Tommy - "The Batman"

Cycle Test (WIP)

I've been trying my hand at creating cycles using the "Something" rig, courteously provided by the multi-talented Rodney Brett. Seriously, that's it's name. The "Something." Whatever it is, the only thing that's certain is that it is a huge derp. 

If this creature were in an RPG, it would be one of those laughably weak monsters that are inexplicably fun to beat to a pulp. I really wanted to incorporate this into my animations for this character. Everything it does looks stupid from the lagging tongue to his floppy eyes that can't keep up with his head.

What we have here are four animation cycles (idle, idle action, walk and run) combined and blended together using Maya's Trax Editor. The run is not complete, but the other three are pretty much done. I may create some transitional animations as well for certain connections. Each cycle took about a day, though I'm confident I could do all four of them again in one.

Cycle Test from Michael DiNocco on Vimeo.

Sañ the Saguaro Cactoid

It has been a while since my last post, but I assure you new things are in the works. I've been putting more time into developing my Cactoid story and the main character, Sañ. The name is based off the O’odham word for saguaro cactus (O'odham is the Uto-Aztecan language of southern Arizona and northern Sonora).

I'll release more details on the story in the future, but for now I'll leave you with some quick character design sketches and a turnaround for Sañ, which is being used to create a 3D model which I plan on having rigged for animation.