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Speed Animating Thread

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StephenVyas
polycounter lvl 18
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StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
Hi,

I saw the speed modeling thread above.I liked that idea. It made me think about how this process, of getting the meat & potatoes of your work down as fast as possible, could also benefit those of us that animate. My curiosity got ahold of me...

So, during lunches this week.. I set a timer on my ipod for 20mins and had at it. Best i could do in 20mins
juF6o.gifAJP8D.gif
cn7aZ.gif1j3Ge.gif
FCY8p.gifY1HeC.gif

Editing: [To any other animators: feel free to jack into this thread and post your speed animations! ]

Replies

  • Avanthera
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    Avanthera polycounter lvl 10
    There are only a few animators I know of on polycount, but these look great for 20 min from a simple artists' point of view. :)
  • Warotic
    Sweet man, the bottom is my favorite one, great idea btw
  • Shiskebab
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    Shiskebab polycounter lvl 16
    This is without the skinning and rigging right? They all move very nice btw
  • Polygoblin
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    Polygoblin polycounter
    They move very well. Could pass for finished animations imo, and in 20 mins? Good work!
  • Valandar
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    Valandar polycounter lvl 18
    The middle one is absolutely hilarious. :D
  • TehSplatt
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    TehSplatt polycounter lvl 11
    These are very awesome :D
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    @shrew81, ahh I see. Well maybe the few that do come by the forums will jack-in
    Thanks Warotic, glad ya dig it!
    @Shiskebab, That's right. The only thing that I was doing with the 20minutes was setting Keys and Moving bones. Btw, I saw your speed models earlier. You've got an eye for creating believable skin tones!
    A good chunk of the animation is there, but I'll be sure to come back & finish them up. Thanks Polygoblin!
    @Valandar Ya, I'd have to admit the middle one was a happy accident. The last 15 seconds I decided I didn't like the upperbody/arm keys.. So i toasted them, thinking I had at least a minute to redo them...woops!
    Thanks TehSplatt!

    a few mooaarrrrr
    Ijoew.gifPa8PY.gif
  • Texelion
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    Texelion polycounter lvl 8
    I think I could do the same... in two days... for a single anim... and it will suck ^^.

    So, nice work.
  • slipsius
    These are awesome! Where did you get the rigs?

    I will say, each one seems to suffer from the same thing. They are kind of floaty on the second step. They just dont have the same weight as the first step.
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    @Texelion, you should join in! I think it would be awesome if you posted any animations you made
    @slipsius, I'll be the first to agree with you that the Timing and Spacing[among other things] were sacrificed for speed during these run cycles

    -Skeletal rigs were done in 3dsmax(simple biped)
    Models belong to:
    -Mr. Incredible & Boris(keg and battle axe character) were modeled by a great character artist & old co-worker ,Gavin Goulden. He use to post around these parts, a few years back, under 'Gav'
    -The blue monster mouse character was from Poopinyourmouth's SDK
    -Tim Applyby(Spacemonkey) modeled the awesome Sarge character
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    @ StephenVyas do you do animation as a professional or you just a self taught animation enthusiast?
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    Hi Rmunday, A bit of both, I'd say.
    I am self-taught and a huge animation enthusiast. I also worked full-time in the industry 6 years ago
  • slipsius
    Does that mean you dont anymore?
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    Yeah I stopped working in the industry- one of life's crazy twists.
    In my personal life ,things took a turn for the worst and I had to quit my job and put my career on hold for awhile. Though in the last year or so, I've started animating again- occasionally helping out on some indie projects to freshen up
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    Any advice for someone who wants to progress onwards with animation I am a student in my Final year of a games design course however the course touches upon everything slightly but as stated i am wanting to specialize in animation? I am currently reading through and applying principles and techniques from Richard Williams "The animators survival kit" getting timing and spacing down on simple things such as walk cycles.
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    Hi Rmunday,
    That's a really great book, it also happens to be one of my favorites

