Introduction to 3D Character Animation for Beginners in Maya

Animate a stationary bouncing ball in Maya by mastering timing, spacing, and squash and stretch, using the graph editor, keyframes, auto key, and curve adjustments to achieve natural motion.

Master rotation and translation of a bouncing ball by adjusting keys in the graph editor for linear motion, while applying friction so it rotates opposite directions when hitting the ground.

Animate two balls with different weights in Maya by keyframing translate Y and shaping curves and tangents to show energy loss, easing, and timing differences on impact.

Refines timing and keyframes for two objects with different weights, adjusting spacing and tangents to produce a natural bouncing ball exercise and reinforce core animation principles in Maya.

Learn to animate a pendulum in Maya, illustrating follow-through and overlapping action, with staggered segment timing, easing in the graph editor, and energy loss to create lifelike character motion.

Master Maya parent constraints to drive a box with a sphere, using maintain offset, blend parent, and keyframed on/off to transfer control between hands in animation.

Install and load the Yekini rig in Maya from the advanced collection, then explore body and face controls, reset poses, and switch between football costumes.

Learn to pose characters in Maya using references, adjust limbs and fingers, manage stretchy controls, and review poses from multiple angles to create appealing, story-driven figures.

Learn to create dynamic poses in Maya by manipulating character anatomy—hips, spine, shoulders, and limbs—while tracking line of action and checking poses from multiple angles.

Pose from the feet up, aligning the spine and line of action. Switch from FK to IK, refine arm pose, check for contact and no penetrations.

Learn to craft balanced, appealing poses in Maya by shaping the line of action, adjusting the leg and spine, and using ik for the arms while checking the reference.

Learn to animate a head turn in Maya with the hackney rig, creating two poses, an arc, in-between frames, and easing, plus eye lead and blink for believability.

Block a weight change in Maya using a reference image. Set up the scene and create first and last poses with IK, balancing shoulders, hips, and hands on the waist.

Block and refine weight change in Maya by aligning key poses with reference, ease the hips into the final pose, and adjusting timing for a natural weight shift.

Polish the lower body animation by tweaking hip and knee controls, preventing pops with anti-pop adjustments, and refining ik, tangents, and easing for a believable leg hit on the floor.

Polish the spine by offsetting rotations and using a pendulum-like timing to let the chest lag behind the hip, preventing all parts from stopping at once.

Polish weight-change animation by starting from the legs, then hips, spine, and head, and finally the arms, ensuring different parts move at different speeds and stop at different times.

Polish a weight-change animation in Maya by adjusting curves in the graph editor, offsetting keys for timing, and adding squash and stretch, with emphasis on reference and line of action.

Learn to block a simple jump in Maya by constructing key poses—highest, stretch, squash, anticipation, and final settle—while refining spine-led motion, fk arm poses, and looking good from all angles.

Use a bouncing ball to block timing for a jump, applying squash and stretch, tangent adjustments, and adjusting keys and curves to match hip energy and air time.

Polish the jump by shaping spine and head with pendulum-like lag and refining arm timing. Emphasize overlapping action, anticipation, squash and stretch, and fine-tune timing with the graph editor.

Block and pose a punch in Maya using the Yakini rig, referencing key frames, adjusting timing, and developing anticipation and impact with strong lines of action and refined fingers.

Set a strong line of action with an S-curve, craft in-betweens and breakdown poses for a punch, then refine timing, arcs, and pose continuity by reference and multi-view checks.

Polish a punch in Maya by blocking poses, fixing leg contact to prevent sliding, and refining timing with breakdowns while isolating body parts on a rig to add weight.

Animate a progressive walk cycle in Maya, establishing contact poses, passing and down positions, mirroring legs, setting linear translate, and using antipope to fix knee pops.

Animate a progressive walk cycle in Maya by manipulating hip controllers and the spine with IK, adjusting translate Y and rotations for weight shift, contact poses, and subtle spine compression.

Animate the progressive walk cycle by posing and mirroring arm and hand poses, creating contact and breakdown poses with lagging elbows and wrists, then refine the spine and hips.

Animate a progressive walk cycle in Maya by creating a subtle head bob, rotating at key points, and applying drag for natural head lag with a layer-based workflow.

Block a Maya character lifting a heavy object, using ik for hands, offsetting limbs for realism, and refining anticipation, contact poses, and balance with reference from multiple angles.

Animate heavy objects by blocking key poses, breakdowns, and in-betweens in Maya, using the parent blend to attach the box and refine balance, weight, and pose accuracy.

Add breakdown poses and apply ease in and out with arcs and in-betweens, then review in the graph editor to refine spacing and anticipation.

Refine heavy-object animation in Maya by adjusting keys in the graph editor, applying auto tangents and easing, blocking in segments, and using references to capture weight, timing, and anticipation.

Polish this heavy object lift by refining timing with the graph editor, translate wire tweaks, bake keys to lock motion, and use a motion trail to isolate limbs.

Learn to create a believable eye blink in Maya by animating eyelids with a rest pose, offsetting each eye, and adding subtle brow movement, squint, and compression.

Animate lip sync in Maya by aligning audio in the tracks editor, setting keyframes for U, R, A, E, L, F shapes, and refining tongue and teeth positioning.

Adjust mouth symmetry and timing to create natural dialogue animation. Move and rotate jaw and lips, break left-right symmetry, test playback, and refine poses for realistic motion in Maya.

Learn to animate eye and eyebrow controls in Maya, including blinks, squints, and eye openness, by editing and copying keyframes and layering work from eyes to brows.

Learn to refine lip sync in Maya by adjusting the graph editor and creating eye offsets. Sync mouth poses from your own reference for natural character dialogue.