Cody's Animation Work Thread

Cody

Trying my hand at some animation, here is my 2nd try at a walk cycle and first try at a run cycle. I'm going to keep doing a lot of different animations and keep doing walk and run cycles until I get better at them. All crits are welcome and appreciated.

RUN
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooq8QQJC34U[/ame]

Walk
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGf19C2_ET8[/ame]

breakneck

it looks like you haven't done a secondary motion pass on anything yet. thats what really maks the animation have character. you still need some twist in the hips with each step, along with twist of the upper body. plus the head is stiff and part of the body, this along with the hands need follow through and overlapping action. theres other stuff, but thats plenty to start with.
i suggest checking some of this stuff out:
http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml
http://www.darlingdimples.com/images/pb2legs.png

good start, just keep going.

gavku

yep breakneck is on the money...

here's a good/simple exercise that may help you understand overlap better...

http://fliponline.blogspot.com/2007/04/quick-trick-simple-approach-to-overlap.html

Cody

Thanks for the tips guys, I'm going to try a run cycle again. The twist is a good call, he is quite stiff. Also that overlap stuff looks like fun.

Cody

Okay, so this is a WIP jog cycle I've put a little time into. Mostly concentrating on the upper body. I'm liking the overlap I'm getting from it, but might need to exaggerate that a bit more...the arms need some more love. Obviously ignored the legs so far, especially the right one. Will try to finish this up tomorrow.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft6emqrXPig[/ame]

Do you think the torso needs to bounce forward more? Also, do you think the feet are in to wide of a stance for a jog? I'll post both side and front views tomorrow.

BradMyers82

It all looks good to me Cody. I wish I new more about animation to give you a decent crit, but it looks like breakneck has it covered anyways.
Looking forward to the side view here!

Cody

OK, jog cycle update. Looking better I think, but I'm still working on it. Any crits will help. I think it's too jittery, going to try to smooth it out some. Ideas?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS5R5sX5tqY&feature=channel[/ame]

Thanks, Brad. Side view for your viewing pleasure. ^^^

BeatKitano

Im surely not the perfect person to crit on animation. But i do think his arms are made of stone.

Looks completly blocked.

You should try to give some expression with the wrist moving and some slight elbow move, right now it looks like he's focusing on keeping his arms in the same position at all cost. Also it looks like he has no feedback from ground "impact".

That set appart, i like it so far, but i think you can push it much further, right now it looks ok, but odd at the same time, i don't know something is bothering me. Anyway keep going, its certainly an improvement from the last version.

breakneck

couple of things i notice:
you know these right?:
http://www.animationtoolworks.com/library/article9.html
several of these fundamentals seem to still be missing, and they should be the foundation of your animation or else it just won't look or feel right.

the toes stay low to the ground, which gives the impression that he is sneaking rather that jogging. I suggest a stronger pivot on the toes from the heel so when you make contact with each step, there is a snapping - its hard to word but you can feel and see it if it is done right.

Like Beat, i agree with the arms/hand, as well as the head needs more secondary motion away from the neck.

do you follow any animation sites? there are some good refs out there!
keep going, animation takes time!

Cody

Thanks for the tips, beat and break. I know about some of those, I did some 2d animation in college, but it's been a while. I don't follow or know of any good animation sites, but haven't looked. Have been having some trouble finding ref, however, did find one good one on youtube. Back to work on the jog....awaaaayyyyy.

breakneck

this guy taught me much of what i know today about animation:
http://philliphall.blogspot.com/
hes an old teacher of mine, but if check out his demo reel 2008, there is a guy mowing a lawn - if you check out his feet, thats what i was trying to say. (also his links to others at Blue sky have lots of great character animations).
also, you can save out the movies on his blog and study them frame by frame, you will start to see how secondary motion really improves the character.
another good source for reference is cg movie trailers(ie, pixar movies, dreamworks). you can usually find them in quick time and in hd which is perfect for referencing animations frame by frame.

also just curious, do you start animation with the whole character, or do you do sections at a time?

final comment before i ramble on forever - - you have gimbal lock on right? (rotate tool options, Rotate mode).

Cody

umm, with the first two, I made key poses and then messed with the inbetweens. On the jog I tried messing with curves starting with the hips, then torso, then arms and head, then legs.

I don't know what gimbal lock is nor am I using it.

gavku

animation resource page...

http://animresource.blogspot.com/

gimbal lock...

http://guerrillacg.org/home/3d-rigging/euler-rotations-explained