Adding a believable breathing cycle is a subtle but powerful way to bring life and realism to your character animations. In this tutorial, Senior Animator Jason Martinsen walks through his workflow for creating natural breathing animation loops in Maya using the Animation Mentor Tina rig. Watch the full video above.
Meet Jason Martinsen
Jason Martinsen has been a professional animator since 2006 and is currently a supervising animator at Sunrise Productions. He previously worked at Framestore, Reel FX, Sony Imageworks, and Blue Sky Studios on film productions like Storks and Ferdinand. Other projects include Scoob!, Back to the Outback, Rumble and Monkey King.
You can learn more about Jason and his work here.
Start with Real Breathing Reference
Jason begins by explaining how breathing works. Inhalation expands the rib cage and pushes down the diaphragm, which slightly inflates the belly. Natural breathing often begins in the belly and moves up through the chest, almost like a wave.
He recommends observing reference, including real-life footage and video game idle animations, to study how different body parts (the belly, chest, shoulders, and head) move at different times and rhythms. Reference clips show how the inhale is often slower than the exhale, and how each part reacts with a slight delay.
Blocking the Breathing Loop
- Pose your character in a natural position (hands on legs, upright stance, or a resting action).
- Start by animating the core (COG) with translation and rotation up and down. Focus on making the movement uneven: inhale is longer, exhale is quicker.
- Move on to the chest. Use Maya controls for chest expansion, adding a subtle scale for realism. Offset the chest movement from the core to simulate the wave of a real breath.
Layering Secondary Motion
- Add shoulders and head next, offsetting their motion in the timeline for a realistic cascade effect.
- Each body part should move just after the previous one. This slight offset creates the illusion of energy traveling through the body during each breath.
Use the Graph Editor for Refinement
- Enable cycling in Maya’s graph editor, so the first and last frames match, ensuring a perfect, seamless loop.
- Adjust timing, tangents, and curve profiles to exaggerate or minimize the inhale and exhale, depending on your character’s needs (resting, nervous, post-exertion, etc).
- Make corrections to avoid pops or jerking at the loop’s end. A smooth transition is key.
Customizing for Personality
You can quickly adapt the loop to different character needs:
- Change the pose or arm position for different attitudes.
- Widen the stance or raise the posture for a game idle.
- Add extra sway, slight head turns, or blinks for a more active or subtle performance.
Workflow Tips
- Always offset the timing between belly, chest, shoulders, and head for a natural result.
- Examine reference to see if your exhale is quicker than the inhale.
- Use Maya’s post-infinity cycle, and bake keys for easy editing.
- Layer new animation on top for more complex acting or scene demands.
Jason’s Takeaway: Great breathing cycles require careful observation, smart timing, and clean Maya workflow. They elevate even the simplest idle animations and provide a strong base for more complex character acting.
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