To make the robot, I used the extrude tool. I wanted to make my robot convincing, so I gave him a surreal appearance. I made the legs in two different sections, and gave him claw like fingers and toes. I also gave him a jetpack, which would be a key factor in the animation. I chose to give him orange blinn textures so he would be easier to see on the screen. The next part of the project proved to be daunting. I was very interested in experimenting with rigging, so I decided to make a skeleton for my robot. After parenting the model and skeleton, I realized that there were a few major problems. Some parts of the model would move when I would move an unrelated joint. I had to use the component editor to weigh down multiple parts of the model. The jetpack was also a hassle to fix, but in the end it was done. I attached a pair of torus rings to the jetpack, so I could give them fire effects.
I initially wanted my robot to barely catch the ship and be victorious. But because of time and technical issues, I had to go with the sad ending. I made my robot get his jetpack started up, and reach up in an attempt to reach the flying ship. The ship flies away just as the robot is reaching for it, but misses it. As the robot is floating, he bows his head in defeat. Even though I was not originally going to use this scenario, it ended up working out very well. It gave me more opportunities to animate my robot, and show his feelings through his actions.
I am proud of my final results, since I had so much difficulty with rigging my robot. I could not get my robot's legs working the way I intended, although it was not that important in the final animation. I wish I had more time to animate the original scenario I had in mind, but I am pleased with the one I have now. I think I could have done more with the effects on the jetpack. For example, I wanted to experiment with smoke and sparks. I also think that I could have used different camera angles to give a different perspective to the video. I am glad that I improved on my animations from the midterm. I incorporated the bobbing motion that aircraft have when in motion, and used that in both models in the final project. I believe that actions can speak louder than words at times, which is why my robot model can easily express his emotions despite missing facial features and dialogue.
