ABSTRACT
Every game animator should know about the basics of creating and getting a character into the game, and opening up the first stages of video game animation creation. There are essentially three primary types of animation required to make a character move fluidly, determined as much by how they start and end as by the action within. The three primary types of animation: cycles, linear actions and transitions. Three-dimension (3D) character animation is at its core a set of rotation and translation values on joints that in turn move polygons, around in 3D space to give the illusion of a living character. An important aspect to understand when exporting skeleton values to the game is that animators typically do not directly manipulate the skeletons but instead a rig on top of the skeleton. Careful management of collision is essential when transitioning between one animation and the next.
