Hello, I have been working on my final for character animation class and now that there is more content perhaps people will have more to say!
Heres the link:
http://blinkmetoys.com/host/school/Walter_Final_Update.mov.avi
it is about 3.2 mb
comments, critiques, and suggestions are all welcomed and encouraged.
—
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
i guess people are pretty busy lately, ay.
or, just don't like to critique anymore.
Also note, there should be an update to this animation in a week or two.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Hi,
I'm not enough to give feedback on 3D works. I dont know how much effort is needed to make these type of animations.
Anyway, as per my view the motion of the character is come up with good flow, and overall i liked the work. Waiting for more stuffs from you....
Rahul Aravind
www.rahularavind.com
You're getting some glide on the walk cycle. You can see it if you frame-by-frame the playback, and watch the feet along the grid. When he's stepping forward, the planted foot is sliding slightly forward, leading the whole character to appear as though he's not pushing away from the ground as he steps. If you can lock that back foot into place, it'll help him feel a bit more solid.
I like the jump and landing, espescially the little secondary bounce.
Inkthinker.DeviantArt
Humouring The Fates, Inc.
yah, thats because i approached it in a way that probably wasnt the best. just trying things out. seein what works.
I animated the cycle then copied it, then just moved the main control point of the rig for forward motion.
that is as close as i could get it to not slide without looking too slow.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Hi there! The animation is looking nice, though I agree that you need to fix that foot slide happening during the walk. You can also try and add some drag and delay to the head during the walk to give it a bit more of weight and personality. You can also try and squash the body down a bit during the transfer of weight part of your walk (where the torso is at it's lowest position) to add even more weight.
When the rod pops out of the ground, it would be nice if your character sort of look at it slightly (as if seeing it from the corner of his eye) before he reacts in surprise. You can also cushion the arm a bit better, maybe delay it a bit more.
He seems to take a long time before he makes his jump. Try simplifying the jump a bit. And the trajectory of his jump looks wierd to me because he jumped in another direction and landed in another.
You might want to do away with the bounce when he lands. It might be better if he just lands normally and maybe cushion into a much stronger, "what is this?" pose.
When he antics and slams the rod back to the ground, try leading with the torso rather that with the head. Right now, the head goes too far down during the antic, and that movement is taking away the attention from the arm and hand that is just about to slam the rod back down into the ground.
Just my two cents, hope it helps. Keep up the good work and good luck with this one!
Blog
thanks for the advice. Its funny though, somebody commented they liked the bounce after landing.
I will work on the areas you mentioned next time i work on it
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Hello Blinkmetoys, your animation has come quite a ways since I last saw it. I have some suggestions for you that will help it look even better...
1. The shoulders and the hips need more rotation. Both of them should be rotating on all axis and you dont seem to have any rotation at all.
2. Your character doesn't seem to have any overlaping action in his spine and head. Right now that part of him is stiff and should be losened(is that a word? o.O) up.
3. Your character shouldn't be able to stop the way you have him when he looks at the pole. He's generated momentum by walking and needs to settle to show him getting rid of it. You can keep his quick responce, but the character needs to get rid of his momentum.
4. Also when you work on point #3, don't forget about overlaping action. Right now everything almost stops at the same time. Remember that the shoulders lead the arm, elbow, and wrist, so it should begin to stop before them. You should show the overlap that this will cause. The same goes for the hips. When the character stops, the spine and head will overlap as well.
5. How does the character know that a pole has just come out of the ground? It would probably make more sense for him to glance in that direction so that the audience knows that the character knows something there. Remember, clarity is everything.
6. The part when the character jumps over to the pole is kinda floaty. I think you should adjust the timing/spacing of that part to make it more snappy. You should also give the character a chance to recover. That was a large leap that he took, not to mention the fact that he was spinning as well. Give him a chance to get his bearings before he examines the pole.
7. Now that I think about it, is the jump he makes even possible? Maybe you could film some reference video and see if it's possible to jump back on z and over on x.
8. I would really get rid of the part where the character wiggles his fingers before hitting the pole. That's a very cliche action and does nothing for your shot.
9. I know it's late to ask this, but I think it would help you to to think about this anyway. Why does the character "attack" the pole? What's he thinking? Why is the pole there in the first place? What's the point of this shot? How is the character affected by the contents of this shot? How does he feel before entering the shot?
Hope that helps! :D I just read Sandrock's comments and I agree with everything he said as well.
"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane
thanks. nice feedback. it will help me quite a bit.
