Wow, I did not expect so many replies . . . and so quickly too! I’m glad everyone likes it so much. That’s encouraging.
First off, thanks to everyone for watching this and taking the time to say something. I really appreciate it.
basse, I think you might be right about the timing. I wasn’t sure, but a second opinion (and then AndyD saying the same thing) makes me think the timing needs work. I tweaked the ball falling from behind his neck to his foot and it looks better there now.
Yes, I filmed myself doing this combination of tricks a bunch of times until I had enough clips of myself getting the different parts right. Then I spliced a movie together of all the “good takes” and used that as reference. I tried to follow the timing from that as closely as I could, converting from 30 fps to 24 fps.
AndyD, the ball in fact, does not curve around the front foot. It goes at an angle away from the camera and the guy actually moves away from the camera while chasing it, but because the ball bounces there and the camera’s point of view is from the side rather than front-on, I think I can see what you’re talking about. In slow motion it kinda looks like the ball could be curving there.
Again, technically the ball doesn’t stop until he touches it with his foot and pulls it back, but I know what you mean. It does feel like it’s stopping before he touches it. Now that someone else (other than myself) has noticed that, I know it’s not just me and I’ll work on that bit more. That goes for the knee bounce, too.
It’s so nice to get someone else’s opinion on an animation . . . then you find out which problems are real and which are imagined after watching it so many times.
Roger, the ball bounced that high off my knee in my reference footage . . . and it was kind of a flat ball that I used . . . but if I lowered the ball a bit in the animation the timing would probably be fixed, thus satisfying you and AndyD and improving the quality of the animation all at the same time!
I am surprised at the number of points where I’ve had to deviate from the footage to make it look realistic.
AndyD, you floor me with your second post. I’m flattered. This is where I say it is not a belated April Fool’s, and it’s all hand keyframed. (Besides, wouldn’t you expect a better model from Pixar? Even for a test?)
Fog22, it’s my own rig. It’s very simple. I posted it here:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showpost.php?p=784386&postcount=7
THAT particular rig has no hands or toes since it was for a different model . . . but it’s not hard to add hands . . . and the legs are a direct copy from Ludwig, so it’s a no-brainer to add the toes back in.
Thanks for everyone for their replies. The ones that picked out problems have helped me, and the others are very encouraging. Thanks.
LGM