    One tip I'll give is...
    While your reading that book, go and grab a really good animation movie. (I'd recommend one of the 2d animated films by disney's 9 old men. They tend to have less motion-effects that'll distract your eye). While you're learning a specific principle in the book, go to a specific scene in the movie that you like and frame by frame it.
    Try to understand and seek out how those animation masters used that principle while animating their character.
    They were clever and also very very sneaky!
    A lot of the things you'll learn by doing this, won't be written down in any book
  • Rojo
    These are awesome. I hope more animators post here.
  • rino
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    rino polycounter lvl 11
    Woooooooaahh, that's damn impressive for 20 mins. Great stuff, moar!
  • cgartland
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    cgartland polycounter lvl 4
    Oh hey, I'm an animator and a poly-counter.

    I got damn near 100 animations to do for the game I'm currently working on, I'll try posting them here as I go, maybe get some good critiques

    EDIT: I'm way less experienced than you, but 20 mins?

    CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    thanks Rojo & CurtisWS
    Let's see 'em, cgartland!

    Welcome to the middle of the week
    l1B59.gif
  • slipsius
    Haha! Love it, Stephen.

    How are you making your gifs?
  • Nina I.
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    Nina I. polycounter lvl 5
    These are great for 20 minute animations, you don't seem rusty at all! They loop smoothly and especially the more polished versions have weight and personality. I myself used to have plenty of 3D animation courses in university from which I graduated this year - I appreciate seeing an animator sharing works like this here in Polycount! I hope to see more!
  • bejkon
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    bejkon polygon
    scrolled down expected another runcycle... Well played :)

    Your animations have a nice feel to them so keep it up!
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    slipsius wrote: »
    How are you making your gifs?


    Render out your animation in 256 colors from your respective animation package. Then...

    1-Open Photoshop-> New Document: Set your settings how you like em
    2-File->Place: Find your folder full of those sequential beauty renders (Check the imager sequence toggle, before accepting)
    3-Then, Windows->Animation: Set your time range to match your sequence length. (Click on the top Far right arrow button to access document settings. Change your FPS to match)
    Press play in the animation window to check for potential problems.
    Everything good to go?

    4-File->Save for Web & Devices: From here set your type to GIF. Lossy controls the quality and filesize of the GIF, and below at the bottom you'll have Looping Options: Set that to Forever.
    & your done yo
    ______________

    thanks Nina. I stalked your portfolio. I really dig the 2d Bull character you have in there. That's a character I'd love to see pushed into the 3d realm

    Thanks bejkon-Yeah, It's time to change things up a bit and have some fun with these . Hopefully, more animators will join in to mix it up
  • pearlzu
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    pearlzu polycounter lvl 7
    What a great idea! Yours look awesome :) Quicky animation cycles can be a good way to test the rig too. I tend to do that a lot with my doods.
    All of the animations I have have already been cleaned up... but this one was done pretty quick... maybe closer to 30-40 min.
    oviraptor_walk3.gif
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    ahh yeah! Welcome Pearlzu! - I dig it
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    @ StephenVyas

    When it comes to doing your animations do you work with layers as in say you have a walk cycle, have a layer for the feet, then the hips, arms then head? or if its a reasonable sized walk cycle (lets say 24 frames) do you find it easier to just have the one layer?
  • slipsius
    Rmunday, Layers all come down to personal preference. Some animators like them. some dont.

