Attack!

One of the most fun animations I get to do is the attack sequence for the Player Character. For the game, I'll be implementing two 'combo' strings, one by myself and one by Matt Watson. I was struggling with the staff interaction, as its tricky getting the arms to do what you want when they're IK-ed to the staff. The challenge is fun though, and one we anticipated when we decided to use a two-handed weapon.

This first clip is quite heavily copied from some reference I filmed. The overall movement works but it needs exaggeration. The issue I had with this style was that it was overly flourished, and didn't leave me much room to make it read better.

My second attempt was more successful. It is more suited to a fast attack, and I feel it reads better. The final, more powerful attack is currently a little low I think, and he seems to lose momentum on his swing before he reaches the point of impact. I think I need to build more torque into the poses leading up to the hit.

Were it just showreel work, I'd make it slower, but it needs to be extremely fast for gameplay purposes.