Dilo in Unreal
– Keyframe animation
Animals and creatures in general have always been a big interest and part of my life but Dinosaurs are ranked just a tad higher to me. Therefore there was never any doubt that it was something I wanted to animate for my portfolio. Let me introduce Dilo the Dilophosaurus!
This project has been made for Unreal Engine in mind and to create some nice blended animations for a small gameplay showcase. I want you to feel like you are a hunter looking for your next meal but at the same time that you are a dinosaur with a playful personality roaming around in your kingdom.
I started with a locomotion and added things as I went on. The character can both jog and run when it stalks it prey depending if the prey has seen you or not.
The roar felt natural and necessary for a carnivorous dinosaur to have and I wanted it to feel powerful. I collected a lot of inspiration from the Jurassic World games for this one.
The pounce attack is in three parts; a settle, a loop and the attack itself. When you hold down the button for the attack the dinosaur settles and then loops, when you release the button it then launches in the air! It was important to me that this particular move felt extra responsive.
Since the dinosaur rig is so long I wanted it’s turning to feel smooth. I added an additive lean and also clamped the turning angle so the character turns in a more circular movement. I also rigged and animated the plant you can hide between.
I did all implementation in Unreal Engine 5. I also added some physics to the tail and hands so they would follow my animations and sudden movements more fluently.
My thoughts on this project
I had a lot of fun working on Dilo, I love the non-traditional rigs that give you a challenge as an animator. What gave me most joy was seeing him come alive as I introduced the root motion in Unreal Engine and creating the roar.
The two challenges I faced was one; the length of the rig, there is a lot of countering to have in mind and you need to watch out so the neck and tail doesn’t move in the wrong direction suddenly. The second was that this is a creature that was extinct long before any cameras were invented and that makes a lot of the movements a guessing game. Other attempts on it can be seen in movies and games sure, but we don’t know for sure. I tried to look at birds and reptiles and make my own attempt.
If I would iterate on this I would probably add more details such as look at functions and maybe give Dilo the ability to feed and take down it’s prey and make it into more of a survival experience.
To sum it all up, I am looking forward to work with creatures like Dilo again. He was a good boy!
Root motion setup
Animation Blueprint
Pounce action
Credits
Music by Magnetic_Trailer from Pixabay
Rig by Arvid Aspeborg : LinkedIn , Website
Stylized Nature Pack Environment by Tiny Talisman Games