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Maya & Unreal 3D Character Kpop Dance Animation Fundamentals

Name: Maya & Unreal 3D Character Kpop Dance Animation Fundamentals
Rating: 4.4 (11 reviews)

Complete Guide From Beginner to Pro Body Mechanics & VFX Basics: Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine, Unity, Game Development

Created byClass Creatives

Last updated 11/2025

English

What you'll learn

Animating with Keyframes using Autodesk Maya
Understanding Unreal Engine's A.R.T. rigging tools for Autodesk Maya Animation Creation Process
Animating Production Ready Dance Animation
Learn Step by Step How to Animation in Layers Using VIdeo Reference to Create Pro Level Game Animations in Maya
Animation Ready for Exporting Character Animation to Unreal Engine or Unity Game Engine
VFX creation timing for production ready game asset (animated texture, mesh, and effect)
Understanding Production Process of Animation Using Unreal Engine's A.R.T. rigging tools for Autodesk Maya

Course content

12 sections • 58 lectures • 8h 58m total length

Overview of the project2:19
Course Setup Getting Started with Autodesk Maya3:27
Udemy Rating System Very Important Info!1:54
Please remember to rate your instructor/course and leave comments about the course. It is very important for us to also hear your feedback on what we are doing well, and what we can improve on in future courses, and how to improve the current course. We appreciate the time you take for being a valuable student of ours!
Creating Idle Start Pose9:30
Posing, body, hands, fingers for starting position, and setting up character position
Posing the Arms & Fingers10:27
Posing the details in the fingers from the video reference
Animating the Root & Basic Timing15:48
Animating the root, and footwork for the first dance spin
Extreme Pose Creation15:26
Breaking down extreme poses
Adding Breakdowns16:19
Breaking down extreme poses
Finding Next Extreme Pose5:35
Extreme position for start of dance section
Advanced Skeleton Vs. ARTv1 | Python 3 & Post Maya 2022 Unreal Mannequin6:51
If you would like to work with Unreal Mannequins post Autodesk Maya version 2022, utilizing Advanced Skeleton offers full support of all Autodesk Maya versions.
All of the workflows outlined in the course will be identical, and you will be able to go to and from Unreal and Maya seamlessly.

The developer offers full support of the rigging tool and interface on their website.

We have attached a fully functional Advanced Skeleton Mannequin rig compatible with Advanced Skeleton in this lecture in the resource section.

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Since Autodesk discontinued Python 2 for Maya 2023, you may be searching for alternatives to Unreal’s ART tools to animate and rig your characters with the latest versions of Maya that can then be implemented into your Unreal projects.
In this video, we'll discuss how to pose and work with our unreal mannequin rigged with Advanced Skeleton and the Unreal ART tools helping you transition from one workflow to another great alternative. Overall you will find that both toolsets offer everything you will need to create great poses from your video reference image plane, and you can achieve outstanding results regardless of which rigging solution you utilize for your animations. We won’t cover every feature but hopefully this video will help you get started with the basics regardless of which toolset you are familiar with, or even if it is your first time posing and animating characters rigged with either method.
Frequently Asked Questions0:02
PDF guide of our most frequently asked questions from students

Lower Body Timing11:50
Animating the root down positions
Upper Body Rough Timing13:38
Animating the shoulders and arms
Refining Shoulders, Wrists, Neck, and Head9:30
Animating rotations of the shoulders and wrist transitions
Extreme Pose to End First Part of the Dance8:32
Finding extreme pose in the reference to end section's dance
Finding Extreme Anticipation Pose to Blend Breakdown4:08
Transition from dance portion to end extreme pose
Upper Body Breakdown Transitions11:05
Cleaning up upper body poses for transitions in posing

Animating the Heart Extreme Pose Transitions13:41
Finding the extreme poses in the video reference to create transitions and core posing
Continuing Heart Extreme Pose Transitions9:34
Adding additional transitions for pose to pose animation
Animating the Heart Movements3:17
Animating the heart gesture movements based on the video reference
Animating the Heart Movements Cont.12:31
Continuing to break down the heart animation posing based on the video reference and previous posing

