Zen Walk Animation - Dragon Weaver

ArtOfBrad

http://vimeo.com/29244251

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UW1rxUmAJk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UW1rxUmAJk[/ame]


A quick animation i knocked out today. Just further testing Hiroshi out, and creating some movement to get a feel for his character.

He's taking a slow stroll while meditating...sure footed.


REVISED: Less sway, and some other tweaks.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2MdridryAE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2MdridryAE[/ame]

Mezz

Yeah looking nice and smooth!!

The only crit I can think of is that you might want to hold/drag the legs behind him just a tick longer. The spacing on them feels very even, and therefore if you stare at the legs long enough (I was lol) it ends up feeling a little weightless.

This might just be a nitpick though. Good job!


Edit: On further inspection, I actually think my issue is that it looks like the feet are on a bit of a treadmil. They seem to move further than he does. After he first puts his full foot down, it starts moving backwards right away. It might need a small delay here instead.

Lord McMutton

I'm not sure, but something about the length of his strides, or the swing of his hips comes off as a bit feminine.

thatanimator

upper body is awesome

pior

It's on!!

ArtOfBrad

ya i actually agree there is too much sway. I think i was getting a little dead eye on it today. dont know why i felt compelled to finish it in a day.

also good note on the feet. i know exactly the area you were talking about after looking at the curves.

ArtOfBrad

actually, ya now that ive been away from it for a few hours...wtf. on the hips!! haha..poor hiroshi..def gonna go pull that out tomorrow, and put some drag on the feet. thanks peeps!

ArtOfBrad

edited:
also pasted in first post.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2MdridryAE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2MdridryAE[/ame]

re.wind

It doesn't look like he's walking naturally, as there is too much torso & above movement. walking at such a slow pace there should be little to non upper body movement, especially as he seems to be concentrated on something.

Trying to walk like this guy should reveal a few bits of information that should help you.

1) when you walk forward you whole body sinks downward a bit as you're only supported by one leg for a bit, and the longer the strides the lower you sink. i'm talking mm to cm here. but the height does bob up and down depending on the speed of the stride.
2) your upper torso barely moves, even if its as musculous, or heavy, as your character's. wearing a ruksack full of books and wlking like that (with a straight ack) should still result in little to no upper torso and arm movement.
3)as you walk forward you have a slight bounce, as walking can be seen as a controled state of falling forward and letting your other leg pick you up from the 'fall', using it as a spring with forward momention to continue forward. Along with the vertical bounce, there is a very subtle sideways sway (in the head position). mm to cm here

ArtOfBrad

to help push growth i wanted to post up some crits i got from my lead at work here at Blizzard

He is ex blue sky animation badass. Horton, ice age, the early rachet and clanks. Amazing animator.

SO if we look at hiroshis walk cycle there are a few things that could be tweaked.

crits i got:

Chest bounce is fine if thats the look i want, but i need to support that weight with the hips. so more up and down.

Push his hip forward to compensate for the tweaked chest.

his legs are hyper-extended to long so drop his hip level.

relax the back arm a bit, have it rest lower on his lower back/top butt area.

kick his feet out a little further on the forward part of the cycle.

track the arc in his zen hand and make sure it makes sense.