[UDK] Thief vs Dwarf - Combat Animation

MiAlx

Hi guys!

I realized that my game animation reel didn't show any in-engine animations. So I went and fixed that.

This is the newest addition to my character animation reel. A short combat shot, thief vs dwarf (or at least a dwarf resembling character). I used the Epic Citadel environment for it. In my actual reel, I have a credit section for that, but for the sake of giving credit where credit is due: the Character / Weapon models and rigs are from 3D motive.

Also, a vignette effect was applied to focus the eye towards the animation.


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I would really love to hear what you guys think!

ExcessiveZero

the main thing that stood out to me is why does he grab his head when she lands on his neck/shoulders?

Clark Coots

i think you could use more of an antic when the thief lands on the stone wall. she goes to quickly from landing to jumping, build a little in there and squash before she does the backflip

MiAlx

Oh thanks a lot for the feedback guys!

ExcessiveZero - Oh I thought it would be more readable if he grabbed his head, but if that's confusing, I will make sure he grabs his back or something like that.

coots7 - That's a good idea, I will definitely add more squash before she jumps.

Again, thanks a lot guys, I appreciate it!

MiAlx

Alright, I changed the animation a bit.
The thief stays longer on the wall and squashes more and the "dwarf" now grabs his neck instead of his head.

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The jump feels a lot better now, really helpful tips, thank you again.

insaneklown89

Your mechanics are solid but I think you could make the actions more dramatic and give the characters a little more personality. When the thief lands on the stairs, you could have her quickly look back over her shoulder like she is assessing the situation. Then when she jumps off the dwarf she could jump back a little further so that she can get a good step into her final swing so that it looks more powerful. For the dwarf I would have him step forward after the second swing like the weight of the hammer and swing are throwing him off balance, like he is swinging angrily because he missed the first one. Then when the thief jumps on him I would delay him falling a second so it looks like he's trying to push against her weight. It looks really good tho you timing is good and there is a nice sense of weight to the characters. I just think you could easily take it to the next level with a little more life in the characters.

MiAlx

Hey Insaneklown89,

First off, thank you for taking the time to write this, I really appreciate it.

Great ideas! You are definitely right, the shot could use more personality and drama. The thief looking back before jumping, the swing throwing the dwarf off balance, then fighting against her weight as she lands on his shoulders etc. are things from which the animation would really benefit. The 'cinematic' aspect of my animations in general is something I am working on improving. These are really helpful tips and I will definitely work on on that.

Again, thank you!

AlexKola

Hi there, Love seeing animation on here. I like this little action piece I think it's going to be a good portfolio addition.

I have 3 comments tho. First I think the wall jumping pose could be stronger. I don't think you need an antic while she's up there. I would showcase correct locomotion before that kind of thing. I've isolated the pose for you here.



My issue is that while she is compressing before the jump which is needed to some degree, she's not really compressing for a backflip. I would have her windmill her arms from a slightly pulled back pose to sell this as backflip anticipation. see the .gif below for ref.



Secondly there's a pose in here that all animators should watch out for and maybe as a final pass just scrub through the timeline and get rid of it because it never really happens irl. I'm talking about how much the ankles bend here..



It's pretty rare for the foot to bend much further than 95 degrees upward so I would have her bend at the balls of her feet like a baseball catcher or something which I quickly painted up there. I realise that she is in heels already so there is some bend happening already so maybe this is a nit pick. Your call. That said tho I think the compression is a bit much here anyway considering most of the fall was broken by the big guy and she really only fell a couple of feet.

Lastly after the axe slice I think the guy should slump over and just be dead. She slices his neck and he kneels over and he doesn't feel dead to me. I say kill him and have him fall right down.

Hope this helps, I know after you stare at an animation long enough it's tough to crit yourself. I'm just a casual animator myself and don't really practice the subtle acting stuff so use your best judgement going forward :poly124:

peace,

AlexKola

MiAlx

Hey AlexKola!

Thank you very much for such detailed feedback.

AlexKola wrote: »

My issue is that while she is compressing before the jump which is needed to some degree, she's not really compressing for a backflip. I would have her windmill her arms from a slightly pulled back pose to sell this as backflip anticipation. see the .gif below for ref.

That is a very good point. Comparing the pose to the .gif, I can definitely see what you mean. I will go back to that pose.

AlexKola wrote: »

Secondly there's a pose in here that all animators should watch out for and maybe as a final pass just scrub through the timeline and get rid of it because it never really happens irl. I'm talking about how much the ankles bend here..
It's pretty rare for the foot to bend much further than 95 degrees upward so I would have her bend at the balls of her feet like a baseball catcher or something which I quickly painted up there.

Thanks a lot for the paintover!
Just to make sure I got what you mean:



You mean that she should be standing on the balls of her feet, when she's crouching that low (like the pic)? Yeah, that makes lot of sense. Definitely a good point. I will also reduce her compression a bit.

AlexKola wrote: »

Lastly after the axe slice I think the guy should slump over and just be dead. She slices his neck and he kneels over and he doesn't feel dead to me. I say kill him and have him fall right down.

Yeah, that is what I had originally planned for him, but it somehow felt too extreme for a tough-guy like him to completely collapse from a slice through the back.. I will have to try it out a bit.

Thank you for the feedback and the tips, AlexKola. They really helped!

AlexKola

Yeah that image you found is exactly what I was trying to convey with the feet there.

I think he could die and not seem weak in this case. If she were using her fists or even a blunt object I think it would be hard to believe that she could just knock him out, but since it's a blade I'd say Kill, KILL!

This is a nice little set piece for an animation did you make the environment too?

MiAlx

AlexKola wrote: »

I'd say Kill, KILL!

haha this totally reminded me of this

http://youtu.be/xBbGmkMGyok?t=6s

But jokes aside, yeah you're right, it would be better for him to collapse.
The environment is called "Epic Citadel" and is included with UDK.
It's a tech demo to show off the engine running on iOS devices.

MiAlx

So, I went and tweaked the animation.

I couldn't add details like her turning around before jumping, him stepping forward after the swing etc. without completely disassembling the animation and re-animating entire segments, which could potentially mess with the timing of the animation. So for now at least, I decided to keep that part. But at the end, this will be useful for all my future projects. I will make sure I plan more carefully and focus more on the cinematic side of things as well etc.

What I did change however:

- I corrected the pre-back flip pose. She also gathers momentum by additionally using her arms (i.e. she is windmilling her arms)

- Tweaked the back flip itself.

- She now stands on the balls of her feet when she crouches low after landing on the ground. She also crouches bit less now.

- The dwarf now dies, instead of just catching himself after receiving the slash.

- Added a "dust" particle effect for when he hits the ground.

- Tweaked various poses a bit.

Here is the newest version (I'll just embed it again, just for navigational ease):

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IMO it looks better now, compared to the previous version. Again, thank you so much for all the feedback guys, I learned a LOT from all that.

AlexKola

Hey, cool! Good work

MiAlx

Thanks man, glad you like it!