luckbat

You'll just have to wait for the full version to find out...

Yeah, that's been bugging me too, but I'm at a loss as to how to fix it. The fact is, her pelvis is bobbing up and down like it's supposed to--only from this angle, as you said, it looks like it isn't. I'll keep trying... That's definitely true. I'll be dirtying it up for the full version. It's a police station bathroom, by the way. Um... Hmm. I'll try nudging the sunbeam forward a little. Hey, I never noticed that... Thank you!

Actually, the dress looks crappy because it doesn't use dynamic constraints. It's all weighted CPs. Basically, her hemline behaves like a hard plastic sheet wrapped around her legs. When I move on to the full version of this animation, I'll need to teach myself how to do some realistic fabric motion. Fortunately, the forthcoming Hash v.12 supposedly does for cloth what v.11 did for hair, so I may be in luck. The feet look like they're slipping because the lack of shadows makes it difficult to gauge where the floor actually is. I thought I could render out a separate shadow pass, but my targas just came out blank. I do plan to fix this, though. Yeah, I tried Z-buffered shadows a while back, but they give the character an airbrush-y look that's distinctly un-anime-like. (See attached image.) I think I know a way to fix it, but it's gonna take a bunch of separate shadow passes...

Well, Ebon's not casting any shadows right now, for one thing! I'll look into the possibility of rendering out an animated volumetric shaft of sunlight instead of the static one I'm using now, but the render time on that's going to be pretty steep, with the turbulence. Also, she needs a rimlight coming from behind her, to match with the heavy backlighting. I did a mockup of how it would look here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...indpost&p=56246 Aside from that, I don't like the huge craggy shadows her fingers are casting--cartoon characters almost never have hand shadows like that. I just haven't figured out how to make her arms receive raytraced shadows without casting them. Lots of other tweaks, etc. The whole bathroom's looking a lot browner than I'd like. You know how it is.

Woo! After ten weeks of toil, my latest animation test is finally ready for public consumption. Yeah, I know. Ten weeks. For 14 seconds of animation. It's kind of embarrassing. The first two versions only took two weeks apiece, so I was hoping this third version wasn't going to take much longer than that. Except first I had to learn about modeling 3d environments. And about lighting. And volumetrics. And walk cycles. And light lists. And the graph editor. And dynamic constraints. And CP weighting. And how to manage a timeline that looks like this: But I saw it through to completion. Hallelujah. And now you can see it too. http://ebon.org/images/forForums/Ebon_lipsync_test_v3-0.mov (14 seconds / Sorenson 3 / sound / 4.2 MB) Edit - Jan 10: I've replaced the movie file with a new version--Ebon now casts a shadow on the floor. Edit - Jan 14: Another new version--I've smoothed out the shadows on Ebon's skin. Edit - Jan 17: Final change--I've altered the color scheme and added some snazzy backlighting. I know, it still needs some polishing. Lighting design, in particular, is still in progress. Any advice welcome. Also, if anyone's curious about the previous versions of this lipsync test, here's the old thread: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8853 Comments/criticism are welcome and encouraged.

I agree with you, and I've no wish to bog down Aaver's critique thread with a debate on the true meaning of heroism. I just thought it was worth pointing out.

Okay, this is going to seem like a really cheap shot, but I do think it's relevant... Simply put, for all his impressive achievements, Lindbergh isn't considered a hero by everyone: "Only a Western wall of race and arms can hold back the infiltration of inferior blood and permit the white race to live at all in a pressing sea of yellow, black and brown ... We, the heirs of European culture, are on the verge of a disastrous war, a war within our own family of nations, a war which will reduce the strength and destroy the treasures of the White race, a war which may even lead to the end of our civilization ... We can have peace and security only so long as we band together to preserve that most priceless possession, our inheritance of European blood, only so long as we guard ourselves against attack by foreign armies and dilution by foreign races." --Charles Lindbergh, 1939

Oh my god that's adorable!

Um...

Perfection. My only quibble is that some of the bugs seem to be in sharper focus than the grass they're sitting on.

You drop a bomb like that and then just walk away? That comment needs its own tutorial...

Yeah, it's tricky, especially since Jhonen never gave the poor guy a neck! Here's something: it looks like his nose is off. The artwork varies, obviously, but Johnny seems to have a beak-shaped nose most of the time. Here's an example. Also, his eyes are rarely perfectly round like that. They've usually got a straight line along the top or bottom. Keep at it! The world awaits JTHM: The Animated Series...

Sweet! Never thought I'd see a toon-rendered Johnny. He looks like a bit of an old man, though, y'know? Any chance you could smooth out his face a bit?

Glad to hear it! But I can't take credit for that one--I learned it from Jason Osipa's book...

By the way, the "stoned" look comes more from the lower lids than the upper ones. If that's any help.

Dude! He totally needs a goatee now!

Woo! SimGasStation! What are you planning on doing with it?

--Colin Freeman, master of understatement.

