Blockheads

[Simon Edmondson]

Ball_640.mov

 

Trying to do a series of 10-20 seconds 'briefs', one each week. This is the first. I need to change the composite on the third scene. using a shadows only render ( if I can remember how ) as there is a unintended mix of toon and non toon renders.

When rendering a cookie cut decal in toon, it shows on both sides, only the one side in Final ?

Any feedback welcome.

regards

simon

 

 

PS

should have mentioned. this is a VGA conversion of a 1080 render.

[Simon Edmondson]

Started with a contest entry.

This was the first in the series.

 

 

Wall3.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

Revised version of Bowling with scene three corrections

 

 

Bowling.mov

[thefreshestever]

looking good so far. one thing that always catches my eye watching your animations is that you tend to almost evenly space your animations. when he´s getting down, it´s taking almost the same time as he´s getting up, same with the throw. the movement of the arm going back and forth is very even, too. try to get some more tension by accelerating and slowing down various things. (you will want to mainly accelerate things in this particular case, look´s too slow to me all in all) this will make it more natural and more exciting to watch.

 

cheers..

[Simon Edmondson]

looking good so far. one thing that always catches my eye watching your animations is that you tend to almost evenly space your animations. when he´s getting down, it´s taking almost the same time as he´s getting up, same with the throw. the movement of the arm going back and forth is very even, too. try to get some more tension by accelerating and slowing down various things. (you will want to mainly accelerate things in this particular case, look´s too slow to me all in all) this will make it more natural and more exciting to watch.

 

cheers..

 

Sebastian

Thank you for your reply and feedback.

Previously I had set too many keyframes, so tried to space them out more. Had intended to learn how to use the F curves next, to help with the ease in and out. I will try to vary the timing more with this weeks brief. Over use of 4's and 2's I think ?

regards

simon

[thefreshestever]

looking good so far. one thing that always catches my eye watching your animations is that you tend to almost evenly space your animations. when he´s getting down, it´s taking almost the same time as he´s getting up, same with the throw. the movement of the arm going back and forth is very even, too. try to get some more tension by accelerating and slowing down various things. (you will want to mainly accelerate things in this particular case, look´s too slow to me all in all) this will make it more natural and more exciting to watch.

 

cheers..

 

Sebastian

Thank you for your reply and feedback.

Previously I had set too many keyframes, so tried to space them out more. Had intended to learn how to use the F curves next, to help with the ease in and out. I will try to vary the timing more with this weeks brief. Over use of 4's and 2's I think ?

regards

simon

 

yeah, i think so... one tends to do animation so every little bit is readable clearly by the viewer, but if you pay attention to high-end animations from professionals you will notice that you will have to watch it in slow-mo to figure out the whole movement. if the eye is unable to cope everything it makes things more interesting. you will notice that in almost every good piece of animation, not just character animation, same applies to motion graphics and so on... also contrast is very important, as it is with everything in life. design, music, relationships.... contrast is the key... without enough contrast things will get boring very quick.

[Simon Edmondson]

This week's Brief on the theme of the bouncing ball.

Tried to incorporate Sebastian's suggestions regarding changes of pace in the movements.

Any feedback welcome.

Bouncing.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

This was to have been an attempt at the "Pushing a heavy object theme". But thought I best get on with something else .

Any feedback welcome.

simon

 

Pushing_B.mov

[Rodney]

Hi Simon!

 

Nice animation!

 

I'm going to focus on the two areas that lessened my enjoyment of this heavy push.

Note that this doesn't in any way detract from the good stuff in your animation.

 

In the beginning the setup seems to reveal a fairly light but large ball.

We later find out that it really heavy and must have had some serious momentum behind it rolling into the shot.

This anticipatory introduction works against your main shot.

My first thought was to simply begin the animation where the character is struggling to move the ball.

This would sell the idea that the ball is really heavy.

 

Edit: I had completely missed the fact that the guy has pushed the ball to the edge of an incline.

This helps in understanding why the ball would roll back.

Some additional detail might be nice in order to make it utterly clear that the ball has met the resistance of the incline.

As it is I didn't notice the incline until the third viewing.

I had assumed that something had changed with the ball (i.e. it went from light to heavy as if the guy were acting).

 

At the end the squashed head doesn't play well.

If it were cartoony squash it would read well.

Likewise if it were hyper realistic with blood and guts (or in this case brains) graphically squashing out. It would read well.

