Sonic Walk Cycle

For my final year at university I want to create an animation that combines both 3D and 2D elements seamlessly. This little walk cycle was a test to see how easy it would be to achieve. Broken down the shot is comprised of three main elements. Firstly there's the goofy looking Sonic which I animated in flash. His cycle could probably use a couple more frames but otherwise I'm happy with him; after all this is just a test. I then modelled/animated the 3D chili-dog in Maya. I exported both the sonic and chili-dog animation as PNG sequences into photoshop were I gave them a stroke and bevel effect.
Lastly I needed a backdrop for animation. I wanted the shot to be an everlasting cycle, so I decided a scrolling plane would the simplest thing to do. I quickly modelled up a basic looking floor in google sketchup and then animated a camera path over the model in 3Ds max.
 I then compiled the entire shot in after effects adding little details like shadows. I also added some scrolling background elements just to add a bit more depth.
This approach to animating definitely takes a lot more planning but I never felt like the process was anymore difficult. If anything I enjoyed making the animation more because I wasn't doing the same thing all the time. I think my next real test is to have 3D and 2D characters interact.