Tutorial: Animating Stylized Attacks in Maya
The Gnomon Workshop has released Animating Stylized Attacks in Maya, a masterclass in animation for games, recorded by NetherRealm Studios’ Brad Faucheux.
The workshop, which is aimed at intermediate and advanced artists, provides over three hours of video training in Maya.
Master professional techniques for creating stylized combat animations for games
In the workshop, Faucheux reveals how to animate a complete combat sequence suitable for use in a stylized fighting game, from idle stance to final impact.
He explores how to create fast, readable, and powerful attacks using Maya’s animation tools, including the Graph Editor, Motion Trails, and Animation Layers.
Skills covered include creating strong key poses, controlling timing with anticipation and recovery, breaking down start-up, active and recovery frames, and using offset keys and smears to enhance impact.
The workshop also covers broader topics such as hitstop simulation and balancing visual clarity with responsiveness of gameplay, using animation strategies taken from professional fighting game pipelines.
As well as Maya itself, the tutorial uses Ahmed Shalaby’s free X-rig, Shadrak Guichard-Foster’s free Maya Viewport VFX Rigs Pack, and the Epic Pen tool.
About the artist
Brad Faucheux is Senior Cinematic Animator at Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm Studios.
He previously worked at Reel FX on animated features Free Birds and The Book of Life, and at Blizzard Entertainment on Overwatch, Overwatch 2 and multiple cinematic shorts.
Pricing and availability
Animating Stylized Attacks in Maya is available via a subscription to The Gnomon Workshop, which provides access to over 300 tutorials.
Subscriptions cost $57/month or $499/year. Free trials are available.
Read more about Animating Stylized Attacks in Maya on The Gnomon Workshop’s website
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