WIP : Centaur Animations

phoenixnight8

so i hope this is the right place to post, well here it goes...

Hey there, im in my final year of university and for my dissertation i have decided to look at combining motion capture and key frame animation, i have decided to do this on a centaur model, i have 3 animations, firing a bow, walking and dying, the upper half of the centaur was captured using a vicon motion capture suite and the lower half was hand animated by myself, at the moment im looking for feedback on how i could improve these animations and it would be really useful if you guys could help me.

the animations are here:

Shooting bow - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exb3mKdanJY"]WIP : Centaur Shooting A Bow - YouTube[/ame]
walking - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFX9bAxHCvE"]WIP : Centaur Walk - YouTube[/ame]
dying - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6jVdeeGZnM"]WIP : Centaur Death - YouTube[/ame]

theslingshot

I'm no animation expert, but I'd add some more motion into the rest of the body when he is shooting his arrow. For the walk cycle you really need to change those arms, they are mobing really weird I think, it looks like he is washing his upper body while walking. The death one is pretty good, but you need to speed that up I think.

An animator will be able to help you way better tho

-Joe-

I doubt centaur needs to swing their hands that much went trotting because all movements are happening down below. Just have the arms hanging by the side and add some follow through.

My 2 cents.

slipsius

Shooting bow - The pull arm twitches a lot and needs to be smoothed out. It all of a sudden jumps back to the furthest back, but that's where it should take the most time to show the strength it takes to pull the bow back. The fingers need to be posed and animated as well. Also, as slingshot said, the rest of the body needs some motion. If you check out any centaur shots in pretty much any movie, their legs and body are always moving. Even if it's just shifting weight.

walk - It looks like your cycle does 2 steps per foot before cycles. Usually cycles are only 1 step each foot. I can tell cause of how your body acts. You need to add some better head tracking, because right now, it just moves with the body, but it would normally be fixed on one position, focusing on something. Again, the fingers and hands need to be posed and animated. The arms are too bent. Walking along, they would normally be down to the side way more. The body moves too much twisting side to side. The front legs have some popping as well. They just go a little too straight.

Dying - Speed it up! It's actually pretty good, but it needs to be sped up A LOT! It steps back first, then goes down. Have it step back, then forward once, then go down. But the down motion needs to be faster, and needs more weight added to it. The arms look a little stiff throughout. They could have more motion. The hands and fingers need to be posed and animated. When the body falls all the way over, his right shoulder goes over his body. The arm should swing over with it, and land on the other side of the body. But seriously, if you speed this animation up, it will be decent. You just need proper timing and weight. But weight comes with timing.

You`re off to a good start. Keep at it.

phoenixnight8

Id just like to start by saying thank you all so much for your feedback, as ive read the comments i have learned quite alot and because of your comments have changed the animations, they have been updated to fit in more with the feedback as it was totally right, there is still more that needs to be done for example with the bow animation the body needs to move more this will be fixed hopefully soon. anyway guys here are the updated videos if you could take a look and see if they have improved or just general thoughts about them that would be great, thank you in advance

updated walk - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qX7Oz3K0vY"]WIP : Updated Walk Animation - YouTube[/ame]
updated death - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P_Duq2BjJU"]WIP : Updated Death Aniamtion - YouTube[/ame]
updated bow - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfhJk94C3vM"]WIP : Updated Bow Animation - YouTube[/ame]