Character Animation of our old professor

Your job would be to animate an already modelled character of an old professor (fully rigged, physique, lipsync controls). It can be viewed at [login to view URL] * The animations should contain changing of the whole body posture, gesture as well as facial expressions. * The model needs to be smiling in every pose. * Facial expressions could be pupil movements, smiling etc., but no speaking. There will be no voice over but speech bubbles, so we do not need any speaking animations. * You should not only know how to use 3ds Max, but also have a good understanding of animation principles and human poses. Motions should be accompanied by secondary actions and you should follow general animation principles (e.g. anticipation, follow-through, no twins, etc...). * Every animation should start and end in the standard neutral position except when noted otherwise. Technical Requirements: * The model is in the 3D Studio Max 7 file format, so you need to work with this software in order to create the animations. * A camera must be added to the scene and all animations must be tailored towards this camera. * You do not need to render these animations to bitmaps, we will do this by ourselves with your saved .max file. * The animations will eventually be compressed into animated GIFs at about 15 FPS, and file size of the rendered images does matter. So you need to make the animations expressive but also as short as possible, especially those which involve a lot of motion. Animations in which only a small area of the bitmap is updated every frame can be compressed more easily, so you can extend those a bit more. ++++ Modelling and texturing ++++ Add a topee to his head. Add an adventure gadget or two to his belt (e.g. a machete, magnifying glass, binoculars, torch, rope). Add a propeller to the topee like the propeller of a propeller beanie. This propeller is not visible except in the propeller departure pose. ++++ Animations and poses ++++ * Neutral pose * Please choose a standard neutral position for him. He is standing on a pedestal, patiently waiting until something happens. * Greeting pose * The professor is waving his hand and greets the viewer * Waiting poses (4) * 4 waiting gestures - he is patiently waiting and just moves parts of his body a bit while waiting back to the neutral position after each gesture * Explaining pose * The professor explains something. He must be pointing to the game board, which is situated to the left of the professor (as seen by the player) * Helpful explanation pose * The professor does helpful and friendly movement * Congratulation pose * The professor adopts a congratulation pose, this pose could be introduced by a frisk/dido. * Compassionate pose * The smile should be not as cheerful as in the other poses, more pitiful. * Entry appearance * The professor is standing on a pedestal which is hovering. The pedestal on the bottom of the screen and then hovers into the screen with the professor standing on it. This animation does not need to start in the neutral position. This animation consists of 2 parts 1) The professor is in his movement position. He probably has a very stable and steady posture because of the sudden and fast movement. This is no animation, just a pose. 2) The pedestal slows down and the professor moves into his neutral position. * Regular departure pose * This is the opposite of the Entry appearance animation. The pedestal moves out of the screen by hovering to the top of the screen and the professor slides out of the screen while standing on the pedestal. This animation does not need to end in the neutral position. This animation consists of 2 parts 1) The professor moves from the neutral position in the movement position 2) The professor is in his movement position. The pose could be the same as the pose in the entry appearance. * Falling Departure * The pedestal leaves the screen, but instead of hovering to the top the screen, it moves to left and leaves the screen this way. The professor didn't expect this, he stays in place and then falls down. This animation does not need to end in the neutral position. This animation consists of 2 parts 1) The pedestal retracts. The professor stays at his place. He looks to the left for the pedestal (or down to his feet where the pedestal just was a second ago) 2. The professor falls down. While falling his tie moves upwards. (You should include other movements of his various body parts). We will do the vertical motion in our game engine, but the professor must assume a position which looks as if he is falling. * Propeller departure pose * The professor leaves the screen, but instead of hovering out of the screen the professor uses a propeller to fly out of the screen. This animation does not need to end in the neutral position. This animation consists of these parts: 1) The propeller is deployed from the professor's topee and opens. 2) The pedestal hovers away to the left. The propeller starts to turn and the professor takes off straight into the air. As with the fall, we will do the vertical motion of the professor on our own, we just need the animation of the professor while he is airborne. 3) The professor levitates out of the screen (nothing else should move except the propeller).