    When I do walk cycles, I will do the whole vanilla walk without them. Then, if say I want to add a head turn or just add some more personality to the thing, I will add them on layers. Also, if you want to try something out, like, add a limp or even small changes. using layers can be helpful because you can turn them on and off and clearly compare the difference.
  • kristyan_hadi
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    kristyan_hadi polycounter lvl 10
    any tips for beginner ? i mean a reeeeaaaallyyy beginner, as i was working in animation industry but yet to touch animation, so seeing this was kinda make me itching to try :D
  • pearlzu
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    pearlzu polycounter lvl 7
    I tend to use animation layers for animating parts of the body that are "offbeat" to the bulk of the movement. For example, animating arms in walk cycles. Since arms don't swing exactly to the beat of the legs and body, it keeps the keyframes a little more organized and makes them easier to adjust.
  • slipsius
    Beginner tips... Start with ball bounces. Once you've got a good set of ball bounces done and you understand timing, then move onto a walk cycle using the ball and legs rig found online.

    Here is a list of beginner excersizes. Do them in order.

    -bounce in place cycle. First and Last frame are at the top of the screen.
    -Bounce in place with a coming to a stop. First frame is at the top, last frame is on the ground.
    -Bounce across the screen with the same height each bounce.
    -Bounce across the screen, each bounce shorter than the last, eventually coming to a stop
    -A pendulum swinging, eventually coming to a stop
    -A pendulum hits the ball, causing the ball to hit a wall, bounce a few times and come to a settle, all the while, the pendulum comes to a stop as well.

    After all that, then you can start on walks and such. But dont jump into a full body rig. Use the ball and legs. The biggest mistake a lot of people make is jumping right into full characters. It's overwhelming and can be a detriment to your progress.

    Also, don't RUSH. It's ok if your ball bounce takes you 10 hours. The key is to make it good. Quality over quantity. Don't worry about speed. Speed comes later. And don't move on to the next excersize if you are still struggling with another one. Post your work, and we'll tell you when you should move on to the next. We might even say redo it. It might come as a shock, or sound bitchy, but the thing is... If you redo it, I garentee you, it will be better than the first time you tried it. Sometimes its better to just take what you learned, and reapply it. Each ball bounce will be better than the next. I promise you that (as long as you put in the effort and dont rush).
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    Some brilliant beginners exercises there. @ Slipsius took a sneaky look at your portfolio, I love the last creature, can really feel the weight. I am currently doing a sneak and have not used layers the keys can get a bit overwhelming but when you only focus on one bit at a time its not so bad.

    Edit: When doing my animation its not on the spot which isn't a problem but I don't know when I rendered a rough version it just looks unnatural, more of just going from one pose to the next then any secondary animation I try makes it too...What is the term I am looking for...Busy? so much happening in a short space (250 frames/10 seconds total). Any advice? I will try upload to Youtube and embed in the near future.
  • KrissyB
    I really like how smooth the walk is. The dramatic pick up of the feet and toes are a nice touch. :)

    I was wondering what kind of rigs everyone is using. I'm starting to get familar with the Cat Motion rigs in 3Dsmax but i've never animated with a biped. I feel like I did this backwards. XD
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    Here is my first poses of my animation. Obviously I have mainly focused on movement of the root, legs and feet. I am in the process of rendering and uploading my 2nd iteration. Obviously this isn't done in 20 mins however this is the only good animation thread I have come by :)

    http://youtu.be/Y2SmStyp4mE
  • slipsius
    Rmunday, its a decent start. You need to fix some of your posing though. You have balance issues. Specifically when you turn around.

    Also, don't waste your time with rendering. Playblasts work best when the scene isnt finished. Rendering takes time away from making the anim look perfect.
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    Cheers for the feedback Slipsius, does most of the balance come from your arms? I have uploaded my 2nd iteration, the coming out of the turn is drastically different however I will let you take a look. Don't be afraid to heavily critique the only way to learn is to make mistakes. :)

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14kiiu6VN2w"]Sneak Version 2 - YouTube[/ame]
  • slipsius
    Where is the camera movement coming from? get rid of it.

