Looking for Crits on Eagle Animation

The Ginger Ninja · Apr 2014

Hello,

I am working on an Eagle for GraceWorks Interactive and would appreciate advice and Critiques on my animation so far. I made this model and rig. Looking back, I see parts of the model I should have done differently. The rig is one of the first I have made. So I would appreciate feedback on the animation thus far and any tips for future animations.

Eagle Anim First Pass

Thank you,
Stephen "The Ginger Ninja" Borgens
TheGingerNinja.com

Mr.Moose · Apr 2014

I might add some subtle movement in the head, birds tend to move their heads slightly to see where they are flying

Just my 2c, good work so far!

Keep it up~

DWalker · Apr 2014

The wing movement doesn't really match those of a bird, let alone an eagle. Eagles are large, heavy birds, and they tend to rely upon gliding rather than flapping once they are at altitude. The wing motion overall is more similar to a breast-stroke than anything else I can imagine. The wings only bend during the up-stroke.

The 'fingers' move considerably, and are bent by air pressure, forming a very wide 'u' during the down stroke, and an 'n' during the up stroke.

heboltz3 · Apr 2014

At the moment, it feels incredibly stiff, robotic, and repetitive.

I would love to see the rig, because it seems like that might be the underlying problem, but in the mean time I would work on exaggerating the key poses that DWalker has shown, and mess with the timing between them.

The force for the wing flap should be generated (generating) from the birds chest. Right now, this movement is being disregarded, and that is what is generating the robot feeling. You can help exaggerate the down force by adding in secondary movement into the rail feathers and talons, a slight bob will go a long way.

The Ginger Ninja · Apr 2014

Thank you all for the comments. I will take them into heavy consideration moving forward.

DWalker: Just so that you can see the four main keyframes for this loop, I have them here. From the picture you attatched, I am not entirely sure as to where in the stroke each one is. I think it's just because the two on the left are flipped.

heboltz3: Here is the rig I used.

DWalker · Apr 2014

Keep in mind that pigeons and eagles are very different birds, and their flight patterns are equally dissimilar.

Your reference does explain the position of the head. Look closely at the eagle images I posted - note how the head is actually (slightly) below the line from the shoulders, and the the entire body forms a straight line from tail to beak. On the pigeon - and your model - the head is noticeably above the shoulders. Part of this is the nature of the bird - the eagle is looking for lunch, the pigeon is trying to avoid becoming lunch...

The Ginger Ninja · Apr 2014

DWalker,

To begin with, I know not to look up a pigeon reference for an Eagle model. I have no idea where you got the notion that I have pigeon references.

Now, to your point with the head, I want to thank you for pointing that out. I had not noticed that error.

In addition, I would like to share the actual reference I have for this animation. In particular, at about the 30 second mark is where I started using.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thEkFMaB5CA

~Stephen Borgens

Samuraidragon13 · Apr 2014

I would add some subtle nuance to like the head and the feet. This will help make it feel less stiff like heboltz3 was saying.

Fenn · Apr 2014

I think a couple of things are hurting your animation.
One is texture. Those wings need to be blended more. The contrast in colors make them very busy.
When animating the wings I would think of rowing water in a boat. Your animation looks very linear. The upper "arm" portion of the wing should do a full down stroke before the lower "arm" portion begins to fold. Then the upper arm portion should begin to come up and lead the lower.
I hope that makes sense.
Regarding the head. Tone down that movement. It should be a lot less of a bob. His head barely moves in your reference and he is looking around. You may want to have him look in a certain direction and move back to give him life, but the bobbing can then be cut down.
Do you have any animation in the tail?

Off Topic: Does anyone know who DWalker is? I see all of his advice, but no art. That doesn't make his advice bad, but I was curious.

PatoGrande · Apr 2014

This website has lots of good reference and breakdowns of who's done it well and who's not.

The Ginger Ninja · Apr 2014

Because this was a first pass, I had forgotten the tail. I think that is giving it some of the rigid or robotic feel (not the only thing giving that feeling, but it does make it feel stiff).

SamuraiDragon13: I had some movement in the feet, it may be too slight if you aren't noticing it.

Fenn: The texture is hindering it a bit, but for some reason, Maya is not accepting my Alpha maps. The pure white would be alpha'd out. You do bring up some good points with the way the wings move. I will look more closely at how the wings move on the Eagle. PatoGrande posted a great website that will help immensely. I will look into the head; however, it doesn't look around as I was working on a loop and the head turning would look unnaturally repetitive.

PatoGrande: Thank you for the great reference.

Thank you all for the great feedback!

Looking for Crits on Eagle Animation

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