Some of your comments were on my "to do" list for the next few passes i take at it. (adjust overlap and whatnot. adding more rotation and movement to areas as well as fixing the "freeze")
The jump, yah, it may be impossible, but personally I do not think it looks unnatural. I agree with floaty though. Needs some tweaking to get where I envisioned it. I had a similar problem with the jump as i did with why he slides forward a little in his walk.
i know the finger wiggle is cliche, thats kinda why i had to do it. i love that kinda stuff. **See freeze in step in same animation** Plus...it like...attracts attention so you know the hand is gonna do something? eh? eh? eh? haha.
As for your 9th comment. honestly this has just been one free form animation. Just kinda coming up with stuff on the spot and going with it to come up with some form of neat little character animation for the assignment. I guess I shall consider such things a bit more heavily in future animations.
Thanks again. Hopefully i will have this fine tuned on sunday night.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
hey! an update! a lil late but, ive been busy. LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!
so yah, here is my update for this little animation.
http://blinkmetoys.com/host/school/CimsFinal1.mov.avi (3mb)
That is what i ended up turning in. I am happy with it.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Cool Blink. I really like that walk you did. It feels really nice. That counter clockwise spin jump think is not working for me though. He spins back away from camera yet travels towards the camera when he lands. It just feels really strange. I think it would work better if he just walked over to that stick in the ground. Sorry, alittle late in the game to be giving sugestions.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Its all good. Nice to hear what other people think about it still. Gives things to think about for the next animation.
I dont see why other people i have showed didnt mention that jump thing not working well. i mean to me it seems fine. He just like spin jumps...coolish..exagerated archy? looks ok to my eye, and apparently other people too.
is it common in the animation world for some things to look fine to some animators and not others?
Maybe because i made it..so...i...chose for it to look right to me? i dont know. I guess the true test will be 10 years from now when i look back and see it and what my thoughts of it are then.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
I'm liking it a lot though I too find the jump disconcerting. I would also give just a little more time between the button press and the weight fall as well as slow down the weight fall one or two frames so we get a better sense of it falling. You might consider a growing shadow and our hero looking up just in time to get splatted. Cliche I know, but still funny.
Alan
Get some "Good Advice" at http://www.decksawash.net
Oh yeah, it happens all the time Blink. There are so many things to keep track of, it's easy to over look things. The best way to find out if it's possible is to go out to a grassy park and try and jump that way. I also had a chance to look at it more at home and there are a few things that are adding to the strangeness of the jump turn.
Well this isn't part of it, but it would make it feel better. When he crouches down to anticipate the jump, he first goes straight down, then comes up a bit and rotates towards camera. Then he starts rotating back, dips down then up. It would work better and the action would be clearer if crouched down and rotated towards us in the same action. Then explodes up and around.
This part adds to the wonkyness of the jump. His left leg straightens alittle too soon. Also there is no push off from his left foot. He just raises up off the ground.
Another thing is the timing of the limbs. The head goes first, then shoulders, arms, hips then knees. It looks like you have the order right, but the hips and knees are slow. The right knee should be at it's highest right befor the left toe pushes off the ground.
I hope this helps and you can apply some of this on your next assignment.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
thanks for the comment alan.
and ape. just to be clear:
So, are you suggesting it may work better if he goes from the "freeze" position in the walk to the wind up for the jump? rather than crouch down THEN wind up? That does make sense. simpler is better, and as you said, clearer.
aah, i see the lift off issue you mention as well. I notice it too(more now) it stemmed from an issue with how i timed out the scene with the rig. But anyway, i ended up trying to make it appear more like the top half of his body was being thrown up and around and the bottom followed along.
maybe if the hands flung out sooner it would help it read like that?
Thanks again to all who have commented for taking your time to give me some advice.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Always happy to try and help Blink. Sorry I was late with comements.
The upper body can not lift the body off the ground. Unless you're doing a pull up or something. But in this case it can't. It's just not physicaly possible. All the pushing and force comes from the legs and hips. Start with the hips first, get that right, then move on the the upper body. Hips for push and force, upper body for twisting.
In the case of your shot, the upper body is being PUSHED up by the hips. This is all they are doing. In turn, the hips are being PULLED around by the twisting shoulders. That is all they are doing. It's helped me to think of thing of either PUSHING or being PULLED. Things can only really be doing one or the other. A good Physics note to remember. Once the body loses contact with what ever surface it's pushing against, it can no longer apply any more force.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
good notes. thanks.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo