Copy the folder that contains your model (3dsmax_fish, lightwave_fish, maya_fish and xsi_fish) onto your C drive (in the case of xsi_fish copy it into the data folder). Open up max_fish.ma, maya_fish.mb, xsi_fish.scn or lightwave_fish.lws. The fish model has a series of bones running through it from the back of the head to the tail. With these you can make the sinusoidal wave run through the fish’s body. These are called Bbone01 to 18. There is one bone through the head called HeadBone. It also has a circle running through its head called BodyControl. You can move the fish up, down and sideways and rotate it with this handle.
The pectoral fins have bones through them called RPectoralBone and LPectoralBone. Rotate these to move the pectoral fins. The pelvic fins have bones called RPelvicBone and LPelvicBone. Rotate these to move the pectoral fins.
The eyes are controlled by a handle called EyeControl, just like the man and the dog.
animating a fish on the spot
First have a go at animating a 3D fish on the spot. Take out your drawings of your fish cycle (or have a look at the top illus- tration on p. 159 and middle illustration on p. 164). Load up your 3D fish from chapter007 of the CD-ROM.
In your chosen 3D program, view the fish from above. Set your piece of animation to be 17 frames long. Move the time/frame slider to the first frame (frame 1 in Maya and XSI, frame 0 in Max and LightWave) and take out the first drawing from your fish animation. Select each of the bones through the fish’s back and rotate them to make the shape of your 3D fish similar to the shape of your 2D fish, setting keys as you go. Move the frame/time slider to the last frame (17 in Maya and XSI and 16 in Max and LightWave) and set a key just the same as the first.
Then move the time/frame slider to the next key position (frame 9 in Maya and XSI and frame 8 in Max and LightWave) and move the 3D fish to a position that
is the same as frame 9 of your drawn animation. Once these key positions are done do the breakdown pos- itions at frames 5 and 13 of the drawn animation. These will be at frames 5 and 13 in Maya and XSI and 4 and 12 in Max and LightWave.
If you have followed your drawn animation of the top illustration on p. 159 and the middle illustration on p. 164 you should have a fish that is swimming in a fairly convincing manner. Adjust the pectoral and pelvic fins so that they drag behind the body a little by rotating the pelvic and pectoral bones. Also get the tail to drag slightly by rotating the tail bones.
Have a look at fish_wave_3D.avi in ani- mations007, chapter007 of the CD-ROM.
animating a fish swimming through water
Now we need to have a go at getting our fish to swim through water.
Take out your drawn fish animation or have a look at the top illustration on p. 159.
In your chosen 3D program, load your fish model and select the top view. Zoom out a certain amount and set the scene length to around 65 frames.
Draw a curved path of action on the screen with a chinagraph pencil and move your fish to the start of this path and then save a key frame at frame 1. Move the time/frame slider to frame 35 and move the fish along the path to a point where the path changes direction and save a key frame. Then move the time/frame slider to the last frame of your scene and move the fish to the last point on the path and save a key frame. If you play back your animation, the fish will travel through space and do a broadside type slide around the corner. Don’t worry; we’ll sort that out later. We now need to put the sinusoidal wave through the fish.
Look at your drawn animation of the fish cycle (or have a look at the second illus-
tration in the chapter). Put in the key frames first. These happen at frames 1 and 9 of the fish cycle. Go back to the first frame of your 3D animation and then re-shape the body of the fish like frame 1 of the fish cycle. Then go to the ninth frame of your 3D animation and re-shape the fish like frame 9 of the fish cycle. Then go to the seventeenth frame of your 3D animation and make the fish look like frame 1 of the fish cycle. Then go to the twenty-fifth frame of your 3D animation and reshape the fish like frame 9 of the fish
cycle. Continue through your 3D anima- tion like this.
When you get to a corner remember to kick the tail fin into the corner more, then move the head round and with a slightly twisted body, continue the sinusoidal wave through the fish until the corner is com- pleted. Then straighten the fish.
Once the keys are done, go back and do the breakdown positions. These corres- pond to frames 5 and 13 of the fish cycle. Copy these for each relevant frame on your 3D fish. (The shape of frame 5 of the fish cycle should be copied onto the fifth,
twenty-first, and thirty seventh frames of the 3D fish and frame 13 of the fish cycle should be copied onto the thirteenth, twenty-ninth and forty-fifth frames of the 3D fish).
Hopefully you will end up with something like fish_swim_3D.avi in animations007, chapter007 of the CD-ROM.