Blindsight: War of the Wardens is a 3D action-adventure game, where players play as Iggy, a martial artist who is blind with echolocation abilities who must retrieve a stolen family heirloom that may bring unintended consequences to the world.
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My Role
Lead Animator
Tools
Maya, Unity, Motive, Perforce, Mixamo
Timeline
8 months (for animation)
What I did
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Lead team of 8 animators from across the globe, plan animation pipeline, delegate tasks, approve and advise all animations
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Clean up Motion Capture data in Maya
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Regularly coordinate with designers and engineers to troubleshoot animation and rigging issues
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Advise Mocap recording sessions and record Mocap data using Motive in mocap stage
A compilation of my best animations from this game
My Process
1. Motion Capture
I worked with professional stunt actors TJ Storm, Tyler Powell, John Tieng, Fiona Dorn, Jonathan Wong and the USC Trojan Stunt Team to record motion capture data in USC's mocap stage.
I used Motive to calibrate, record, process and export the data as FBX. I also communicated with our director and actors to get the exact performance we wanted.
I also helped place the dots on our actors and we had to recalibrate whenever they fell off!
2. Polish Animations
Based off my foundational knowledge of the 12 principles of animation, I followed a set process that helped me to clean the mocap data most efficiently.
First, I would use Time Editor to vary the speed of the animation, generally aiming to make hits and wind-ups more powerful. Next, I fix any major jitters or glitches. Then, I used Motion Trail in Maya to check and fix the poses and arcs of each body part in this order:
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COG
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Feet
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Torso
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Arms & Head
Lastly, I would animate details that are not captured in mocap, such as the fingers and toe rolls.
3. Iterate & Troubleshoot
We used Animancer to implement animations in Unity. I often collaborated with designers and engineers to tweak the rigs and animations to fit the needs of the game. I also helped to fix all animation related issues, such as rigs breaking, poses not applying properly, and mocap data not transferring correctly.
For example, I would iterate on the speed, distance and/or intensity of animations, rearrange the rig's hierarchy, or re-export animations with different settings to see what worked the best in engine.
4. Review Animations
As Lead Animator, I reviewed and approved all animations. I used SyncSketch to leave comments and annotations for other animators to refer to.
I also kept track of all animations using an asset list. Additionally, it was my responsibility to organize and lead weekly animators meetings.
We also faced numerous production challenges, such as rigs not being done in time for animation to start. It was my job to find solutions for such issues, such as using placeholder rigs from Mixamo and devising a pipeline to transfer the animations onto the official rigs once they were complete.
PlayNYC
In Summer 2023, we were sponsored by Red Bull to share our game at PlayNYC, New York City's premier gaming conference. We were incredibly honored and received much love there!
Photo Gallery
