Running exercise

[ZachBG]

Howdy all. Just doing a little exercise in a run to test out TSM2. This was done straight-ahead in choreography, not in a cycled action with stride length, which is different than how I usually work.

 

Enjoy. Comments and crits welcome, as always, the tougher the better.

 

3 seconds, 120K or so, Sorenson 3 .mov.

runalien_sor3.mov

[steve392]

Looks great to me , I like the angle ,very dramatic

[NancyGormezano]

This is a hard one for me to critique. I like the camera dynamics & angle - very interesting - but as for the run?

 

I can almost hear the feet go flop flop flop - the hands/fingers have weird bends - can't really see the run enough to analyze it - it's almost a surrealistic type run - it seems it would fit in a 'dream or psycho' sequence, basically because of perceived distortions - but I would have to know the character and story better to assess wheither this style fits.

 

So what were you trying to accomplish? (other than testing tsm). If I were to know your objective then maybe? I could offer more feedback as to how it comes across.

[luckbat]

As always, the tougher the better.

Okay, you asked for it.

 

Admittedly, it's hard to criticize a run cycle when you can only really see it for one second before the camera goes all wonky. But here's what I was able to glean from scrubbing through the first third:

 

1. That's some crazy hip rotation you've got going on there. Nothing wrong with it from a cartoon anatomy perspective, but the timing is off. The hip's rotation is directly tied to the weight of the leg swinging forward, so it should reach its peak just as the leg is reaching its full extension. At the moment, the hip whips around too early.

 

2. Given how much his knees are bending, his upper body should be bouncing much lower to the ground on each step.

 

3. When he swings his right arm, his elbow seems to stop moving before the rest of his arm does. Notice that his left elbow is swinging away from his body, while his right one pulls into his side in an unnatural way.

[Mr. Jaqe]

1. His right foot clips.

 

2. No sane man stretches his foot that far forwards, you'll injure yourself or loose balance. His knee should be bent until it's "most up in the air", from there it should straighten out sligltly until the foot hits the ground, then it straigthens out more and more until the heel leaves the ground.

 

3. What's happening to his right hand? Looks like he has a lot of broken bones.

 

I'm wondering, what kind of run-cycle are you going for? Realistic or cartoony, because this seems to me like a mix of both. Oh and it looks like he need some tighter underware

[entity]

I see he has some weight. But it's not enough from this camera position. The director would tell the actor to give it a little more "umph"!

The weight is just not there... needs some more lifting in the arcs as he steps forward. Not too much or he'll look like he's leaping.

Edited August 28, 2005 by entity

[robcat2075]

Hi Zach,

 

Interesting experiment. And a worthwhile one to not use a "cycle".

 

It is exceedingly difficult to assess the motion from the camera angle we have.

 

I've only done one run cycle. You've seen it. So I'm just brainstorming here:

 

- Unless he's fifty feet tall (or on a low gravity planet) I think his gait is to slow.

 

- His feet are very stiff. overlapping motion on the toes would add much here.

 

- In fact ,I'm not sure his toes are even bending to avoid penetrating the ground on the push off.

 

- The side to side distance between the feet is probably larger than a real runner might do.

 

- My general feeling is that the faster we move, the smoother our repetitive motions become. It's an inertia thing. So I think the z-rotation on the hips is happening too suddenly, and lingering too long before it reverses. Likewise the torso. If those bone's channels resembled sine waves they would probably be closer to what they should be.

 

- in some runs and many walks the hips can shift over the weight bearing foot, but I think it's happening too late in this case. (The "shift" may be an illusion caused by the sudden z rotation, now that I examine it closely. Hard to tell)

 

- there is something weird going on with the hands. They seem to be turned a very unlikely angles.

[ZachBG]

You guys are all right.

 

In my defense, though, this was only a first rough pass. But, I did ask for it...

 

Thanks to everyone.

 

Oh, his hands... I'm not sure if they are going at weird angles, it's certainly possible. However, this might be a fault of the design as much as the animation. I thought it might be cool to make a character whose fingers are as long as his arms. However, that makes it very difficult both to close a fist and to read where the hand actually is in relation to the fingers. Whatever. Now it's clear why I don't do much modeling...