As it is the head just seems to disappear (as if being pushed into soft ground).

The issue with that is that you've already established that the ground is hard... as evidence of it's support of a very heavy ball.

 

So what to do...

If directing/editing this I would likely begin with the heavy pushing of the ball (deleting the easy roll in just prior).

I would then come up with an entertaining way to exaggerate the impact of the head against the ball.

I assume we wouldn't be going for the graphic blood and guts shot and since we haven't established that the character is subject to cartoon laws of exaggerated squash and stretch we are left with displaying a chain reaction of the ball hitting the head which compacts into the neck which pushes the spine which then stops the ball. In short, the guy's head has become a doorstop.

 

In taking all things into consideration I might try to resolve the matter by having a slight furrow being pushed into the ground up until the point of the ball hitting the incline. This would establish a constrast between soft and hard ground. You could further differentiate the two by coloring the area prior to the incline as soft green (as in grass) and the hard grey or black (as in concrete or asphalt). this would then explain to the viewer why the ball would move freely for awhile but then become hard to push; something has changed on the ground. This isn't very clear right now.

 

I do think that in order to show the weight of the ball against the head and body of the character you need to establish something of a chain reaction. This chain reaction would likely result is some flailing of the arms and hands. If you want to imply that the character is dead or unconscious then that hand flailing would terminate after the character had time to react (i.e. it can take considerable time to die or pass out)

 

I know you are just trying to push a heavy object here but don't miss the entertainment opportunity.

[robcat2075]

The heavy push is a difficult thing.

 

-The heavy thing must behave as if it is heavy. It shoudl be slow to move and slow to stop moving, and slow to reverse direction.

 

-The person must appear as if he is exerting force against something heavy. Your man rarely positions himself so that the force he can generate with his legs is in line with where he wants that ball to. He needs to get himself between where his feet are planted on the ground and where his hands contact the ball.

 

-Those hands and feet can't be wandering while he is pushing. The hands particularly are floating too much onthe surface of the ball.

 

 

Just on a staging note... I'd make that ramp the ball is on much narrower so we can see the incline vs. the ground easier. Until I looked at the horizon i wasn't sure there was an incline there.

[Simon Edmondson]

Robert and Rodney

 

Thank you for your feedback and help. Much appreciated.

The intention was to go for a more cartoon ish, comic, approach rather than a splatter I'm a bit too squeamish for the latter. The intention, as ever, was to keep it as simple as possible so as to make it more obvious what the bits were that needed revision. Had tried to keep the hands planted on the ball and stepped through checking it but will go back again. Have ( just) had an idea for the staging so will try that, before getting on with the seesaw thats to be the next brief.

regards

simon

[Simon Edmondson]

Revised in the lights of earlier comments and suggestions.

 

Theres a furrow were the sphere rolls in, the ramps replace the slope and the sphere settles at the end.

The ground opens as for the head goes in ( honest ! ) but thats not visible here.

His legs do kick in reaction to the impact of the sphere, but that was in the earlier version too.

 

 

Any feedback welcome

regards

simon

 

Pushing_Ramp.mov

[Rodney]

You've got some nice improvements in this release! Well done.

Things read so much better this time around.

 

The only part that seems off to me is where the ball easily goes up the ramp the first time but then is extremely hard to push the second.

 

Here's the thing...

The character is easily pushing the ball with little effort as it rolls across the ground at the beginning of the sequence.

So far so good.

The ball is light enough and/or has enough momentum that it rolls under existing momentum almost 2/3rds of the way up the ramp.

Still okay thus far.

Gravity then brings the ball back down.

The character stops the ball easily with only minor rolling back and forth.

Here is where we see the first real indication that something might be wrong.

After having established the weight of the ball suddenly the ball gains tremendous weight and becomes almost immovable.

This is evidenced by the effort the character begins to exert to push the ball up the ramp.

The evidence of weight suggests something has happened to change the state of the ball or that this is not the same ball.

My mind begins to wonder if I've somehow missed an important story element or camera cut.

 

As for the finale, it simply works so I won't suggest anything there.

His performance could be pushed in a lot of different directions but I like it as you've now got it.

There is a beat sense to it like the punchline of a joke... Da Bump bubba da.

 

Love the furrow.

It's a nice subtle detail. Well executed.

 

As for possible solutions to the issue with the shifting weight of the ball...

