New Interpolation Curve Video was fun to make!

What is an interpolation curve? Why would I use it? What do I do with the interpolation curve in MikuMikuDance?

My new Interpolation Curve video was fun to make!

I got inspired to bang-out a quick little video tutorial to help explain the use of the interpolation curve in MMD.

And I mean “Bang-out”… ! … I used Len swinging a big hammer to demonstrate the look of a motion without … and with… the use of the interpolation curve. The video opens with the simple motion looking robot-like as Len slams the hammer on the table… then I show the same animation with the only difference being the acceleration curve added to the right elbow motion… looks so much better!

The FUN part…

I had fun making the little video as I animated the “hammer pounding the table” motion. I intentionally put a couple of items onto the table so they could react to the impact… with all items including the table attached to dummy bones. The motion happens pretty quickly: the hammer hits the table and lingers there for three frames before lifting back up. During that impact moment, the table is pushed down a little and then “bounces” up a little and rolls a little and then sets back down onto the floor… and those items on the table I animated so as to make them bounce onto the floor. Stupid fun to animate!

The noise…

For the sound effect, I brought a bunch of junk from the garage and stacked it next to my computer’s microphone… and I whacked the junk with a hammer while recording into Audacity. I also scraped the side of a plastic coffee can for the ball-rolling noise. I had something like 10 recordings to sort through and assemble for that one little moment. Amazing how complicated that noise was… I overlapped several tracks to get the sound I wanted. Again… stupid fun.

Short and longer…

That animation is only 160 frames… twice: once with the straight curve, and once with the acceleration curve… but my finished video is over two minutes long!

When I created my finished video, I put it together in Windows Movie Maker on my old XP computer. I added title screens and repeatedly inserted my two little video clips between the titles… with no music or over-voice, I feel the little video communicates my message very well.