Hello! This is actually my first post under this name (I had an account a while back but I hadn’t used it in a while) This is the first scene of a short film I’m working on to enter in a contest in my hometown. It’s obviously not done (which is why it’s in the works in progress forum) but I just thought it might be a good idea to post it in here to get some feedback on how it’s coming along. This was just a low rez render, meaning I removed all the particle hair, knocked the subsurf levels down to one, etc. What I’m looking for is any comments on the animation, how the characters move, the timing, the lipsync (this was my first ever attempt at it) how they walk, and all that. So any feedback would be appreciated!
Timing and camera angles seem good. The biggest problem seems to be that the characters lack any weight. It’s easy to just move and pose body parts mechanically, but the joints connecting them have to bend and press to account for the weight and inertia. You have a (really!) great start. But the devil is in the details, and with a little more work you can really make this come to life!
Thanks for the advice. If your saying what I think your saying, the animations are a little too stiff and need to move around a little more. That was one thing I was kinda worried about. I’m gonna go through it now and see if I can add a little more detail.
Pose to pose animation is the key - It took my animations to a new level (not that I am awesome, but I am not terrible )
pose to pose animation best works like this - look at any action of your character and break it down into that one crucial pose (if you had to summarize his action with one position, what would it be) then put him in that pose, now think of his next key position that tells the story of his action and pose that (ten frames forward or so) then scrub through, how does he get from position a to position b - tweak it –
this is how all the animators of yesteryear worked (before motion capture)
here is a video that kind of gives the idea:
and if you want to see an animation of mine - try this one –
keep at it - if you go through my youtube vids and compar an animation from a year ago to now, and it is night and day, and thats purely from practice
Advice I always recommend to new animators is to shoot video of the action you are trying to animate. After watching the video several times you will start to notice the subtel weight shifts and counter actions that happen during motion.
You are off to a good start and your shot composition is really good so keep at it. A book I highly recommend is “The Animator’s Survival Kit” by Richard Williams. A wealth of information!