If I were to imagine this as a shot on a tight budget with limited time for tweaking I'd be tempted to simply tilt the soft ground on the left upward to suggest the ball was rolling more steeply downhill. This would give it some additional momentum to move so far up the ramp. It would also help explain why gravity is trying to compel the ball to remain at the bottom of the ramp (as opposed to moving further in the direction from which it came)

 

Rock on!

[Simon Edmondson]

[Rodney

Thank you once again for your help.

I thought a scene before might address the question of momentum, so prepared this today.

I will try to edit the two together tomorrow.

regards

simon

Slope.mov

[Rodney]

I'm liking that idea.

It just might work Simon!

[Simon Edmondson]

I'm liking that idea.

It just might work Simon!

 

Rodney

Thank you for your help.

Here is the edited version.

I just watched it several times and recalled Roberts observations regarding hand moves on the sphere. I think I'll go back to those later as I need to crack on with the seesaw.

regards

simon

 

Pushing.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

This weeks brief, on the theme of balance. Still work to be done. today..

Any feedback welcome.

simon

 

VGA conversion from 720HD.

Seesaw640.mov

[Rodney]

Hmmmm... something seems off there at the very end.

 

Having cousins devious enough to jump off a seesaw just so they can see you fall and hit your butt suggests to me that some exaggerated physics are at play in your animation. This is more of a gut feel than anything but...

 

The first person might fall off backward but I believe it more likely the second person would fall straight downward or forward before they'd go backward.

The reference footage I found on the internet is entirely too painful to post.

Teeter totters are dangerous things.

 

 

Edit: Here's some less painful reference:

 

mYMBAL04voY

 

 

qat2L84HE30

 

gmYkd8vd49A

 

Now, as I said the first person might accidentally (or even purposefullly) fall backward off of the seesaw but if they do then it becomes all the more likely the second will be carried by gravity downward or forward. There are several reasons for this one of which is that if the weight leaves one side of the seesaw while it is at the bottom then the other side is already all the way down... the other side has already reached the zenith of it's movement upward and the weight is now on it's way down (at a fraction of a moment prior to the loss of weight altering the equilibrium of the seesaw). So the body moving up would have had to already had more momentum than the seesaw would be able to generate in order to launch both sides outward in such a trajectory.

 

Let's look at this again from a view of chain reactions:

Blue gal hits bottom and then launches herself backward. It's an odd move but certainly not impossible.

A question we might ask here would be: "Is her jumping up prior to falling off the seesaw enough to launch Red guy head over heels?"

It is possible that Red guy is actually jumping upward in an attempt to do a backflip but... that doesn't make a lot of sense either.

 

How then to proceed.

Since the result is exaggerated you might be able to provide a setup for a plausible physics that would launch Red guy up and out.

I believe it would entail having the seesaw/teeter totter bow significantly in the middle.

As it is now, it remains rigidly straight.

 

That's my 2 cents thrown into the mix.

 

If it sounds like I don't like your teeter tottering... not true! Previous caveats aside... I think it's great!

[Simon Edmondson]

Hmmmm... something seems off there at the very end.

 

Having cousins devious enough to jump off a seesaw just so they can see you fall and hit your butt suggests to me that some exaggerated physics are at play in your animation. This is more of a gut feel than anything but...

 

The first person might fall off backward but I believe it more likely the second person would fall straight downward or forward before they'd go backward.

The reference footage I found on the internet is entirely too painful to post.

Teeter totters are dangerous things.

 

 

Rodney

Thank you for your reply.

I didn't have any reference footage so was trying to work out were the weight went with the intentions of the figures.

The thinking (?) was,

He sits down sharply, forcing her end up rapidly. He starts to move up again so, when she lands back down, the impact launches him up in an off balance position and sends him backwards.

This was the second take.

 

The first had him going up in the air after she landed back down, then catching the 'plank' on his way back down, which sent him over backwards.

 

I'm trying to get used to keying and vary the speed and actions more. Its enjoyable to do and gaining a lot from the process.

regards

simon

[Rodney]

I'm trying to get used to keying and vary the speed and actions more. Its enjoyable to do and gaining a lot from the process.

 

You are doing great things here.

We should all be so bold as to publish such frequent animation!

 

I must have some repressed memories from my youth with regard to painful teeter totter experiences for me to care so much about them.

