Mech Run Animation

flickyducky101

1st post so be gentle Heres an animation i've been working on with a couple of different angles.. any tips/suggestions would be great.. ps: just noticed a small jerk in right leg in 3rd camera angle.. reckon its a render glitch as does'nt seem to occur in other two.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMD8eCavf8o[/ame]

Fashoomp

It's lacking a sense of weight. The animation doesn't seem to match the model. I can't imagine a big mechanical man running like that. Try delaying the passing pose to add a stronger sense that the legs have a much heavier weight to lift.

flickyducky101

Fashoomp wrote: »

It's lacking a sense of weight. The animation doesn't seem to match the model. I can't imagine a big mechanical man running like that. Try delaying the passing pose to add a stronger sense that the legs have a much heavier weight to lift.

hmmm i never thought about that.. run matching the model that is.. makes sense tho. i wonder would making him dip lower on contact also help with weight issue?

pior

Unless you want to go for a "kid's TV show" look (which would be fine in itself), try to maintain the hips/center of mass at a given level and keep the head as stable as possible - no one wants to shake their brain all around their skull when running ... not even robots! Over-animating these two elements is often what makes walk and run cycles look off.

Notice how the head and hips almost don't bounce at all here, even on a hulky guy with a lot of weight to carry :

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpM1VEa7iQ4[/ame]


And counter-intuitively enough ... the faster on runs, the *more* stable these points become.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dm-ds5rRaM[/ame]

Arturow

I agree with Fashoomp about the animation don't match the model. I mean it needs a man with super strength to be able to run around with that armor on him. But if you are doing it only for the sake of learning, it’s ok !! Remember that there are a lot of free rigs out there to match the style of animation that you are doing, it helps to have the character according to the action :P.

For the color correction and motion blur, I think it looks way better before.

Talking about the animation itself it looks good below the hips (I would check the hips when he steps with his left foot, it seems to be a little different when he steps with the right) but I think that your arms and head makes a lot of movement and have some pops.

When the head goes up and down, the movement is too much in my opinion, which cause to feel it like a pop. I suggest you tone down your head/neck and I think that the problem is coming from the chest too, I would check that too .

For the arms, you have some pretty nice arcs there! Good job. I know it’s a robotical character but I think when he swings his arm/hands there is a pop way too noticeable. It almost seems that you have 2 frames with similar pose in them.

Just my opinion, hope it helps !
good work!

flickyducky101

Very interesting and informative stuff guys.. Will try and apply to animation when I get chance.. Not too concerned about gettin the physics of a metal man too realistic as it is a zombie inside the suit lol. If I can get him to flow nicely and get some weight behind him I'll be happy