Manual Handling 4 - Checking the Weight of an Object

The aim of this animation is to demonstrate how to check the weight of a potentially heavy object. In order to do this, I had perform similar manipulations of the arms and hands to gain the right effect, which means I had to synchronise the movements of the limbs and the object being moved. This one didn't prove as problematic as the previous three due to the limited movements of the biped. Below is a breakdown of the movements performed by the animations;

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Stage 3

Manual Handling 3 - Managable Loads Part 2

At this stage of the animation I have added the skin to the biped as well as lighting to increase the detail of the rendered product. In order to do this I used the 'skin wrap tool as this caused the least problems with applying the skin and clothing to the biped frame. For the lighting, I used a couple of omni light objects placed above the scene to highlight what the animation is trying to show. This caused some problems as the proximity of the light caused the scene to glow too bright in earlier stages of development and had to be moved further above the scene to get the ideal effect. Another feature of this animation os the rotating camera angle that shows each stage of the bipeds movements. This was done using a free camera as this was simpler than using a target camera due to the angles it would be moving to around the scene. Below is the completed animation for this stage of the series;

Manual Handling 3 - Managable Loads

Manual Handling 3 - Managable Loads Part 1

For this animation I had to manipulate the movements of the arms a lot more than with the previous two animations. Firstly, I had to manipulate the movements of the arms, hands and fingers to give it a realistic effect to the scenario and then had to manipulate the movements of the box so that it would seem like the hands were moving it from one place to another. This was tricky as the movements of the hands and fingers had to coinside with the movements of the box. There were problems with the development of this animations but nothing that added any extra pressure on the deadline. I have completed the sequence of movements but there is still work to be done on the character itself, which includes modelling and applying the skin and clothing to the biped frame. Below is a breakdown of the character's movements in the animation;

Manual Handling 3 - Managable Loads

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Stage 8

Manual Handling 2 - Turning, Part 2

Below is the finished animation for the Turning portion of the manual handling training presentation. Only a couple of difficulties were encountered during this part of the production and these were to do with implementing the walk cycle. The problem was that whenever the keyframes were assigned to the biped, the feet and legs would become cross-legged. This was easily fixed by activating the auto key tool and relocating the feet and footsteps to the correct positions. Below is the final product for this portion of the aniamted series;

Manual Handling 2 - Turning

Manual Handling 2 - Turning, Part 1

This aniamtion required a little more work compared to the previous one on lifting. For a start, apart from using keyframes to create the lifting motion the character is required to do, I also had to introduce a walk cycle for the biped. This meant breaking the animation up into three parts; one for the lifting motion, one for the turning motion and the last for the putting down motion. This took a little more time than I originally anticipated but not so much that it will affect the overall deadline of the project. Below is the first stage of development;

Manual Handling 2 - Turning

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Stage 4

Manual Handling 1 - Lifting, Part 2

Organising the keyframes into the correct points on the timeline has been completed and I have since modelled and applied the skin, clothing and materials to the character. Applying the skin and clothing to the animation did encounter a couple of problems along the way, such as skin and clothing being accidently linked to the wrong bones but this has since been fixed. Below is the finished product for manual handling 1, lifting;

Manual Handling 1 - Lifting

Manual Handling 1 - Lifting, Part 1

This series of animations are being created for a Health and Safety Consultancy that is going to be showing a Manual Handling Training presentation. This animation is designed to show how a person should lift loads from the grounds. In order to do this I used the male biped tool in 3D studio max to create a base structure for the character. This will be followed by the application of modelled skin and clothing. This is only a draft production in order to get the keyframes organised into the write sequence.

Manual Handling 1 - Lifting

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Stage 3