Finding the Next Extreme Pose/Lower Body7:02
Lower body animation for the next extreme poses based on the video reference
Animating Upper Body Movements12:49
Upper body movements and timing, based on the video reference driven by the lower body movements created in previous section
Finding Extreme Pose Upper Body/Adding Breakdowns11:34
Additional upper body posing, and breaking down poses for animation transitions

Finding Extreme Lower Body Poses14:42
Extreme lower body pose creation based on the video reference
Extreme Upper Body Poses9:00
Finding the extreme upper body poses from video reference
Refining Upper Body Posing11:41
Refining upper body poses that were created in previous section
Defining Final Lower Body Extreme Poses18:17
Lower body posing for final section of the dance based on video reference
Adding Upper Body Pose15:14
Upper body pose based on the lower body posing and timing

Adding Breakdown to Video Ref Cut16:11
Adding breakdown pose to where video reference cut occurs to smoothly transition to core poses created
Footwork Polish14:27
Understanding the importance of footwork, and the best practices to create the movements
Adding Overshoot to the End Pose16:39
Understanding the importance of overshoots, how to create them, and best practices for use
Polishing Ending Overshoots & Breakdowns8:06
Polishing overshoots and adding additional breakdowns where necessary
Overshoot Polish for Body Spin9:52
Polishing overshoots for body spin section
Overshoot, Keep Alive Posing, & Footwork17:34
Understanding keep alive posing, the importance of it, best uses, and additional footwork/overshoot animation
Footwork to Polish the March18:46
Additional footwork to polish the marching section of the dance
Shoulder Arc Polish9:41
Animating arcs in the shoulders
Arm Polish17:54
Polishing arm animation for transitions
Animating Heart Mesh Fx18:24
Understanding VFX timing to animate a rig with animated textures, which can then be given to VFX artist for timing, or to implement as is in game engine.

Heart VFX Overview2:03
Overviewing the Two Heart VFX Rigs
Joints4:45
Joint Tool, Parenting Joints, and Joint Radius
Constraints4:16
Parent and Scale Constraints Overview
Skin Weights3:03
Binding the Heart Model to the Joints
Controllers3:04
NURBS Controllers and Control Vertices
Creating the Joints6:13
Joint Placement and Joint Rig Hierarchy
Creating the Controllers7:28
Control Rig Creation and Setup
Connecting the Controllers2:08
Connecting the Joints to the Controllers
Polishing the Rig4:43
Skinning and Finishing up the Rig
Heart VFX 02 Rigging5:35
Timelapse with Voice Over of the Heart VFX 02 Rig

Animating Heart Rig Meshes12:06
Animating heart rig with 3D meshes utilizing timing made from animated texture rig. This shows process of how to apply animation timing from previous assets to an updated asset, which happens often in production
Creating Animation for the Second Heart Rig9:15
Creating animation from heart rig, that creates a beam effect which can then be rendered out for the final effect based on the animation timing created

Requirements

No prior knowledge of Autodesk Maya, Unity, or Unreal Engine needed.
The course utilizes Maya 2018, but prior knowledge of any 3d animation/modeling package is a plus.
Programming is a plus, but not required.
All Concepts Taught Can Be Applied to Any Animation Software or Animation Creation Process of User's Choice
No VFX experience necessary

Description

Hi there!

Welcome, and thanks for choosing Class Creative’s Maya & Unreal: 3D Character Kpop Dance Animation Fundamentals | Complete Guide From Beginners to Pros | Body Mechanics & VFX Basics!!

In this foundation course we will be learning the fundamentals of Character Animation for games (specifically for the Unreal engine, but this method will also work for other game engines such as Unity).

Learn everything necessary for a Character Animation Dance (Kpop example) utilizing Autodesk Maya taught by a AAA game professional with university level accredited instruction! This process can be applied to any style of dance animation for your project!

