New-Old Animations

So next on the list of things to-do is animations. Getting the characters rigged and ready for in-game is straightforward, animations on the otherhand are not. Animating is one of the skills I admire the most because I find it very difficult to do.

I wanted a specific set of animations which were in the original game, online these can be found everywhere, from paid assets to free mocap data etc. I've decided to try and keep some original animations for better sense of authenticity.

Having found all the models with animations online I've managed to setup a scene that allows me to mirror these animations frame for frame, or atleast as close as possible.

I did this by having my rigged character centre of the scene for best results, I then had the original character by the side and on top of my rig. This way when i cycle through frames I can see what bones need moving and how it should look.

This works quite well using this method, but more complex movements are harder to mimic. Not only that but extra tweaking is required such as hand rotation to make it look a bit more realisitc. 

While I'm not great at this I think the result is good and in game it looks fine!

The animation looks fast, but it is exactly the same. The only reason why it looks out of place is because in game the animation is frozen halfway while he's "picking up" whatever item it is and is then resumed after a button press.
This is easy to replicate and will be next on the list, alongside a stading variation of this.

I think new animations would have probably been better, but due to my lack of skill and my desire to keep the game as authentic as I can this result is satisfactory and honestly I dont think anyone will even notice.