the cult Transformers-style advert for Citroën – The Embassy: The art of Robotics

To complete the Transformers roundup, here’s the train-transforming video tutorial from issue 119 of 3D World magazine.

Rig your own Transformer in LightWave

This article demonstrates the workflow for creating a transforming robot, similar to the designs in the live-action Transformers movies.

The films’ director, Michael Bay, is well known for taking the level of special and visual effects over the top in his films. These Transformers are not the simple ones everyone has seen in the cartoon show, but a gigantic mass of moving metal that somehow manages to form a human-like (or sometimes animal-like) robot. The transforming train that you’ll rig and animate has about 300 moving parts.

There are three videos available to show in detail the techniques described here. The first two videos focus on setting up the upper arms of the robot: you can take the principles you learn and apply them to the remaining parts of the figure. The first video will focus on rigging the upper arms. In this section, you will also be setting up the rig in a way that helps to cut the animation time nearly in half, using the useful Follower modifier. Bones will be used for moving the parts instead of separate layers.

In Video 2, we will continue with the animation of the rigged upper arms. Here, I will demonstrate how to bring each piece to its destination position without causing geometry to intersect. I will also demonstrate a number of key techniques to help the movement of the different sections to be more realistic.

Discover how you can rig this robot to animate its transformation from train to humanoid

Video 3 has a completely rigged transforming train. This video focuses on animating the transformation from a train to a robot, ending in a cool pose. A proxy version of the train will be used in this video. IK/FK Blending will also be implemented to allow smoothness in the transformation. If you get stuck at any point, the CD includes completed scene files you can study.

Click Next to begin the train-transforming video tutorial