For this week, we started off with two practice models that would introduce some of the skills we needed to make a Zubat flying animation. The two practice models were as follows:

A milkshake – this model incorporated much of the same techniques we have been using for the past few weeks, was relatively quick to do and turned out well.

A flower and vase – this one was harder, mainly for the petals on the flower. But I learned a new technique, which was to bring in a plane and cut the shape I needed out of it, then solidify it to give the mesh thickness. I’ve utilised this technique in both models I have made since this one.

The Zubat was challenging to model, I especially had trouble with the bone parts of the wings. However, I became more comfortable with the mirror tool and the plane-cutting technique.

The animation stumped me for a while as I hit something called a ‘gimbal lock’, where my model kept spinning nonsensically between keyframes for seemingly no reason. After a few restarts, I got it sorted and the animation was finished.