Maya Rigs - Free and Paid

Some cool free rigs:

Sony's Zombie Rig: http://splinebomb.com/hotel-transylvania-free-zombie-rig/
Hulk Rig: http://dharmindoshi.com/blog-posts/hulk-rig-free-maya-rig/
AnimSchool Rig: http://www.animschool.com/DownloadOffer.aspx
Animation Mentor Rig: http://www.animationmentor.com/free-maya-rig/
Various!: http://www.11secondclub.com/resources

Paid Rigs:
Joe's Mega Pack: http://artofjoe.blogspot.com.tr/p/blog-page.html

Other Sources:
Great Collection of Rigs: http://animationbuffet.blogspot.com.tr/
http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/ultimate-rigs-maya-rigs-maya-character-rigs-free-maya-rigs/
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/

There are so many good free rigs out there now, have a look on animbuffet for most needs

More Fighting Tests

To differentiate from the previous tests I chose to have the character use a staff:    
Hiroshi Staff Test from Warren Goff on Vimeo.
Rig: Hiroshi. bambu-blog.blogspot.com/2011/08/dragon-weaver-update.html

With Each of these tests I tried to give the character a goal, in these examples I imagined the character defending their home from an intruder by showing their skills, or like in the punch test, I imagined it was a training test.

Fighting Tests Continued...

Continuing my tests I wanted to try some fighting moves without a weapon:    
Hiroshi Punch Test from Warren Goff on Vimeo.
Rig: Hiroshi. bambu-blog.blogspot.com/2011/08/dragon-weaver-update.html

Fighting Tests

Well its been over a year since I posted much, life took over a bit and the move to America and starting a new job took its toll. But I have been animating! I have been working on some stylized animations, trying to push weight, timing and poses: Firstly I want to point out that I took Ref/Inspiration from many areas like movies/anime, but these 2 shots really stand out for me:
https://vimeo.com/96192722
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWCIZ47HkB0

In these 2 examples the use of poses, timing and staging is awesome, aswell as the use of objects to create some amazing shapes in maya.

So with that in mind I started with a sword test:    
Hiroshi Sword Test from Warren Goff on Vimeo.
Rig: Hiroshi. bambu-blog.blogspot.com/2011/08/dragon-weaver-update.html

One of the areas I was exploring is smear frames, in this I only smeared the sword but I would like to go back and add smear poses to the character :)

Keith Lango

This:
https://keithlango.com/animationclinic/cart/

$99 bucks for all 61 videos - They are amazing and well worth it

His videos on moving holds and timing were extremely helpful to me

Animation Websites

I used to spend hours reading everything I could find on the internet and amassed a huge list of blogs and websites over the years, now I have less time on my hands but I thought I would share the links:

NOTE: Some of these links are to the main blogs, you need to search through older posts for gems of information!

Blogs
http://splinedoctors.com/
http://wjacobgardner.com/blog/
http://animationmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2138
http://vfxsolution.com/allanmckay/2010/10/overtime-vs-productivity/
http://brendanbody.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.chriswoodsanimation.com/tutorials/actionanalysis.html
http://animationprogression.blogspot.co.uk/
http://animatorsresource.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.penciltestdepot.com/
http://bobbyboom.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.thinkinganimation.com/
http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/
http://blog.navone.org/
http://fliponline.blogspot.co.uk/
http://keithlango.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.kylekenworthy.blogspot.co.uk/

Hints &Tips
http://www.keithlango.com/tutorials/old/popThru/polish.html
http://www.carlosbaena.com/resource/anim_OllieJohnston.html
http://www.carlosbaena.com/resource/anim_Blinks.html
http://www.carlosbaena.com/resource/anim_EdHooks.html
http://www.brianlemay.com/animation/animindex.html
http://animationsalvation.com/free_tips/lip-sync/1
http://frankandollie.com/PhysicalAnimation.html
http://www.shaunfreeman.com/animating_tips/
http://animatorsworld.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/28-principals-of-animation/

Tutorials
http://wjacobgardner.com/blog/?p=196
http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/acting_it_out
http://www.spyingforlying.com/
http://www.warpedanimation.com/ibl_for_animators/
http://www.jrawebinar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=158

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_basic_principles_of_animation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emotions
http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php
http://www.referencereference.com/
http://www.rhinohouse.com/
http://www.scott-eaton.com/category/bodies-in-motion
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html?_r=0#index

Rigs
http://animationbuffet.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.joshburton.com/projects/morpheus.asp
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/
http://lesterbanks.com/2010/03/22-of-the-most-fun-rigs-for-maya/