[Simon Edmondson]

I'm trying to get used to keying and vary the speed and actions more. Its enjoyable to do and gaining a lot from the process.

 

You are doing great things here.

We should all be so bold as to publish such frequent animation!

 

I must have some repressed memories from my youth with regard to painful teeter totter experiences for me to care so much about them.

 

Rodney

Thank you. I'm hoping to do 10-20 seconds worth each week on a different theme or aspect.

I realised that it might be possible to get more done but trying smaller ideas rather than the 2-3 mins of the other work. Still developing other projects but will try to stick with the 'briefs' untill Xmas. Much to be done.

regards

simon

 

Ps

I had thought to try and get some bounce into the board, so it would 'twang' at the extreme position, but the setup for this one wouldn't allow that, so it may go into the next one instead.

[Rodney]

After leaving off from my last commentary I got to thinking how you had put together the seesaw animation without reference.

The first thought at that point was, "Wow, that's really good for no reference."

The second thought was, "Exactly how did he set up the animation."

 

So here is me following up on those thoughts....

 

While I might like to see more perfect posing in the characters what you've got in this is really nice animation.

It reads well and there should be no one who misinterpret the story behind the basic idea, namely, two characters playing around on a teeter totter.

What else is there to be said except "Well done" and "Refine to perfection" or "You nailed that one, move on to your next setup".

 

Before moving on though I do hope you'll comment a little on how you set up the scene.

For instance, did you use constraints to connect the characters to the seesaw?

Did you use Nulls? Did you eyeball anything? Everything?

Why the heck isn't anyone else who downloaded it commenting on your animation or giving you an 'attaboy' for the progress you've made?

These and other questions are the ones that would keep me up at night... that is... they woud if I didn't work nights every weekend.

 

And there is one other question I've been dying to ask you, and it's not "why does that teeter... totter back and forth until it rebalances with both sides up at the end" (Anticipated answer: perfect equalibrium). If you can't guess what that question is I'll give you a really big hint. The question is, "What are you cooking up for your 'Blockheads' setup?

 

I anxiously await the answer to all of these questions.

 

Added:

I'm hoping to do 10-20 seconds worth each week on a different theme or aspect.

If the steady results/improvement we are seeing is any indication, you are well on your way to becoming an outstanding animator.

[Vertexspline]

Simon --yes bravo for your sharing . It takes a lot of bravery to do that. But I think it has paid off well. For not only you but others like me who have read and watched and learned. So in the parlance of today it was a win win situation for everyone. I have to say your work is very good ...most of these have had nice elements of what you were trying to practice.

 

I was a little late to watch these but one thought as I watched the heavy push ones with the ramp. Another slight way to address the weight of the ball in a subtle way would be to bend the boards downward slightly from the "weight" of the ball as it went up the ramp.

 

But really --they have been entertaining and educational to view. Thanks for sharing.

[Simon Edmondson]

Rodney

Thank you very much for your favourable comments, I blush rather at them. I think of myself as improving, certainly not an expert, as evidenced by all the questions I ask.

 

In answer to your question about set up. I asked in the animation master section about possible ways to do it and Robert kindly did a tutorial for me.

What I did was very simple. Heres the model. See_Saw.mdl

 

Basically, There was a bone at the centre of the plank and all the cp's were assigned to it. There were two child bones at the end of the plank with no cp's assigned to them. They each had a null constrained to them and the two figures were constrained to those. The figures were constrained up to the point of release when they leave the plank.

 

If by 'eyeball it' you mean do it by eye rather than with a system ? Then yes, thats what I did. Once the constraints were set up the rocking was done straight ahead, doing the extremes,then adjusting the spacing until it seemed right, up to the point of release. Then went back and adjusted all the feet and leg positions. Then did the hands on the handles and adjusted those through the sequence.

 

The somersault for the red figure was done straight ahead then adjusted until it looked OK. Theres a bit were he lands and slides backwards that doesn't show in this version. Likewise with the blue figure. The first version had him going in the air, falling back down and meeting the board going up, which sent him into the spin. Tried several variations on timing but couldn't get it to read properly, so took out the contact with the plank and made the spin off faster.

The answer was perfect equilibrium, in my foolishness I had assumed seesaws were balanced. They are but not perfectly. The animating started last monday I think. I usually do about 5-6 hours a day if possible. There are still things that need adjusting on the figures, cp weighting and smartskin for example, but will address that more fully with the next models. The point of using the simple figures is to make it obvious if anything is wrong.

