LeeM Uni assignments + personal work

slipsius

Crap, sorry. That was me. haha. Forgot to write a post.

 I also think he drops a bit fast. Needs a BIT more of a slow out, as he falls. If that makes sense? 

LeeMeredith

Thanks @slipsius ! I'll re-visit it now that I'm on my Christmas break, I'm really not happy with it, for now I'll get this last anim finished. 

Now I'm animating a walking animation with a few breaks in it, like pointing, waving etc. I want to get the walk cycle right before continuing and would appreciate any critique anyone can think of.

https://syncsketch.com/sketch/122633#135309

Arturow

Left you a note , the main concern that I have is the hips , I think that will correct the pop in the legs too

LeeMeredith

@Arturow thanks a lot! I applied all the critiques and thanks to the person who critiqued as a guest.  I decided to push myself more and instead do a small scene consisting of walking, stopping, action etc instead of just a walk cycle with breaks. Sorry for wasting your time, I did apply the critiques though and learned from them.

This is the new scene, if anyone has the time to throw some critique at it, I would be grateful. So far it's just the walk, stop and scratch eventually he will also summon a way to exit the level.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/123457#136964

Hito

I just saw this today, I think this is super relevant to your character. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7gI7vj63qI. Ken Fountain talks about masses and balance applied to poses. Relating it to the character you're animating, nearly all the mass is at the top in the head, and that would be the determining factor on all his actions. The walk would be lots of little fast steps instead of more normal strides, like when you're balancing a long pole with something on top, you have to make many tiny adjustments to keep it upright. The head would bob less, while lighter masses would move more around the heavier mass. Then when he looks around, the body has to adjust much more to counter the mass in the head moving about... like around 145, his pelvis thrust out much more to keep the mass in his head over the feet.

LeeMeredith

Thanks @Hito I'm kind of bummed out now, I think I'm way too far in to properly apply what you and that video talked about but maybe I'll re-create it or something.

I started another animation while I give the scene a little break, I wasn't happy with the death animation I created for University before, so I re-created it using proper reference. I'm still nailing down the timing and breaking down parts, not touched the graph editor yet. A lot of concepts are still new to me like contrast and csi but I'm trying my best.

Critique really welcome
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/123763#137398

LeeMeredith

Here is my combo attack so far, I had some awesome critique from some friends and on Smear Frame, I've changed it a lot since then. I tried to incorporate all of the critique but I wasn't sure how to go about getting a different arc for the axe swings, so they are still very similar, I'll film some ref later to see how else I could swing an axe.

just fyi I haven't cleaned up the arcs or really gone past roughin/breakdowns at the minute, I'm looking for pose/timing critique if possible.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/124802#138780

thanks

LeeMeredith

I've been re-visiting my Uni work and trying to improve them, I've changed my ranged attack and would appreciate critique on it. I'm currently having trouble figuring out how to make the guns look like they are firing.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/140473#164372 (RangedattackS)

Hito

main thing is the center of mass or focal point (blue in the syncsketch), your anim appears to be leaping backwards, need to adjust it so the focal point moves appropriate to direction of force applied by his actions, straight up. actual center of mass shifts based on the pose because the body is a collection of masses, the mass center of the collection shifts depending on their relative positions from each other, and a lot of times it can be very far from the COG control of the rig. often times a pose feels unbalanced and this is why, the focal point in the wrong place.

Ric Lico has a really good explanation here. He's automated it with a script. You can point constraint an object to the hands, ankles, torso and pelvis controls and adjust the weights to each parent to approximate it. Many animator just feel it from having done lots of life drawing or practice.

LeeMeredith

Thanks Hito, I said thanks on SmearFrame but I'll say it again - thanks a lot. I decided to abandon that animation as I wasn't using proper reference. So here's an attempt at an attack cycle using reference from Rhinohouse. I have tried to push the poses and get him into a confident appearance, any critique is welcome, it's just the stepped keys so far using Jason Shums method of Idle, anticip, hit, settle and return to idle. I added a few extra break downs to get back into the idle.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/142760#166733 

AGoodFella

On the very first frame, how heavy is that weapon. Because he's holding it near the handle so most of the weight is on the other side. Something to think about. I think it would work better two handed but that's up to you. I'm just not feeling the weapon's weight on that first pose. Make it stronger.

On f17, it looks like he's going to swing sideways but then he goes into an over the shoulder type swing. Maybe its in your ref so see if you can make it clearer somehow.

On f72, is he scared and trying to dodge an incoming attack because that's what it looks like.

Looking good, keep going.

LeeMeredith

Thanks AGoodFella, I see what you mean with the weapon, I think the issue is that in my ref he's using a nerf axe so it's really light I'll play around with how he holds it. Good points with f17 and f72  I'll re-work the poses!

LeeMeredith

So I'm back with another update, I made the suggestions by AGoodFella and pressed forward with getting the axe to rotate when it's in contact with the ground, I also played around with feet contacts.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/142760#167270