A ball with tail animation

Artwork Animations
1

Here is another animation by me. Rigs and models from Beorn Leonard’s Animation Fundamentals tutorial series.

2

So after getting some critiques from my friends. I have updated it to this.

3

I like it! I think he should keep moving though, after the ball leaves.

4

Minor update. (added tail flick at the end) I think this is all I will do with this animation though.

5

The little flourish with the tail at end was a nice touch. I think the initial bounces could convey some more urgency (i.e. faster and covering more ground) that the tail creature is about to be crushed and the hop out of the hole could then be slower and more relaxed. To me they have the same emotional content as they seem to be at the same pace…

Hope this helps.

  • andrew
6

Hey Andrew, thanks for replying. :stuck_out_tongue:

and you make a good point. How’s this?

7

Yeah… I think that’s better and it definitely feels like the pressure has eased :wink: Well done!

 - andrew
8

Nice work sonic14. I got to this thread late, but it’s good to read through it and see that you didn’t give up, but kept improving it. Keep going with that attitude and you’ll be a great animator.

Right now it’s looking way better than it did at the start. The main thing that needs work now is that final jump out of the hole, which still seems a little floaty. You could also improve the tail motion at the start a bit more. At the moment it’s still a little pose to pose, when I would expect it to be more of a continuous wave motion. Also, you could be a bit more extreme with the final joint in the tail, make it flick more when the tail changes direction.

Take or leave these comments of course, but kudos for putting in the time to practice the fundamentals!

9

hey Freen. :slight_smile: Thanks a lot for replying. Your critiques mean a lot to me lol You’re the first and only professional animator I know. ^^

But anyways, I took what you said and tried to see how it would work in the animation, and here is my result. It actually took me a while (couple days) to fully understand what you were talking about with the whole “wavy tail” thing and I’m still not sure if this is what you meant haha. And I also tried fixing the floating out of the hole thing. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

10

hey man, here’s my crit, hope ain’t to acid.
-1. You need to work on the landing in the hole, that motion with the tail, like covering itself, it’s wonky, like repeated motion not something you’d do when you’d jump into a hole. I think that beside that covering motion, right before it should be a follow-trough motion with the entire body witch will lead into the protective pose… in witch he shouldn’t stay still like a rock/sculpture… in this whole you should use the top of the ball to wave a bit after the jump(squash and stretch isn’t just a up and down motion, it is following the arc of the motion)… settle down into the pose not get stiff like a robot, even he is a body that is bound to inertia… I hope my ramblings give enough details
2. another thing every, every bounce is identical, symmetrical- witch is not a good thing for something organic
3. since the animation with the tailed ball is already finished you should animate, “by hand”, the bigger one, give it some spin, role or something otherwise it’s just a prop
4. if you want to give it a push to your animation you should consider making the tailed ball doing more than just a jump in the hole, like tailed ball enters the scene in two steps and stops, looks back, double take on it getting scared and then sprint-jumping into the whole, then comes the bigger one rolling like a heavy boulder
ceriooos :wink:

11

Hey! :slight_smile: Thanks for the critique man. I really appreciate it. You give some good points there. I tried to apply them the best way I saw possible into my animation. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Here is the result.

Also, with #4, I completely understand what you mean. It would definitely add some more character to him. But I think I’m gonna try sticking to the basic plan I have now. Perhaps my next animation though. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

All the changes are very small haha. I hope it it helps though. Tell me what you think!

Here it is, ANIMATION 5.7

12

I think you graduated this step. good luck with the next one :wink:

13

Thank you for your critiques sir. :stuck_out_tongue: and haha yeah, you’re probably right. If I keep going I probably wouldn’t ever stop. I want to start on biped character animation anyways. This little project has really helped me to understand Overlapping motion and follow through.

But yeah, I think I’m going to attempt another walk cycle with a character. lol You’ll see me again soon!