 

Started to develop an idea for a more elaborate 'story' using the seesaw as a metaphor but will leave that to a later date as its the acting and movement that needs most attention. The next ideas for the seesaw are possibly to put a more pliable ( dynamic ?) bone system in the plank to allow it to vibrate on contact but not sure yet. The next blockhead was to be based around the two figures on swings but may do another seesaw before that.

Hope that answers your questions. Thank you once again for your favourable comments.

regards

simon

[Simon Edmondson]

Simon --yes bravo for your sharing . It takes a lot of bravery to do that. But I think it has paid off well. For not only you but others like me who have read and watched and learned. So in the parlance of today it was a win win situation for everyone. I have to say your work is very good ...most of these have had nice elements of what you were trying to practice.

 

I was a little late to watch these but one thought as I watched the heavy push ones with the ramp. Another slight way to address the weight of the ball in a subtle way would be to bend the boards downward slightly from the "weight" of the ball as it went up the ramp.

 

But really --they have been entertaining and educational to view. Thanks for sharing.

 

Rich

Thank you for your reply and kind comments. You are right about the ramp boards. I intend to go back and adjust the hand positions on the ball and will try to adjust the ramp at the same time.

They haven't got any sound yet and I'm hoping a friend who is a sound specialist will do it for me ( I'm doing a huge amount of rotoscoping in photoshop on his behalf... ). I will make the adjustments then I think. Its really the keying and movement I need to focus on at the moment. I'm still hoping to learn how to use the f curves by watching Roberts tutorials later this week.

regards

simon

[Rodney]

Hope that answers your questions.

 

It does indeed!

Thank you for the very informative breakdown of how you setup the seesaw and characters.

That was exactly the information I was looking for.

 

Rock on Simon!

[robcat2075]

Bodies tumbling in the air are very difficult to get right. We have not much experience seeing them but we can instantly tell if a falling body in a movie is a real person or a dummy.

 

One problem is identifying the center of gravity that the mass tumbles around. In a figure with flailing arms and legs it will be constantly shifting.

 

Here are some verbal notes because I can't type as much as Rodney.

 

SimonSeeSaw.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

Robert

Thank you for your video and feedback. Much appreciated.

 

I was aware of the changes in altitude when animating it, but couldn't find a way of setting the keys to overcome the problem. I suspect that might be a case of editing the curves appropriately ? The sudden propulsion off the board was supposed to be caused by the board grounding on the opposite side, initially by Ray ( the red figure ) deliberately doing it, then the late return of Winona ( the blue figure) returning to the board. There is a four frame positional hold at those points but I think the read' would have been assisted if the board itself had flexed at the end, in the way diving boards do ? The model wouldn't allow that in this attempt, but will for this weeks brief.

 

I was using the 2008 rig and wondered if the body null might be an appropriate centre of gravity ? I'll give it a whirl today and see if that works. Trying to find decent reference footage is not the easiest of things, not everything on youtube is as graphically organised as Muybridge !

Thank you for your help.

regards

simon

[Simon Edmondson]

Test for shot one of new brief. Two to follow.

feedback welcome

simon

 

 

Balance_Blur.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

This weeks brief. Continuing on the theme of balance.

Any feedback welcome.

Still no sound.

regards

simon

 

Balance2.mov

[robcat2075]

I was aware of the changes in altitude when animating it, but couldn't find a way of setting the keys to overcome the problem. I suspect that might be a case of editing the curves appropriately ?

 

Sometimes these things can be finagled with curves and sometimes you just have to position and key the thing on consecutive frames until you're out of the problem patch.

 

In school they taught us to track the body parts by drawing dots on the screen with a dry-erase marker. That worked with a glass CRT monitor, but you can tape a plastic sheet over the plastic screen of a modern flat monitor.

 

A:M also has Onion Skin which can help in many tracking situations.

[robcat2075]

Here are some notes on the most recent clip...

 

 

SimonJump_h400.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

Here are some notes on the most recent clip...

 

 

SimonJump_h400.mov

 

 

Robert

Thank you for your help and video critique. Much appreciated.

I used a path for the blue figures arc off of the seesaw. Not to constrain to, but as a guide to key position against. I had tried that with the red figures initial run but got the arc inverted. I will try to correct this and the other salient acceleration and weight transfer points you raise, over the weekend.

