This is a quick preview test for the butterfly in 'A Siege of Colour'. I'm experimenting with a variety of looks for the butterfly at the moment... I'm not sure whether she should be more towards the real like this young madame or whether to push it stylistically into something that resembles painterly brush strokes?

The motion is quite simple but is on the right track. I'm looking forward to doing some research on butterfly flight... They're clumsy looking characters... Something graceful about their awkward dancing though.

Animation Notes:
I'm using a rig I made a few years ago for some early tests. It was easy to make... The wings have two keyframes that have a 'bounce' on their out-of-range controller type, this makes them flap continuously. The wings are parented to a dummy object that has a noise controller on the position, to give a simple impression of random fluttering. This dummy is then parented to an additional dummy that is path constrained to a spline... This is the flight path of the butterfly.