Please Critique My Animation - Beginner

Rikkiimaru

Hi,

This is my first time here at Polycount. I plan to become an animator in the future and I would like to get constructive feedback for my work. I'm a beginner at animation so it definitely does not look professional.

Here is the link to my playblast:
http://syncsketch.com/playground/3594f67b32cf4227af3dc56b7cc6df28#72499

I've been working on this on and off over the course of 3 weeks.
This project is an exercise to having something interact with another object using parent constraint.
The facial expressions are what I'm currently working on right now and won't be shown in the playblast.

Thanks!

Rmunday

Not a bad start, the main issue at the moment is timing. Everything is moving at the same time making it look very floaty. I believe it was @slipsius that gave the advice which I am paraphrasing here "Push it further than you are comfortable and then bring it back". The grabbing of the cup can really be pushed for the grab action. Make it super snappy, so fast it would blur and then show some follow through from the momentum. I think as a start go back to your main poses and really exaggerate them. You have some really good ideas here, with some timing adjustments, key offsetting and adding overlap and follow through this could be an excellent piece for you! 

I do not have the time at the moment to do a full draw over for you but I am sure someone maybe able to give you some more in depth feedback. Keep going and nail the basics and you will be well on your way to becoming a good animator!

Rikkiimaru

Taking a look back into it, you are right about the timing. I was trying to aim for movements that look more realistic with the upper body. One issue that I have with timing when working with Maya is that it's difficult for me to make something move faster/slower while I have keyframes all over the place.
For exaggeration, I guess I could try working with my main poses and make them look extreme.
Timing is something I'm really working on right now.
Thank you very much! @Rmunday

aaronhiggins

Agree with the timing issues. You say you're using Maya, are you familiar with the graph editor? Messing around with curves and points might help you in getting things to move more reliably. On particular parts; the head moves too quickly while falling, the hand is held for too long. Is the final movement a spit-take?

slipsius

I wrote up a little tutorial for timing hot keys in maya. They are SUPER useful. Maybe it will help.

http://polycount.com/discussion/167255/maya-hotkeys-for-faster-workflow

Rikkiimaru

@aaronhiggins
Yup, I've been using the graph editor to adjust speed between keyframes as well as smoothing out movements. Working with malcolm rig is kind of grinding my gears because there're controls everywhere and I sometimes might find random keyframes around these random controls. But that's my own fault for not keeping track on what I'm keyframing.

@slipsius
Thank you, I'll take a look into it!
Edit: I just read it, and followed your guide for the keyframe offsetting. I never knew such a thing exists in Maya?!?
I'm very sure this'll help me a lot for adjusting timing for my keys. Thank you very much!