Thank you.

regards

simon

[Simon Edmondson]

Following on from Robert's critique, thought I'd have another go at it.

This is the initial pass at the start sequence

.

Balance3.mov

and this is the footage referenced.

 

Does anyone know of a way to be able to step through the youtube video's frame by frame ?

Any feedback welcome

regards

simon

[Rodney]

Does anyone know of a way to be able to step through the youtube video's frame by frame ?

 

I don't believe there is a default way to step by step frame by frame without adaption, download or using a utility.

There are several close solutions.

 

1. After pausing the video.... use the right and left arrow keys on your keyboard to step through the frames (Note: this can sometimes be used to step through frame by frame but only if the author has set a keyframe on every frame (I believe the default gap between keyframes for youtube is 10 so a right/left arrow will move you ahead/back 10 frames.

 

Similarly the Space key can be utilized as well as a few other keys to move you through the video(The K key works similarly on a PC in Google Chrome for me).

 

If you are the author of the video try setting keyframes to every frame of the video and see if the Right/Left arrow keys will move frame by frame for you.

[robcat2075]

I think the only solution is to download the video via one of the sites that can do that with a YouTube link and then play it in Quicktime.

[NancyGormezano]

here's one I just tried and it worked (converted to a mov)

 

http://www.clipconverter.cc/

 

and here's an article talking about how to do it safely (not all free youtube download software is safe)

 

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how...youtube-videos/

[Simon Edmondson]

Rodney, Robert, Nancy

Thank you for your help. I will pursue those avenues today ( sunday ). I have the prospect of a day's tedious rotoscoping ahead so it will be a pleasure to escape that...

regards

simon

 

PS

I should add that is roto work for a live action short,

way beyond tedious...

[robcat2075]

Following on from Robert's critique, thought I'd have another go at it.

This is the initial pass at the start sequence

.

Balance3.mov

and this is the footage referenced.

 

Does anyone know of a way to be able to step through the youtube video's frame by frame ?

Any feedback welcome

regards

simon

 

I'm looking at that reference video. I regret that they've edited around the transition from her standing on two feet to standing with one raised in front of her. But compare the forward tilt of her body at 0:17 to the rearward tilt at 0:27 when she has the leg raised. I'd definitely want to make that clear and note that the transition happens as she raises the leg, not after she has raised the leg.

 

They also don't show the crucial side view when she falls forward onto the front leg.

 

When your character falls forward he jolts forward as if he had already been moving. He's starting from a standstill, he can't be suddenly moving, his mass needs to start slowly and accelerate to the ground.

Important point from the bouncing ball video... Falling objects start slow and accelerate on the way down. I belabor that point because it is so crucial to these sort of motions.

 

 

Here are some video notes...

 

SimonBalance3_h400.mov

[NancyGormezano]

I regret that they've edited around the transition from her standing on two feet to standing with one raised in front of her.

 

I think the beginning sequence of that video is probably a better reference than the "steps" they've outlined

How_to_Do_a_Front_HandspringShorter.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

Robert

Thank you once again for your movie and help. Much appreciated.

I managed to have another bash at it today and here are this afternoons efforts. I hope I've addressed the points you've raised regarding poses, weight transfers and the acceleration and deceleration. It highlights a few discrepancies in the model but will have to deal with them later.

Off to exercise in a bit and will get back to it on return.

regards

simonBalance3.mov

[Simon Edmondson]

I regret that they've edited around the transition from her standing on two feet to standing with one raised in front of her.

 

I think the beginning sequence of that video is probably a better reference than the "steps" they've outlined

 

 

Nancy

Thank you for your help.

I tried the clip converter you suggested the other day, wish I'd had it before !

regards

simon

[robcat2075]

Robert

Thank you once again for your movie and help. Much appreciated.

I managed to have another bash at it today and here are this afternoons efforts. I hope I've addressed the points you've raised regarding poses, weight transfers and the acceleration and deceleration. It highlights a few discrepancies in the model but will have to deal with them later.

Off to exercise in a bit and will get back to it on return.

regards

simonBalance3.mov

 

Overall. I'd say that has a more convincing air to it than the first one.

 

He's never really standing up straight at the beginning and never quite over his feet. He's hanging right off the back edge of his heels which looks awkward.

 

Count 3 frames after the heel hits the ground. Notice how the kne is almost locked in space from frame 3 to 4 and the body pivots over it. It's common occurence in CG but it's oddlooking. The knee was fairly fat through space and then froze for those two frames and then started up again.

 

Probably could have avoided that if the hips had generally dipped down more during that compression phase of the motion. You want the leg to look like it's pushed the body into the air and you're not giving it much opportunity to do that by leaving the hip so high.

[Simon Edmondson]

Robert

Thank you once again for your help, much appreciated.

Pardon my delayed response, other tasks getting in the way.

 

Here is the blocking for the new version and this is the setup in the chor for the movements. The paths are those followed by the figures. Used as guides rather than to be constrained to.

 

I did use marker guides in the chor window to plot the rise and fall of the joints over time, trying to address the points you made about initial speed then slowing due to gravity. Its not perfect by any means but hope its improving.

 

 

This is a bit awkward to see because of scale in view but, as mentioned, the blocking for the revised version so far.

 

Balance3D.mov

 

regards

simon

[robcat2075]

Here's what I see...

 

SimonBalance3D_notes.mov

[Rodney]

Robert has excellent suggestions here so I'll not suggest anything beyond that.

I especially like where he has emphasized the opportunity for the characters to go downward even more before launching upward (blue girl squashing before launching up and off of the ledge) and (red guy squashing down even as his side of the seesaw goes up) to really sell the weight/force involved. It's this second movement (with the red guy) that really gets me excited because it's such a staple of quality animation... objects moving in opposing directions at the same time. Milt Kahl was such a master of this. Specifically in this case it's the guy's body weight holding him down by gravity even as the force of the upward moving board advances him higher. Now that's what I'm talking about!

 

What you've got is nice... but golden opportunities abound in this one Simon!

[Simon Edmondson]

Robert has excellent suggestions here so I'll not suggest anything beyond that.

I especially like where he has emphasized the opportunity for the characters to go downward even more before launching upward (blue girl squashing before launching up and off of the ledge) and (red guy squashing down even as his side of the seesaw goes up) to really sell the weight/force involved. It's this second movement (with the red guy) that really gets me excited because it's such a staple of quality animation... objects moving in opposing directions at the same time. Milt Kahl was such a master of this. Specifically in this case it's the guy's body weight holding him down by gravity even as the force of the upward moving board advances him higher. Now that's what I'm talking about!

 

What you've got is nice... but golden opportunities abound in this one Simon!

 

 

Rodney

 

Thank you very much for your kind comments. I had added another five or six seconds worth and addressed the points Robert had suggested and was close to 'finishing' it when I inadvertently created a parent child relationship in the chor between the right elbow ( parent) and the right foot controller ( child). we had discussed this problem in a thread in the Animation Master section.

Had a look at the chor in a text editor but, inexperience makes it more than a little daunting,so tried the time machine backup but it had backed up the corrupted file. I have a feeling that I may regret turning off the auto back up in V17.

One lives and learns... ( sometimes !)

regards

simon

[robcat2075]

If you want to send me the chor I can look at it in a text editor. You can send it in a private message if you want.

 

Steffen has made another stab at fixing that bug for v18, I haven't tested it out yet.

[Simon Edmondson]

Had some trouble with the bug thats a drag earlier but went back and re keyed the problem bone. This is the draft I hope will just need some tweeks to, the timing on the final pratfalls needs adjusting.

Hope it addresses the points Robert made in his video critique.

Any critical feedback is very welcome.

simon

 

Revised timing render underway.

to follow.

 

BalanceTake_Two.mov

 

this is revised timing but any critical feedback appreciated.

[Simon Edmondson]

If you want to send me the chor I can look at it in a text editor. You can send it in a private message if you want.

 

Steffen has made another stab at fixing that bug for v18, I haven't tested it out yet.

 

Robert

Thank you for you video critique of yesterday. Apologies for delayed response, didn't see it until today. Thanks too, for your kind offer of looking at the offending file. much appreciated. Rather than take up your time with it I'd like to find out how to do it if that was possible ? It would be grand if Steffen could iron out the bug in V18. It is particularly annoying when it happens after an intensive period of work were you have been saving regularly.

 

After the problem happened , I turned backup on again in the tools option ( V17 ) just in case. Working away afterwards it started to send warning that it couldn't delete the old backup file due to an error. Too keen to get it sorted from earlier I just acknowledged it but, will keep an eyeopen for what happens, if it occurs again.

regards

simon