    Its hard to get the exact frame without a quicktime movie, but on youtube, its at 7 seconds that is off balance. the entire body is too far screen left. Though i dunno if its better in the second version, or if its just the camera movement that is distracting. But it still look soff balance
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    That is so weird, there is no camera movement keyed in. I just used fraps to record the viewport...I actually have a render there no camera movement in that either. That is so strange but now that I look I can definitely tell what you mean all the weight is pushed forward onto the left leg and he is leaning forward. I am guessing to remedy this, bring the entire body back and make him lean more towards the foot coming down?
  • slipsius
    No no. Its when hes already on his next food. facing back completely. If you can upload a .mov, using dropbox, i can explain it better. do paint overs and stuff.


    Anyways, in the spirit of this thread, I've decided to do all those beginner exercises that I just listed on my lunch breaks. Here is the first one. The infamous Looping ball bounce. Took roughly 5 minutes. maybe 6?

    I`ll be posting them on my youtube channel. I think I`ll start a series of them.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbI0-CCIAF4"]Series - Beginner Exercises - 1 - YouTube[/ame]
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    Woo awesome Rmunday & slipsius!!
    Glad to see you both joining in :-)

    @ Rmunday, I work without layers
    @ KrissyB, using Biped & CAT over here
    _________________________________________________
    I definitely felt the brutality of the timelimit with this session...
    I failed to finish the idea within the given 20mins

    e0AXk.giflDCv7.gif
    Edit: Fair assessment ZacD (Updated the gifs to have the same duration)
  • Rmunday
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    Rmunday polycounter lvl 9
    @ Slipsius here is the drop box link, thank you for taking the time to analyze and feeback :)

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/81bucb1z963nuvy/sneak.mov
  • Renaud Galand
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    Renaud Galand polycounter lvl 19
    Great idea and awesome animations everyone! This should be stickied!
  • slipsius
    rmunday, you need to put the file in your public folder, then click the file and then at the top, click copy public link. thats the link you share for people to see
  • Rmunday
  • slipsius
    So most of these took no time at all. The original bounce with a settle, I did in about 20 minutes, but had to go back and add another 20 to make it good. Pendulum took about 30 - 45.

    I was going for speed at the start, then decided to just make them good and make it a series for new animators to follow. No point in giving them bad examples just cause I was trying to do them super fast :)

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur68OG6B6Ao"]Series - Beginner Exercises - 2 - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn8gEG5XaRM"]Series - Beginner Exercises - 3 - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI6uFG2Qf6c"]Series - Beginner Exercises - 4 - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbW1jOa5H1I"]Series - Beginner Exercises - 5 - YouTube[/ame]

    and here's the 7th exercise that I did during lunch just because I was working on the pendulum but left the file at home. didnt want redo it, or jump into the 6th exercise since it has a pendulum in it as well. Ill add it to youtube when I do the 6th

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14662692/Animations/Beginners_Exercises/Beginner_Exercise_7_Rubber_Pencil_Stefan_Lipsius.mov
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I'd like to see the gifs have the the same timing/number of frames so its easier to compare, even if you just add frozen frames at the end, its hard to see the before and after with them both moving.
  • CaptainRev
  • StephenVyas
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    StephenVyas polycounter lvl 18
    @ slipsius, that was kind of you to make a beginner series for new animators to follow. Lookin good :-)
    @ CaptianRev, welcome! In the spirit of the thread, feel free to include how much time was spent animating
  • Mithdia
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    Mithdia polycounter lvl 8
    StephenVyas You should add some movement to those arms in the stormtrooper doing a b-twist... Also you could make his torso get slightly up from invert on landing... Or you could just take everything that I take with a grain of salt :P It just kind of pops up to me since it's not long ago that I learned to do that myself XD (I do martial arts tricking)

    edit: Took another look at it and noticed that he is going into invert when he is twisting out of it.. Usually trickers get invert when they start the twist instead of when they come out of it (look up Kjer or Vellu if you are going to do more animations of tricking kind of movement they are some of the most talented people of this sport)
  • DerDude
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    DerDude polycounter lvl 10
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