So I’ve been trying to create a fighting animation for the past 4 months, but for some reason, I feel like I’m taking this in the wrong direction. I’ve tried to study many fight scenes on the internet but, for some reason, I can’t grasp the concept of the whole thing. It all looks fake…
So this is what I got so far…
I just wish I knew a way to make it decent.
Fight scenes are very difficult.
You should probably start with something much simpler. Animating a bouncing ball is a great way to learn a lot of the basics of animation: timing, ease-in/out, squash and stretch, etc.
A lot of great animators started by animating a bouncing ball.
Any Idea where I find such an exercise?
Here’s a good tutorial for animating a ball traditionally: http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/01b/bball.shtml
Here’s a good tutorial for making a squash/stretch ball rig: http://www.blendercookie.com/2010/09/29/creating-a-bouncing-ball-rig/
Normally, doing simple things isn’t my style, but I’ll try it out.
Viewed the Blender Cookie video and didn’t learn a lick from it.
The center of you character is your bouncing ball, your fighter rigs are too static, and they should move more than just their arms. The center of their bodies should lean, pivot, roll, sway, etc. to accomodate the limb movements - study some video of Bruce Lee or UFC matches to see what happens when they kick out or punch - their whole bodies are behind every action, from the foot all the way up through their bodies up to their strike and contact, with countering balancing movements during the exertion. You can even count on a bit of shoulder lean right before a punch, or a central body pivot that is usually called a “tell” because it tells you they are going to strike.
I wish I can find a tutorial on this. Outside of that, I’m up the creek here.
actually what Craig Jones said is spot on. You really need to watch video of fighters and see how their whole bodies are involved in a punch, not just their arms.
a good part of animation is observation. Things don’t always move as we think they do. A person might think a punch only involves an arm when in reality it involves the shoulder, spine, pelvis, etc down the line.
A book I always recomend to aspiring animators is “The Animators Survival Kit” by Richard Williams. It’s worth its weight in gold.
Ok, so I’m going to try matching moving the meshes with the video and hope I can get some results.