Pretty much. The bounce in his steps suggests a creature with some heaviness to him, so he can never move and then just freeze. Treat everything like a pendulum. Here's a page with quicktimes to illustrate: http://www.spicycricket.com/SCA/SCA_anim4.html#FTPOSE Keith Lango talks about this too, at length: http://www.keithlango.com/LeadFollow/leadFollow.htm I have the VCD of that. A lot of it's over my head, but I always learn something new every time I re-watch it... Animators all have their preferences. Some say "Do lipsync last because you'll gain a better understanding of the emotional moments during the process of animating the body." Others say "Do lipsync first because it's the most unconscious part of the performance." Personally, I do the lipsync as a separate action, without expressions. Then I add expressions in the choreography. Since you've already tried it one way, try it the other way next time. Probably one of the two methods will "feel" more natural to you.

Serious critiques in a nutshell: Overall: A big improvement over version 1. Congrats! Shot 1: This shot has no major flaws that i can see. Minor flaws include: * Some slight foot slippage in the walk cycle. He's sliding backwards. * He should exhibit more eyebrow movement for such a melodramatic outburst. Right now he starts out in a tight scowl that varies only slightly. * That throw should really whip across the screen. Watch it in slow-mo and notice that the throw is almost the same speed as the anticipation. Shot 2: Nothing wrong with a hand-held camera, but you gotta use it in all three shots or not at all. Cutting from a static camera to a hand-held one is jarring. Most of the problems with shot 2 relate to the ease-out on the limbs: * The foot sort of snaps into position. In the previous shot, he's got a tremendous amount of bounce on each step, so this last foot-jerk doesn't really match. It's a good speed; it just needs more inertia. * Next, his hand comes down and bounces back out again, like it hits a wall. You need inertia here too. * The left hand makes a gesture on "if they ever..." and then snaps into its rest position like a fridge door. * His right hand seems a bit dead in this shot. It should be mildly counterbalancing his manic left hand. Perhaps the fist could clench up a bit on "ever" to balance the thumb-point. You've got a great shoulder-tilt at this point, so go with it and lift his right arm a bit there to give that movement more sway. * He's getting ready to point forward, but he lifts his arm straight out. He should angle it forward a bit. I know you want the finger-point to be dramatic, but you should do that with anticipation, like he's pitching a baseball. Right now it's robotic--it doesn't show intention. Also, a big motion like that would raise the shoulder as well. Shot 3: Really nice facial acting here. Good work. The camera move cuts well with shot 2's, but then it hits a wall and freezes. It needs to ease out just like everything else--especially if it's meant to be hand-held. (Cameras are heavy!) * The right hand clicks into a frozen position on "what". It needs to stay in motion just like the left hand. I have some quibbles with the camera placement/framing, but that's not animation-related. You're improving fast! It's easy to see why Frank let you skip a few steps.

Just when I thought I'd seen everything...

If the animation is under 1MB, you can attach it to your post in the WIP section.

Are you saying I should move all of the teeth up in the model, or are you saying I can keep the upper teeth moving in the mouth poses? Earlier, you suggested that rather than changing the entire mouth so that it opens downward, it might be easier for you to just move the teeth upwards. I agreed, so long as you moved both upper and lower teeth to a new position. In the big picture sense... of course you can keep the upper teeth moving. It's your character. If you want to, you can make his upper teeth change size, shape and color whenever he talks. You don't have to take Justin's advice, or mine, or anyone's. The only person you should be trying to satisfy is yourself. Animators are always looking for ways to bend the rules to make their characters seem more human. The fish in Finding Nemo could blink. The chickens in Chicken Run had teeth. On the other hand, the mouse in Stuart Little had black spheres for eyes, just like a real mouse. It's up to you to decide how to make your model appealing. If you feel it's more natural to have your character's mouth move like a sock puppet's, then maybe take the teeth out completely. That might look better. But the bottom line is, there is a "correct" way for a set of lips, teeth and tongue to move, and you should at least be familiar with it, even if you don't plan to imitate it. So, to sum up: Upper teeth can't move relative to the head. Upper lip can raise and lower a little. Lower teeth do most of the moving. Lower lip moves with the lower teeth, and can also raise and lower a little. Remember: even if your character doesn't have a jaw, you can still give him a jaw bone! You can attach the CPs in the lower teeth and lower lip to it so that you don't have to keep moving them manually in the pose window... P.S. I don't want to be one of those guys who's all talk and no action, so if you're interested in to sending me your model, I can show you how to put a jaw bone in there to make your mouth poses easier. Just flip me an e-mail.

It depends on what you're planning to cut to.

I hope Justin's not offended that I keep inserting myself into this conversation, but I guess he'll let me know. In my opinion, for a cartoony character like yours, you could probably get away with just raising the teeth, as long as you raise both the upper and lower teeth. (Otherwise he'll never be able to say "Grrr!") Short answer: Yes. Your upper teeth are connected to your skull and can never move in any way. Long answer: Yes, but... Well, look. In hand-drawn animation, animators "cheat" the position of the teeth all the time. It's not "correct," but they do it so the mouth will always look good and be readable. If you want to cheat the upper teeth up a tiny bit to give the "oo" shape a little more zing, no one's going to revoke your animator's license. Just as long as you're aware that it's impossible for any vertebrate to move its upper teeth. P.S. Beaker from the Muppets was just a cylinder too, but even he had a "jaw."