(This video demonstrates the usage of similar principles in Autodesk Maya as well)
 

Introduction To Endorphin - Discovering Endorphin's Special Environment 

In this video we will navigate through Endorphin's special and simple layout to get comfortable with its tools and nodes, and we will set a simple environment ( room ) to define collision and mass objects which are the main materials for all fixed and moving objects and characters in Endorphin. We then set rules for interaction between them all. 

Characters In Endorphin

In this section of the video, we will define various kinds of characters in Endorphin with its collection of preset characters and props. We will make a rock, a door ( in Maya to Endorphin ), then a horse prop character. We then introduce joint limits ( swing and twist ) tools, to define our character's movement limits.  Then we will create our first human simulation character so we can transfer its animation into Maya for the very first time.

Building Horse Simulation Character ( Our First Creature )

This is the longest chapter in the course. We will study our creature's anatomy ( horse ) and compare it with human anatomy. We do this to understand the similarities between the two in order to ease the process of reshaping the default human simulation character's skeleton into our horse character's skeleton. This way, we can get all the benefits of the features and behaviors of the default simulation character into our creature character. We will then limit the joints' twist and swing angles and reshape the mass and collision objects to suit the horse meshes shape. Then we will put the horse into action by applying some forces and behaviors to test its movement in Endorphin, and then Maya where we will discover some problems with the front knees. ( Setting us up for the next chapter. )  

Fixing Problems

In this section of the video we'll re-rig the horse's front knees to improve and correct their bending direction, and to explore how easy these modifications can be in Endorphin. Then we will try applying some forces and behaviors against our horse to test in Endorphin, then in Maya for the last time before we save the new creature ( horse ) character in Endorphin's library. 

Animating The Horse

About The Author

Project Contents

In the course files, to get very realistic horse movement such as Lord of the Rings or King Kong's creatures, we included a high resolution skinned and rigged horse mesh, with skeleton mesh visualization, to ease the comparison with human skeleton in 3D environment. We also included a realistic run cycle for this horse so you can manipulate and change some of its timing and key frames to get your custom movement.