Autodesk Maya is the industry standard 3D animation software, understanding the concepts in this course will help you land a job in the game, film, tv, or music industry. In this course you will learn how to animate your custom created character from scratch.

What students are saying about this animation fundamentals course:

"Great step by step instruction for animation, good explanations on breaking down of animation motion, refinement and polishing the animations. He brings insight into techniques and gives reasoning behind the steps." - Jerry Bradshaw

We will cover the following core skill sets:

Getting started with Maya and understanding the animation process
Understanding how to utilize the reference image plane in Maya to create a realistic game engine ready Dance (Kpop) Animation
Strong Fundamentals of Animation Body Mechanics
Process of using IK/FK controllers and best practices of Unreal Engine's A.R.T. tools for Autodesk Maya
How to create animation timing for VFX using 3 different styles of rigs (animated texture, mesh, and visual effect rig)
Animation timing of these VFX rigs for pipeline production process
Unreal Engine's A.R.T. rigging tools for Autodesk Maya
Understanding hotkeys to animate and rig quickly
Animating with keyframes
Animating a production ready dance animation (Kpop) quickly and efficiently
Advanced polish process to create professional level animation ready for game engine (Unreal/Unity) export

NOTE - Course does NOT include custom character mesh. ART tools will include mannequin mesh which will allow all animation and lessons to be animated without a mesh or completing a custom rig. Course is strictly showing the process of animating a character of choice, for ANY character regardless of software or rig limitations. Maya 2022 for Mac OS (Pc/Linux Maya 2022 both currently support Python 2) currently only supports Python 3; the Art tools will require Python 2 which is currently only supported in Maya 2020 on Mac OS.

UPDATE - We now provide and support current versions of Maya with a provided Advanced Skeleton Unreal Mannequin rig for the animation course if you choose not to use the ART tools Mannequin rig for Maya 2022.

We’ll be utilizing the latest software packages that top tier gaming studios of today use to create all of your favorite titles!

Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine’s Maya Animation Rigging Toolset (A.R.T. for short), and the Unreal game engine.

Why Learn From Class Creatives?

This course features an accredited university level animation instructor who has over 15 years of experience animating both keyframe, and motion capture for studios such as Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Guerilla Games, Sucker Punch, Google, Disney and more. Whether it be a complex hyper realistic animation or a cartoony stylized “Disney” character animation it ALL starts with the fundamentals which we cover in these lectures.

Who This Course is For:

Whether you are just a beginner interested in Character Animation, or a Master professional looking to brush up on your current skill set, this course has material you surely won’t want to miss!

As with all Class Creative’s courses, we’ve laid out a structure that covers the full spectrum of industry standard character workflows from start to finish.

Please remember, if this is your first time creating animating a 3D character, we highly recommend that you follow the outline carefully, according to how our instructor’s have structured the course. We wouldn’t want you to miss out on any details!

However, if you are an advanced user and are looking for something specific to add to your repertoire feel free to dive in and skip to any sections you’d like to focus on.

Who this course is for:

Competency using a computer.
Developers who want to add game development to their skill-set.
Anyone with a passion for learning game development.
Anyone who wants the ability to create assets for games.
Anyone Interested in Character Animation
Anyone Wanting to Develop New Skills for Unreal Engine, or Unity

Maya & Unreal 3D Character Kpop Dance Animation Fundamentals

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

KPOP DANCE INTRO11 lectures • 1hr 28min

ANIMATING THE DANCE6 lectures • 59min

ANIMATING THE HEART DANCE4 lectures • 39min

ADDITIONAL DANCE TRANSITIONS3 lectures • 31min

FINAL DANCE SECTION5 lectures • 1hr 9min

ANIMATION POLISH & BREAKDOWNS10 lectures • 2hr 28min

Heart VFX Modeling4 lectures • 19min

Heart VFX Rigging10 lectures • 43min

ANIMATING HEART MESH RIGS2 lectures • 21min

ANIMATION POLISH PLUS1 lecture • 16min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: