Plunger hop (need feedback)

[Lynx-0-]

Hey everyone, I could use some feedback on this early animation. I modeled a simple plunger, and I'm going to have it hop across the screen.

 

So far, I've finished rigging and blocking the animation, and begun working on fine tuning the hop action. This render is an early test, it is by no means close to finished. I wanted to get the community's opinion on it, and use your comments to improve.

 

At the end of the animation, you'll see a quick downward move. That's the second hop, I only rendered the first, so pay no attention to that. The model itself may be changed eventually, I'm thinking about adjusting the splinage to allow for smother joints.

 

I'd be happy to upload the project file and model if anyone would like to see it closer.

updatedhop2.mov

[DanCBradbury]

you should definitely use cp weighting for the handle. This will get rid of those weird looking creases in the wood when it bends.

[Paul Forwood]

I would try to keep the wooden handle looking like wood by making it bow but not bend. Make the rubber end do most of the flexing and get the handle to over-react to these movements. You may need to increase the number of spline rings and bones up the shaft and rig them so that they rotate a small percentage of a single control bone.

 

Just the way I'm seeing it at first glance.

[robcat2075]

Most of the elements of a good hop are there. I think it is in the air too long and traveling too far for the energy that was in the initial jumping motion.

 

A classic jump would have the character contacting the ground in a straight extended pose (much like it leaves the ground) and do the crouching down as overlapping motion only after hitting the ground.

 

I like Paul's idea of squetching the rubber cup to provide the propulsion. that would be an interesting exercise, although the cup might not offer as much range of motion for jumping as the handle does.

[Lynx-0-]

Thanks for the thorough advice and quick response everyone.

 

Something I forgot to mention in my first post: I haven't applied squash and stretch yet. There is going to be quite a bit in the rubber portion, giving it lots of flexing during the hop (and the obligatory slight suction).

 

So overall, what you three have suggested is making me re-think my model and rig. I don't have much experience with CP weighting, but I looked it up in a reference and went for it. The result is a slightly more natural bow, as Paul suggested. However, I don't think I completely understand adjusting the falloff of the bones - I think my problem may be the bones themselves. I have three bones in the handle, designated as body, neck, and head. I want the plunger to direct it's "head" towards an object later on. This way, I could communicate to the viewer what the plunger wanted to do. The result of this rig, combined with the splinage (which could also use work) results in the un-natural bends.

 

But I like the idea of dropping those bends and adding more of a bow, with more sharp bends on the compression after contact frame. Any suggestions on adjusting the rig would be great, I've attatched a picture of the current model with the falloff settings I recently adjusted, and the rig itself showing the falloff. With these settings, I can't move the bones much further than they are in the left image, because the handle begins to distort. The falloff for the middle neck bone is quite extreme, so I'm wondering if less bones would be a better solution. Or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. Any suggestions on how to improve this would be great. A more natural bow would be ideal, but I still would like to make the plunger appear alive.

 

Robcat, good advice on the animation. I don't know what I was thinking, going against the technique of the classic jump outlined in the animators survival kit. You're absolutely right. I'll adjust that after I get some of the issues with the rig worked out.

[robcat2075]

I think you could get a much smoother handle by using fewer spline rings.

 

plungerhandle.mov

[Lynx-0-]

Man, I stop modeling for about a year and look what happens.

 

Thanks Robcat, simpler splinage was just what the doctor ordered. Here's a quick animation with the new rig and simpler splines.

 

Any suggestions on how to control the flexing of the cup when it comes to animating? Sould I just use the scale transform in the properties, or is there a better way?

 

Thanks again for all the help. Further confirming to me that the A:M forums can be some of the most helpful that I've ever come across.

plungerNewRig.mov

[DanCBradbury]

A pose slider might be your best bet for the cup.

[Paul Forwood]

Yeah! Much better.

[robcat2075]

Here's a quick test of the squetchy cup notion.

 

plungercup.mov

 

This was done with a pose, moving the CPs. Just scaling one bone wouldn't get this

 

If I had to animate quite a bit of this I'd probably want this done with bones and contstraints rather than a pose. What I have here doesn't accomodate the need to jump anywhere but straight up. I'l leave that to you to figure out!

[John Bigboote]

Hey COOL! what a great idea for a 'fundamental' excerise...results should get a giggle or two.

 

You may benefit from the 'dynamic-constraint'... it would save you from haaving to animate the handle, and would give you some nice, natural secondary motion...plus, it's REAL easy to implement.

[Lynx-0-]

Alright, I used pose sliders for the squashing and stretching of the cup, and after about a week of tweaking, here's what I've come up with. Any thoughts?

 

-John: I've never used dynamic constraint, so I didn't want to jump into it with this. Any suggestions?

HopFinal.mov

[the_black_mage]

Lookin good to me!

[totlover]

looking clean... good job.

[totlover]

looking clean... good job.

[totlover]

looking clean... good job.