Short animation

[higginsdj]

Hi all,

 

I am thoroughly enjoying my A:M apprenticeship and have now completed my final lesson (not yet accepted by my Mentor though).

 

Here it is:

http://higginsdj.250free.com/downloads/Lesson6.mov

 

Note that you may have to navigate to my gallery (theatre) page and access it there as 250Free may not allow direct linking (see below)

 

My other efforts can be seen here:

http://higginsdj.250free.com/theatre.htm

 

This was by far the most complex animation I have ever done as it comprised 3 Chors (3 Shots) each with up to 5 blended actions overloaded with Chor Action. If nothing else I have learnt a lot about blending actions in A:M

http://higginsdj.250free.com/downloads/detailedPWS.jpg

 

Note I am not after praise, I'm after some serious critiquing. (There is one subtle problem with it - I wonder if you can pick it up?)

 

Cheers

[starwarsguy]

I'm no animation expert (far from it), but I watched that movie through about 10 times in slow-mo and couldn't really find any mistakes. If there is one, it would probably be a slight lip-sync problem that only an expert could see. NICE WORK!

[jamagica]

how come when I get it I see "hotlinking not permitted..."

[robcat2075]

Well, if you're just looking for "problems" here's what strikes me initially...

 

-When he drops an arm down to his side, it seems to jump into place rather than ease in.

 

-The transistion from shot 1 to shot 2 is an awkward jump cut because he's suddenly changes the phase of the walk cycle he's in (from "left foot forward" to "right foot forward") and because the change in camera view is too slight.

 

-Likewise from shot 2 to shot 3 in the position of the right arm doesn't match up.

 

These are things live-action filmakers go mad getting to match up because they really have to capture each shot separately and make them fit in editing. But for animation we can more easily do this as one performance in one chor with multiple cameras and get perfect "cuts". I think doing this in 3 chors is over-engineering it.

 

-I don't see any action/reaction between the masses of the arms and the body, particularly when he tosses the object. The result is a rather stiff appearance to the action. My hand is small compared to my body but when I swing it out my body is still nudged in the opposite direction, and my body comes back when I swing my arm back in. His hands are huge in comparison to his body.

 

The whole piece is really about the arms it seems, so you want to make them great.

 

-many of the head motions have a linear quality to them, making for a jerky effect. There's also an odd jump right at the beginning of shot 2.

 

-A head that huge would benefit from some anticipations on the big moves. That would take experimenting, it might mean a completely different performance for the head.

 

This would be a difficult character to animate because the proportions are so extreme. The limbs are so short in comparison to the hands/feet that "successive breaking of joints" is going to be tough to fit in there, but that would be another thing to implement if you're going for broke on this shot. (I realize this is a character you were assigned).

 

But I think this will be an effective sequence.

 

I do miss the part about the loofa sponge, however.

[higginsdj]

Thanks Robert.

 

You picked up the foot forward issue but I didn't see the others - many, many thanks.

 

My blends aren't quite as good in slo mo as they appear at real time :-) I'll have to work with slo mo more often. The jerk at the start of shot 2 is wierd. There is some sort of body jerk that I introduced somewhere. I'll have to investigate.

 

For those who get the can't hotlink - just navigate to the gallery page:

http://higginsdj.250free.com/theatre.htm and grab it from there.

 

Cheers

[higginsdj]

OK, I have made adjustments to the animation as recommended. Time for a further critique - Please

 

Note this new version is a 1.3mb mpeg file and you need to link directly from:

 

http://higginsdj.250free.com/theatre.htm

 

Its the bottom animation on the page.

 

Cheers

[steve392]

I am just getting the sound and the vidio is set on the last frame ,thought you should know ,allthough this could be my pc

the last one was graet though

[higginsdj]

What are you opening it with? I've downloaded it (right click and save as) from the 250free.com site and tested it in both MediaPlayer and QT and it seems fine.

 

Cheers

[luckbat]

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.

[higginsdj]

Thanks Mike - your critiques are really appreciated.

 

I understand all the points for shot 1

 

Shot 2

Not sure what you mean when you say 'it needs more inertia'. Do you mean (using the example of the character comming to rest) that, say, the whole body should sway forward (sort of loop forward, down, up and back) to a halt?

 

Hand bounce - still trying to get blend options working here but to no avail - will have to review Raf's non linear animation video again (A:M v8.5 version of the tape)

 

Shot 3

Completely missed that arm lock.

 

Facial animation - I'm still coming to grips with Franks facial setup. Many of the poses are linked and if I push too far the face 'explodes'. So, should I animate the lip synch or the facial emotion first? Which should have priority?

 

I'm now thinking Emotion first and give emotion priority. I had done the lip synch first and didn't want to 'ruin it' when applying the emotion.

 

By the way, my 250Free bandwidth is almost exceeded for the month so if you may have problems downloading the file until January! Well what can you expect from a free site

 

Cheers

[steve392]

Its working fine now ,must have been a glitch in wmp .Looks graet ,I can hardly see them small didgies ppl have pointed out even after theye did sheee I'm confusing myself here ,looks very good to me anyway lol

[luckbat]

Not sure what you mean when you say 'it needs more inertia'. Do you mean (using the example of the character comming to rest) that, say, the whole body should sway forward (sort of loop forward, down, up and back) to a halt?

 

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

 

Hand bounce - still trying to get blend options working here but to no avail - will have to review Raf's non linear animation video again (A:M v8.5 version of the tape)

 

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...

 

Facial animation - I'm still coming to grips with Franks facial setup. Many of the poses are linked and if I push too far the face 'explodes'. So, should I animate the lip synch or the facial emotion first? Which should have priority?

 

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.

[higginsdj]

For Jonathan who emailed me privately - my reply to you bounced.....

 

I am participating in the Animation Master Apprenticeship program NOT the Animation Mentor program. The A:M Apprentice program is a Hash community/forum initiative only.

 

Cheers

[PF_Mark]

For Jonathan who emailed me privately - my reply to you bounced.....

 

I am participating in the Animation Master Apprenticeship program NOT the Animation Mentor program. The A:M Apprentice program is a Hash community/forum initiative only.

 

Cheers

Can you explain more about the apprenticeship program and the Mentor programs please. I have combleted Rodney's AOAM program and I am interested in doing more. I have read posts in the fellowship forums about the Mentor program but I do not know how to sign up or if I am ready or not.

[starwarsguy]

I had the same questions about the Apprenticeship Program.

[JBarrett]

I've tried getting to the "theatre" page several times, but keep running into "bandwidth exceeded" messages. I'll keep trying...

[Paul Forwood]

I've tried getting to the "theatre" page several times, but keep running into "bandwidth exceeded" messages.

 

Ditto!

[higginsdj]

Hey - It's a free site - I guess I can't expect too much. My own paid web site won't allow me to upload anything over 700kb for some reason (It's currently used for all my Astronomical research work)

 

I'll post when the sites available again or I fiund somewhere else.

 

By the way I am 2 versions done the track c/- Franks critiques and advice.

 

Cheers