Attack Sequence WIP

roumenov

Heya guys! I'm working on a pretty straightforward attack animation, all vertical attacks. Trying to get down the timing and such before I go through cleaning the poses, polishing and animating the loin cloth. Mostly want to hear any thoughts about the basics of the poses, timing, arcs, things like that. Obviously the end part is still stepped, would be glad to hear thoughts on transitioning back to his start pose.

Link because I don't get how gifs work on the forum and I can't seem to embed things without uploading.
http://imgur.com/a/zRw6S

Rondog

This is a great start, really liking it! That torso then leg turn timing offset is perfect on the midair hit.

In the anticipation for the first swing, I'd say to delay the head's tilt backward a few frames more. As well as give more time to the hand's attachment to club. It can help lead the eye to finally rest at the club. The character's left foot can use a curvier, and more forward translating arc too. After that first hit, the hips could use some more translation down, because it stops too abruptly. The spin around has a hitch to it too, so try and get that to be one fluid motion. Which gives a chance to get an improved arc in there. It stays flat then sharply turns up to come down for the swing.

On the 2nd swing, when he's spinning, the feet feel quite linear. One idea is to keep one leg bent up and delay it's arrival to the floor by a few frames.

On that swing where the character flips the target upward, I'd say to push the character more forward, while arcing hips down, to look like he's getting more leverage over the club.

That midair hit and last hit are awesome already!

And for a transition back to start, I'm thinking you can have a straightforward rise into the standing up pose, but have the character lift the club a small bit, then slam it down into the ground so it's like an exclamation point at the end of the shot. Kinda like the character saying 'stay down! who's next!'

Again, looks great so far, just needs some more refining on the first few swings. Hope this has helped!

roumenov

Thanks for all the notes Rondog. I think I addressed most of them. Maybe I need to do more on the hip note for the first hit/turn.
Here's the final(?) version. The loin cloth was a pain, it has a really janky fk setup. But I think it works well enough, doesn't really draw attention to itself.

slipsius

I feel like the second impact is lacking in the pose. It's pretty weak compared to the rest of it. Would be easier if I had a sketch sync

Also, small thing, but all your ground impacts... grab them all and shift them down so they are JUST under the ground plane. when you can see where the impacts are, it kind of ruins the effects. If you start them juts under the ground plane, then it will be more of a surprise. Little thing, but ya. 

AGoodFella

Nice, looking good. One thing you might want to push are the overshoots. Just a tad, not too much. Its looking good for the head, just a tiny bit for chest.