Scholarship WIP

[Heath_Naylor]

Hey gang. I am working on an animation for a scholarship coming in August. I am using a simple character I built just for this event. This is my first model so tell me what you think of the look of Mr. Lego and the movement he has.

 

Mr. Lego takes a leap.

[heyvern]

Nice fluid motion...

 

However.. the "gravity" is just a bit off.

 

The launch and landing would be faster... with a slowing down at the top of the arc of the jump.

 

The bouncing ball tutorials and practice projects oft used by nearly every animation program is a good way to see how this should work.

 

You need to adjust the timing of the jump so he doesn't seem to be defying gravity. It is more noticeable on the landing.

 

Overall I think the motion could be just a touch faster. He seems to be jumping on the moon... well... not the moon... maybe mars....

 

And if you REALLY want to get ambitious...

 

Go in and seriously exaggerate the poses before and after the jump. What I mean is to push the poses as he scrunches down before he leaps, maybe he could take a few steps before launching, and really "squish" him down when he hits. Really exaggerate it to make a statement.

 

If this is just a test for motion and not the final camera position than just ignore me but...

 

You may want to offset the camera angle. It could use more dramatic framing and composition. Straight on view like that is... well... it is boring.. and it feels "odd". It is hard to see the action because the sense of motion through space is lost when viewed straight on like that.

 

I think you have a really good start though.

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

[robcat2075]

It's a good start and you have lots of time to tune this.

 

-Definitely show an action like that from the side instead of the front.

 

-There's an odd hitch in his takeoff that takes away his appearance of momentum.

 

- on your squash landing, his arms suddenly race down faster than he was falling to begin with. The overlapping motion is the right idea, but his arms have no reason to speed up so it looks unnatural right now.

 

- Onionskin mode is a good way to check the paths of body parts on a move like this. Watch the trails and look for spots where the intervals between frames suddenly changes. Those are clues to unlikely motion.

 

- find some footage of someone doing a flip and see how they get their body to turn in mid air.

 

Don't give up! What are the rules of the scholarship competition?

[Heath_Naylor]

The whole motion with Mr. Lego was done in an hour with a poor rig in my opinion. I have re rigged his legs and am adding shoulder bones as well, I was just seeing the ability of movement, I agree on the wierd and awkward pause before take off. That was due to haveing to readjust bone possitioning for the leg socket during motion, thus the reason I re rigged. The scholarship is just any animation or film under 4 minutes that addresses the question "Does Free Speech Matter?". It is worth $1,000 US so I am hoping to win, we will see. I have no prior education with animating before A:M so all coments are welcome. I will have a new, more graviting animation out soon, and I will continue to work on my backflip (I have already changed the cammera angle). Thanks for the Critics, keep them coming.