This does not look good here, um...

You probably have a few questions for me:

How was Christmas?

Yes I did have a lovely Christmas thank you.

How is work going on?

Well I have been trying to follow that tutorial. On the first try, the code worked but the shape wasn't moving correctly so I've deleted it and start again. But now every time I would try to input the code, I get this error message:

Error: Attribute already controlled by an expression, keyframe, or other connection

I have no idea how to fix it and I've been trying out different things with no result.

This is really down hearting as I was hoping this method would be the solution but it looks like I have no choice but to animate the wings manually myself...see this is way I dislike modeling because of complicated controls and problems like this.

The Christmas Season

I may be off university but I shall still be working on my assignment. I've managed to download a trail version of the 2011 version. It last for 30 days which should be enough time before the deadline. I've tried to get the full version but I can't access my student email for some reason which is required. But a trail version shall do for now

A Perfect Tutorial?

Browsing through the internet searching for tutorials, I've find a blog page that might be the perfect tutorial I need. It shows a technique called Expressions. From what I can gather, it allows you to animate a model without the use of keyframes. The example happened to be a bug with wings. I could follow that example to model my Moth. I have been having a little trouble trying to figure out how to create the Moth so hopefully this would give me a solution.

The secret behind animating the wings appears to be some coding that must be added in the expression editor:

lWing.rotateX = time * 10;

(With lWing being the name of your model)

This code controls the X Rotation of the model and the "*10" part makes the flapping of the wings faster which makes it easier to see.

To make the wing back and forth, you add this code:

lWing.rotateX = sin (time * 10) * 40;

(To make the right wing animate properly, add a minus sign in front of "sin")

You can find more details here: http://www.talino.org/tutorials/exp1/

I haven't tested this out yet as currently, Maya is still down but I do plan to download Maya at home so I can try it anytime (and so I can work throughout the Christmas holidays) where ever it's the full version of a trail version.

Another walk cycle preview

This is the preview of the improved walk cycle that I've done a few days ago using that reference I've posted earlier.

Some images

As I type this in uni, unfortunately, Maya is down so I decide to do some research by finding images of the objects that I might model in the lamp animation. Here are some that I've found.

Can you believe it's nearly Christmas?

If you're wondering how I'm doing with my work, then here's an update:

I've been improving the Walk Cycle in modeling too using this as a reference:
But I've also got started on modeling the lamp. I just need to model the Moth which might take some time...

Progress!

I've woken up late this morning as my alarm failed and I end up waking an hour later (but I still got into university in time) plus the weather is awful.

But it's not all gloom today.

Here's a preview of the Walk cycle I've done so far yesterday with the legs moving. It's not perfect but I'm glad I've made progress.