Keying out the fight sequence was much more difficult, since two models physically interact. I started with the beginning of the fight, where Rusty runs behind the Peace-Keeper as a distraction to attack. In the original storyboard, that is all Rusty does before pouncing on Peace-Keeper's head, to which the Peace-Keeper rears up on his hind legs and falls back into the pit. As I was beginning the keys for it, it felt strange for a military machine designed to fight and kill to not be actively attacking, instead only defending.
So instead, I keyed out Rusty's distraction run as a defensive one; the Peace-Keeper rears onto its back legs, clearly ready for an attack, and attempts to slam its weight on Rusty as he runs by. The Peace-Keeper misses, so tries catching Rusty's back legs, but Rusty is too fast. Rusty does not run away either, he turns back to the Peace-Keeper preparing for the next attack.
This turned into my favourite shot, as without even realising, when the Peace-Keeper hops to face Rusty at the end of the shot, his legs aren't in optimal positions to carry his weight, but getting them to the optimal places from the previous position stretched the joints in a way I wasn't happy with. In an experimental attempt, I had the Peace-Keeper hop again to get his legs in the best position for carrying his weight and preparing for a fight.
After keying these positions, I worked back through them to time them correctly and I found the end hop looked great. His weight was clear in the height of the jump and the follow through of the landing, while also showing he had the strength and energy to be a deadly opponent in a fight.
Now the stage was set for the interactive part of the fight.
I started with the Peace-Keeper, who, in the storyboard rears up and grapples with Rusty, which makes him step back and lose his footing over the pit. I started with the rearing up, which wouldn't need as much preparatory keying as an active attack, since it was a defensive manoeuvre. I kept his forepaws in the general area where Rusty was planned to be, obviously allowing space to make it easier to alter later. His left backpaw makes a step back, trying to keep the flow of movement from his head to back, which slips through to the empty space of the pit.
I planned to continue with the fall into the pit later.
Now it was time to deal with Rusty. I keyed out the anticipation before the pounce, then the jump itself. Rusty intercepts the Peace-Keeper's rear up, and I went back to alter the Peace-Keeper's forepaws so he was holding onto Rusty better.
Now the keys were done up until the point the Peace-Keeper was falling.
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