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2nd try at a walk

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2nd try at a walk

Hey guys. I did another walk. What do you all think?

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/lowmanWalkRender.mov

MightyMew1's picture
"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

I think that he takes the weight on his legs/feet really well. If there's one thing that's missing I think it's a sensitivity to the shoulder-hips relationship. They seem to stay more or less parallel (though it's tricky to catch since it's in perspective), which is fine in some cases, but here it seems like the great stretch of the leg should act in raising the hip on the same side, which angles the torso inward, and the setup of the head could be whatever feels natural and makes sense in the context of the mood you're trying to convey. It's not a connection I've really made before, but when you see those solid/flexible charts and how it alternates all throughout the body, it seems like that could give it a limberness it's missing right now.

The head motion is more of a subtle pivot than anything, which also would be fine except that with all the other things in addition to not involving the neck it comes across as barely discernible that it's moving at all, even relative to what's near it, reading as extra stiffness. In fact if the head was looser I might not notice the other movement issues, in retrospect.

I have limited 3D experience in comparison to you, so I'm not sure if it's a curves thing or what, but the walk looks stilted or stepped somewhat, like you can tell exactly where the keys are (whether you used conventional keys or not)...Exaggerate the secondary action, maybe in the wrists, or break it up with a delay at least. Even though you do a nice job of keeping small differences in the different progressions of the cycle, it feels underwhelming in terms of movement.

Like I said, keep in mind the limits of my experience. But from this perspective (however valuable since if I had no experience at all I'd still be like an audience member searching for appeal) that's my take.

ok

Thanks alot Scattered, I agree with you. I'll try to fix those things tomorow. :D

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

up-date

Alright, here's an up-date.

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/lowmanWalkFront.avi

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jcofer20/lowmanWalkSide.avi

I increased the tilt on the torso and hips as you suggested Scattered. I also gave him some more head motion. I have the neck offset from the torso by two frames and the head offset from the neck by two frames. Let me know if I need to offset them some more. I also bent the elbows more on the contacts and I rotated the wrist so it's easier to see the hand overlap. The elbows are offset from the arm by two frames and the hands from the elbows by two frames. What do you think?

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

The view from the front is "Oh man, that's good." in terms of improvement. It is very fluid and cartoony.
(Windows users hit Ctrl + T to loop the playback)

The profile is also an improvement. At first I thought it still had the staggered motion, but you know what, watching it just a few times and it actually comes off clear as day as a -rhythm- instead of something that looked like a technical issue. Plus the way you have the delays in that hierarchy his whole body buckles gradually and builds to a cool SNAP. You could run music against this at a certain BPM and it would totally sync.

I can't wait for other people's opinions (since they'll have experience with this). But yah, as far as I'm concerned, with your openness and your work ethic, you're a pro in formation.

Thanks alot Scattered. I'm glad you like it! How do you find out a song's bpm?

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Beats Per Minute is almost always supplied on the sheet music, but often loading digital files into certain players, or definitely audio editing software, can help establish that. Celemony Melodyne has a free demo which not only scans the song and finds it out, but can break vocals into their individual notes for specific pitch control, create instant natural harmonies and even ADAPT the tempo of pasted-in tracks to the original one you loaded.

Hehe, tangents =) I'll see later tonight if we have anything that works on this comp and I'll make you a little WMV.

Thanks Scattered! I'll download that program and give it a try! Thanks for thinking of making a wmv too!:D

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

Singing in the Rain - Instrumental w/ JC's second walk
(2.81MB)

The music is actually delayed from the start of the walk but it still hits several accent points. Plus I think it shares some of the character.

http://studentofanimation.com/images/Singing.wmv

Thanks for sharing that Scattered, it's cool! :D

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane