Heavy sword grab animation - Critiques, please!

Mezz

Hallo all!!
I am back with another animation in the works I am working on weight, espeically on the shifting of weight, since I feel this is a very important element that I need to master--that I have certainly not mastered yet. :P

So, I've made this simple animation that I'm hoping will improve said skill.
This is still only in its early stages--key poses and a few breakdowns. Right now, I'd just like input on timing and posing, and the feel in general before I get in there with the rest of the breakdowns!!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFWJ4wVTAC8[/ame]

All comments and critiques are very welcome! Thanks!!

vcortis

Hey Mezz I'm not an animator, but every animator I ever knew worth their salt was also always a great actor. Do you by chance have a video camera you can get a hold of? I think you'd really benefit from having someone take a video of you performing this very action and you can really exaggerate the motion.

Right now something just looks off especially when he swings from left to right to pick up the sword, also the hilt of the sword would be lifted first, and then the far edge of the blade.

It's not bad, better than I can do, but something seems a little off. Sorry I can't be more specific

prolow

good start Mezz, I might, just focus on one of these two movements for the time being, either the grab-lift-swing or the walk up. Around 0:03 when he shifts weight before garbing the sword is over exaggerated and and gets way off his cog. While it looks like he's lifting something heavy, the sword doesn't react like it has any weight. You might want to imagine his movement from the hips to the end of the sword as a chain, each link gets pulled by it's parent and reacts slightly delayed.

disanski

Hey there. Nice start. I don't know too much about animation , but how about you spent another second or so at the beginning when he grabs the sword. Perhaps he can adjust his hands for better grip and give it a try while he feels the swords is really heavy. I hope this helps

jeremiah_bigley

not too bad on timing... I do think your anticipation back before getting ready to grab the sword it weird. Not really how someone would go about grabbing a sword. You moved the pelvis side to side and left the feet planted to the ground. I think your pose where he finally picks up the sword needs to come up higher and behind the head if it is really that heavy. The feet didn't go anywhere during the entire animation which makes it look like you didn't want to do it :P And turn the character that way he is not facing the screen the entire time.

vcortis is very correct about any animator being worth their salts acts it out. Animators use video reference they recorded and also time out every action with a stopwatch.
I am just reiterating what my animation teacher told us. He is fairly credible. He worked on Pixar movies as a lead animator and has been an animation director on 2 films. :P He swears by a stopwatch. He is always yelling at students "Where is your stopwatch?!!!!"

Good work though. Keep it up and everyone here had really good points. Also keep in mind your 12 Animation Priciples

Mezz

Thanks a lot for the comments, everyone!!

I keep feeling that--that I really need to start filming the stuff I want to do. But everytime, I seem to get it in my head that it's simple enough I can just plan what I want, act it out a bit, thmbnail roughly, and make it awesome.
This is clearly not working quite as well as I expect.

So, I will definitely take your suggestions and get on that video camera idea. And stopwatch. Updates to come... hopefully soon

Thunder

It's pretty good on the timing but the one thing that throws it off is that you have 0 clavicle movement. The clavicles movement is essential for displaying the weight of the sword.

StephenVyas

Do you have reference, for this action?

If not,
Grab a large wooden plank, something like a 2x4 would be similiar in weight/size.

I would suggest asking a friend to grab the 2x4 and do that particular action over and over again.
This'll help you visually to get an idea of how much it'd weigh, and to see how the body will react to compensate for it.

*edit - saw that you were already going ahead to get reference. Nevermind this post then

slipsius

off to a good start

something other people havent really mentioned. if you pick up a heavy sword like that, the entire sword isnt going stay horizontal if you pick up the handle, the tip of the sword will drag along the table first.

r_fletch_r

I was never much of an animator myself but a few things stick out pretty clearly to me.
id stress the slow out of the lift far more and add some overlapping action to the blade. I find it a bit odd that they are able to lift it above their head in 1 fluid move but cant hold its weight. its like its a light sword that was glued to the table

James9475

Here's my advice as an animator:

This is too early to fully crit, so much of it feels wrong simply b/c it's not blocked out fully yet.

What I would say to you as you continue is this: Keep pushing the heavyness of the sword to the outer limits, push it to the point where its stupidly fantastically heavy, and then just scale it back to the edge of reality.

As you play back your animation, FEEL the beats of the animation like a drum fill. Set the animation to play back in a loop and feel the beat of the animation over and over . If the beat doesn't feel musical, try to work out why. Engaging animation is generally very rhythmic, as you watch it you can anticipate and relish the beats like you would as you listened to an amazing guitar solo.

Sorry to be a total hippie but it's true. Making a great animation uses the same skill set as telling a great joke or pumping out a sick drum beat. HOWEVER, here's some more technical advice on what you have so far.

There isn't a great enough sense of contrast between his rested state and his exerted state. This is also true for his movements before, during, and after lifting the sword. There isn't a great enough sense of how this object effects his body. When you lift something heavy, suddenly your entire body has no desires other than to cope with the imposition it places on you. The sword should force him to behave awkwardly, and to really sell the animation, he should only JUST manage to control it.

At the moment, the sword is heavy, but he seems able to manage it without really thinking about it, he certainly doesn't take any real time to lift it, and the entire motion seems to go roughly as he plans. I'm not saying he should fall or anything, just make the the poses awkward, make him pose AROUND the sword. It shouldn't feel like the sword is attached to his hand, it should feel like he's trying to keep it under control.

I guess the simplest way of summarising is this:

More anticipation, more difficult lift, just BARELY get the sword over the 'hump', make the sword feel BRUTAL as it hits the ground, the weight and power of it should surprise him.

marlfox8

darn... wish i could do that you gonna add more moves how about a swipe and a trust