Physicality in Animation

JhGreene

What are some things you guys do in the Polish stage to add more physicality to your animations?  When I finish an animation it looks good but when I look at Adam Turnbull or Richard Lico's animations, there's something there that I can't seem to figure out.

LiamReynolds

Richard Licos mentioned in the past. I cant recall where - it could be one of his Destiny interviews or even at GDC but he has a style and he tends to add alot of realistic motion ontop to sell weight. So shoulder pad and knees wobble after impacts and fast moves. He has a good eye for body mechanics and how a human moves and he builds that outwards.

His recent Vimeo videos about his game at Polyarc (Moss) demonstrates it and he even shows you it in a brief tutorial. He adds jiggle to ears and the characters belly its amazing.

JhGreene

I took a class with him in iAnimate and I'm just now starting to use what he taught. He has so many rigging related tricks to help with that stuff!  He's a space switching master man.

AGoodFella

Richard Lico is insane, his stuff always look fleshy and weighty.

Usually, in the polish stage, I look at the action and figure out what is driving the force, I then offset the curves so a certain axis or limb leads the motion. Nothing lands on the same frame.

E.g. in a punch, I would maybe offset the curves so the twist of the body happens before the tilt of the chest. Also, the hips will probably lead the motion before the chest. You can then break each body part up and then break it even further by offsetting the axes.

This also helps with timing as well.

Polish is hard to master, it's what separates good animation from great animation. I'm still trying to figure it out.

 

JhGreene

Thanks @AGoodFella.  I've offset body parts...but I've never offset a body parts individual axis. That right there is gold man!  Thank you very much.