FPS and the look of an animated walk cycle

[cribbidaj]

Hello -

 

I have created as short walk cycle with a model I created that I am now in the process of animating for a short film. The resulting choreography is okay, but I feel it is hard to focus on the girl model as she walks across the screen. I'm experimenting with lights and what not, but really have no idea what I'm doing. I thought it might be because I rendered it at A:M's default 30fps, but when I change the project's fps to 24, the choreography speed still looks the same. I'm unable to attach the file to this forum because I get a "You are not permitted to upload a file with that extension." error message. How can I show my results so members can see it? Any suggestions how to make this animation easier to focus on?

 

Thanks,

Chris Walters

http://heartdancemusic.com/chriswalters.html

[KenH]

Try zipping it? It has to be under 2mb.

[luckbat]

I thought it might be because I rendered it at A:M's default 30fps, but when I change the project's fps to 24, the choreography speed still looks the same.

Changing fps has no effect on chor speed. An action that takes 2 seconds should always take 2 seconds, regardless of what your fps setting is.

[cribbidaj]

Try zipping it? It has to be under 2mb.

 

I was trying to send an mpeg4 - here it is a a quicktime file - 575 kb. Thanks.

girl_walks_by__sm_.mov

[KenH]

Not bad. It looks like you've either not enough frames in the cycle or you're using non spline curves as it's quite jittery. Also, the first and last frames of the cycle don't seem to match.

[cribbidaj]

Not bad. It looks like you've either not enough frames in the cycle or you're using non spline curves as it's quite jittery. Also, the first and last frames of the cycle don't seem to match.

 

Thanks for your input, Ken. What are non spline curves and how can I alleviate this jitteriness? Also, how do I add frames quickly between keyframes? Seems like everytime I start adding or deleting frames in my actions they get all screwy - once an action is played, it creates a default timeline length that I don't know how to change. As for the first and last frames of the cycle not matching, I did copy the 1st frame and paste it two frames later than the last 'posed' keyframe of the cycle as all resources suggest, but I'll look at that further. It seems you understand my predicament - the movement is not bad, but it seems 'jittery' and not easy to watch. It occurs to me that if I'm feeling this way about the scene without any objects other than the default ground in the scene, once I begin adding to the character's environment it will expound the difficulty.

 

Thanks.

[KenH]

If you screen shot your action with the timeline open, it'll be easier to diagnose.

[robcat2075]

from looking at the movie I'd guess it's a "Stride Length" problem. The stride length is set too small so she's going thru each cycle too fast.

[cribbidaj]

from looking at the movie I'd guess it's a "Stride Length" problem. The stride length is set too small so she's going thru each cycle too fast.

 

Perhaps - I'll mess with the stride length. However, the speed of her walk is kind of humorous and charming, it's just the jitteriness and lack of definition in her appearance throughout the action that bothers me.

 

-Chris

[robcat2075]

i notice the movie is only rendered at 15 fps. that's going to make any fast motion look jerky. 24 or 30fps would get more inbetweens in there.

[cribbidaj]

i notice the movie is only rendered at 15 fps. that's going to make any fast motion look jerky. 24 or 30fps would get more inbetweens in there.

 

Here it is at 24 fps. I still feel it's hard to really make out her features even at this rate. I'm going to mess with stride length and lighting to see it that makes the action easier to watch.

girl_walks_by__24fps_.mov

[Fishman]

I watched this several times and one of the things that struck me is that her left leg never really extends as she walks. It is still quite bent when it goes to the ground. It makes her walk like she's got some kind of physical handicap. If that is the intent, then apologies, but if not, then maybe extending that leg will make that portion of the stride less jerky.

 

She's a cute character though!

Scott

[cribbidaj]

I watched this several times and one of the things that struck me is that her left leg never really extends as she walks. It is still quite bent when it goes to the ground. It makes her walk like she's got some kind of physical handicap. If that is the intent, then apologies, but if not, then maybe extending that leg will make that portion of the stride less jerky.

 

She's a cute character though!

Scott

 

Thanks for the acute observation, Scott. I'll take a look at the keyframe you're talking about. This is one of several walk cycles I've work on with this character and it's actually based on a 2d walk cycle of Frank Gabriel's mouse walk I found in Particle Illusion's emitter program. Therefore, it is not a true 3d walk cycle - one side is not a mirror of the other. Some of the other walk cycles I've created with the character are examples of this, but those results are less than stellar as well. I thought I'd try this cycle and just render it from the left view - there are 10 keyframes, each spaced 2 frames apart. I like a lot about it - it's relatively funny - but I want the character's 'cuteness' (I'm glad you see it!) to jump out at the audience and I feel facial expression (which is hard to discern at this speed) will go a long way toward accomplishing that.

 

Chris