05-05-2014, 11:54 PM
This is pretty neat! Any decent modeling program will have the option to display an image over the viewing area for references. Being able to put the pose you're aiming for will greatly help you in recreating it, even without lots of animating experience or advanced techniques. The main things you'll have to worry about are character proportions and depth positioning.
For example, the modern model for Mario certainly has different proportions from the original SMB and SMB3 sprites. You'll likely have to enlarge/shrink/extend body parts in order to fit the art. You can do this just by messing with bones, though, so you don't have to worry about changing the actual polygons.
Recreating a 2D pose has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to depth. Poses can get away with things like body parts clipping through each other (like if Mario has his arms right by his side) as long as the 2D view hides this fact. However, sometimes it can work against you, requiring you to fudge it a little and move body parts towards or away from the camera to prevent obvious clipping. Just keep in mind that this kind of workaround does not work well if you try to introduct more realistic lighting/shadows, which will reveal anything that is too far out of place.
For example, the modern model for Mario certainly has different proportions from the original SMB and SMB3 sprites. You'll likely have to enlarge/shrink/extend body parts in order to fit the art. You can do this just by messing with bones, though, so you don't have to worry about changing the actual polygons.
Recreating a 2D pose has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to depth. Poses can get away with things like body parts clipping through each other (like if Mario has his arms right by his side) as long as the 2D view hides this fact. However, sometimes it can work against you, requiring you to fudge it a little and move body parts towards or away from the camera to prevent obvious clipping. Just keep in mind that this kind of workaround does not work well if you try to introduct more realistic lighting/shadows, which will reveal anything that is too far out of place.