For me this is probably my main challenge. Given enough time and effort, I can power through most tasks, or find/buy missing resources, but time is something that’s terribly hard to find.
Can’t neglect the family, after all, they’re part of the reason I’m doing this. Some nights I sit down to knock something out and all I have is about 90 minutes. Sometimes an opportunity to work longer appears, then a little bit into it something happens and the family needs help. Let alone the house upkeep and all the other things that need be done to keep a functioning home and family. Not just a functioning one, but a happy one since it’s not all house work. Sometimes I need a little time myself to unwind, slay a few thousand demons in D3 or something.
So, there’s my rant and frustration, but hey, I feel your pain.
Now for animation…I’ve little artistic ability, which is why my project is partnered with somebody who does have it, but our goal so far has been not to reinvent the wheel as much as tweaking something existing. We too have many ideas, but our first project will be the one we feel has a better chance of seeing the light of day given our situation. Which will involve tweaks and modifications to already supplied UE4 motions and maybe taking some from 3rd party mocap. For scene animations, like say a movie sequence, we’re going to do more text based story than visual. Then, if this project goes well, there ought to be the time and resources to expand into bigger projects. Maybe get an animator added after that point.
From what we’ve seen so far, to master animation (to our needs and standards) would run our project out so far that it just would never happen. Now that said, there’s some stuff coming out that could significantly aid with animation. Saw a project called Facerig a while back that could be quite handy. So, my advice, find shortcuts to meet your goals for now while you gain knowledge. Better to keep moving on the big picture for motivation. Plus, I’d wager a decent selection of affordable items will hit the marketplace over the next few months.