Animation Books

When I first started to animate I bought a massive bunch of books on the subject, so I thought I would list them if anyone cares to read them:

The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams.
The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnstone
Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair
Acting for Animators by Ed hooks
Timing for Animation by Harold Whittaker
All About Techniques in Drawing for Animation Production by Sergi Camara
Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation by Wayne Gilbert

Character Animation Crash Course by Eric Goldberg
Body Language: How to Read Others' Thoughts by Their Gestures by Allan Pease
What Every BODY is Saying by Joe Navarro
People Watching by Desmond Morris
This Visual Story by Bruce Block
How to Cheat in Maya by Eric Luhta and Kenny Roy
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone
A Practical Handbook for the Actor by Melissa brother

There are so many other great books that you can buy but I've not got around to buying them yet so keep looking!

Riot Games & The US of A

Slightly amazing news - We will be moving to Santa Monica in 3 months! I got myself a job in Riot Games working on League of Legends a MOBA.  It has over 100 characters and a massive range of animation styles, the quality is out of this world and I can't wait to get stuck in!

http://www.riotgames.com/
http://www.leagueoflegends.com

LoL is Free to Play so get on it!

New Shots!

What a busy few months! I was working over in Cambridge for Sony and after I finished working for them in March I had a few weeks off so just messed about and created these shots: (Still WIP)
Hulk Animation Test from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Camera and Staging Test from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Challenge Accepted....

51 Animation Exercises: http://www.animatorisland.com/?p=1723 I'm totally going to try this. I will post my updates to this blog/vimeo :D

Fighting Stuff

I am still trying to get a snappy style into the moves, I didn't really get there but you can see some progression from the ninja stuff I did before.
Combat tests and walk cycle from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Stylized combat test from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Creature Stuff

Taking a break from the fighting stuff I wanted to do a bunch of tests for learning creature animation:
WIP Creature Test No3 from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

WIP Quadruped test No 2 from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Chase test WIP from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Ninja Stuff

So last year I wanted to explore cinematography and all that involves aswell as try to do some action stuff, I roughed out a big shot then polished a section.  The aim was to have a snappy style but after years of realistic animation I struggled to push it. Something that I learnt todo later.
I polished one scene from my blocking:
Ninja Fight Part 1... from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

The Rough Blocking:
Ninja - Rough Blocking Test from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Old Stuff

Just for fun way back in 2011:
Heist from Warren Goff on Vimeo.
Crysis 2 Stalker Run Test:
Stalker Run from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

IAnimate Workshop 4 - Acting

This course really pushed me out of my comfort zone but it was well worth it!
 Assignment 1:
iAnimate WS4 Assignment 1 Final from Warren Goff on Vimeo.
Assignment 2:
iAnimate WS4 Assignment 2 from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

IAnimate WorkShop 2 - Advanced Body Mechanics

I did Workshop 2 of iAnimate back in 2011 and of the 4 shots I started on the course I managed to finish 2: Assignment 4:

iAnimate WS2 Assignment 4 from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

Assignment 3:

iAnimate WS2 Assignment 3 from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

And just to show you the WIP of Assignment 1:

iAnimate WS2 Assignment 1 - WIP from Warren Goff on Vimeo.

It was an amazing learning experience for me and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to push there skills!

Crysis2 Reel

Crysis2 Reel from Warren Goff on Vimeo.
This is a few years old now but it still means alot to me as it was my first title!

Blink and you missed it

Where the hell did 3 years go? Well I started a new blog, then let that one die. So back to this one, I am going to try to re-post the stuff from the other blog then start adding new content. Anyway, watch this space!(Again)

Double Take

As promised a Double Take using the Norman Rig in Maya. It took me most of Sunday afternoon to do this!

This is done with the Norman Rig:

I'm quite happy with it but think that the timing needs changing a little, the beats are to linear. you can almost tap the rhythm very evenly (which is bad) Live and learn I guess!

Next week I am going to make a cartoony walk cycle using the squirrely rig!

Animation Test

Hey so its been a while! Ive been working hard and enjoying the summer, I did some animation tests way back in Feb/March and totally forgot to upload them.
So here goes:

This is done with the Moom Rig and was my first test:

The rest of these are done with the Norman Rig:

Doing these gave me a crash course in Maya which im starting to like using more than Max!

Next up I want to do a Double take, a throwing example and a walk cycle, I also want to finish the 11secClub entry for April that I started so watch this space!