2025 January Animation #01

LINK

Credits:
Zarya's Voice @BordeauxBlackVA
Audio Engineering @LewdSoundV2

ANIMATION

My main focus on this project was practicing more slow thrusts and a bit more complex action. I've never really done something with this level of complexity before so figuring out how to work with animations layers to create the base motion and then do the hand motion on top of it was definitely an experience. I basically had to do a "layered" workflow, where I did the base loop motion first then I added a second layer on top of that as the hand movement then another layer on top of that for like torso movement and just keep adding layers until I get something good. I used this project as an opportunity to practice patience—something I’ve talked about before, so it should come as no surprise. Taking my time and working on it steadily definitely gave me a better result than if I had rushed through it. Even though I took my time, there’s still a bit of “jank” in this project. I barely know what I’m doing, so I’m not being too hard on myself.

Either way, we keep moving forward.

WHAT I LEARNED

In this project, I picked up several small skills, but two key lessons stood out: how to animate voiceovers and how to animate eyes.

For voiceovers, the process was pretty straightforward. I created some preset mouth poses, converted them into assets, and imported them for Zarya. This workflow made everything simple and efficient. If you ever need to animate voiceovers, I highly recommend this approach. When refining the animation, start by focusing on the jaw or mouth controller to get the up-and-down motion of the jaw right before polishing the rest.

As for animating eyes, I learned from a great YouTube video. If animating eyes is something you’re considering, I suggest watching it. The main takeaway from the video is the concept of “Seek & Find.” Eyes don’t lock directly onto a target right away; they usually undershoot or overshoot, then make small adjustments to focus. This adds realism to your animations.

END

But yea that's pretty much it. Zarya should be releasing very soon, I sought the help of a friend and fixed the symmetry problem.

Thanks for reading!