Animation: Dancing

[posetopose]

This is a portion?

man, you bit off alot.

The most obvious problem is the floatiness. You're letting the computer do your inbetweens and breakdowns. The computer is very bad at this.

I'm not sold on the weight of the character either. You really need to get into the graph ed. and start adding extra keys and roughing up those tangents.

So, not bad, but needs alot of work. My compliments for such an ambitious piece, but if I were you, I wouldn't take it any farther until you get this part to 100%.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Greg

[MattR]

Thanks for the feedback, Greg. I think I know what you are talking about with the floatiness and weight...I'm going to add some more keyframes in some obvious areas and see if that helps out.

I included an image of the model that I am going to use to give a better idea of what I'm trying to do. It's rigged and ready to go...but I rarely turn it on when checking the animation since it seems to just cover up problems.

BTW Greg I'm a huge hockey fan. Been playing for most of my life. Can't say I know of a better or more enjoyable sport to play or watch...GO DUCKS!!! Atleast last season... :(

-Matt

http://www.pacific3d.com/portfolio/snf.jpg

[Papashango]

First of all I think the poses look really quite good, and I'd be happy if I could achieve 1% of your work... but what came to my mind is that the beginning looks not 100% real because of his heels - one leg is the one he stands on, and the other one the "playleg" which stays in contact w/ floor just at the toes (at least I think thats what the cliché travolta pose looked like... but I could be wrong w/ that).

Additionally I can just repeat what posetopose said, the interpolation seems too linear, slight asymmetries and some squishySquashy exaggeration inbetween could help...

Good luck, I hope to see the final result soon!
Flo

[SenorSean]

i think it is a fantastic start.. the timing seems to be down pretty good. i think the hips need more movement. especially in the beginning. it would give the animation a more dynamic look if his hips really like slammed to the side as he points in the air... if you know what i'm talking about lol and the part when he goes from his knees to his feet and back down to his knees etc. think there should be a little more showing of the weight. like more of a struggle to pop up and some follow through when his knees hit back down.
but its really awesome so far. more dancing that i'd ever want to animate! :) keep it up!

[MattR]

Thanks a lot for the replies so far. I'm really trying to refine this piece so it looks as nice as possible. I've tried to implement the suggestions made as best I can.

Thanks SenorSean for pointing out specific areas you think could use improvement.

Papashango, could you explain your suggestion a little more? I'm not sure if the changes I made were the same as what your were describing or something different?

Thanks for all the input,
MattR

Here is a link to the most current version of the animation:
3meg Divx
http://www.pacific3d.com/portfolio/dance2.avi

[Rodi]

Oh that is fun man, made me smile, it's quite good animation also, i think you need to exagerate and hold some poses, and speed up some do enthesise the poses...

[MattR]

I just posted a short 10 second test clip with the model attached in the WIP section.

Here is a direct link to the animation:
Divx 1meg:
http://www.pacific3d.com/portfolio/snf_jt.avi

and here is the link to the WIP thread that also has some screenshots:
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=122530

Thanks for any feedback,
MattR

PS Thanks for the feedback G.Rodi

[posetopose]

The weight just still isn't there.

Also, the camera motion at the beginning is very strange.

Is there a reason that you put the camera so close up at the beginning? It seems kind of harsh on the eye, esp. with the vigorous movements of the dancer framed that way.

Model looks cool, and the motion is getting there, maybe it needs more snap in the hips. There are some areas where the weight works better than others, but the area where he picks up his left foot seems problematic.

The motion of the jacket needs some polish, esp. the bottom part about halfway through.

Keep at it. You work hard, it will get better.

G

[MattR]

Thanks for the continued feedback, Greg.

Here is another update with a fixed camera and several adjustments to the dance sequence animation:
http://www.pacific3d.com/portfolio/snf_jt2.avi

[TANGOMAN]

:D,quite fun,the poses and the timming are working quite right,I will work more in the center off mass(Bip01),put more moving holds in it, ups and downs and play rotating the hips a bit,also watch refining your arcs when you got it all!


Hey I did a dance long time ago, I know is hard man! If you wanna watch it :

http://www.vss-solutions.com/tangoweb/virtual-torero.avi

Keep it up!

-John-

[Rodi]

I think one of the reasons there seems to be a lack of weight goes back to character studio and the lack of curves control. In my Character studio days i made many attempts to achieve a better sense of weight, after switching to standard bones animation and the full use of curves gave me instant control and visual feedback.

[MattR]

Thanks for the continued feedback. I've been thinking more about that lately as far as what's better CS or bones or maybe switching altogether to Maya. Seems like there are a lot of arguements both ways but nothing that has convinced me if I'm doing it one way I should switch to the other or vice versa.

Anyways, here is an *UPDATED* (http://www.pacific3d.com/portfolio/animation/jt_snf_ws.avi) animation that is about 30 seconds long and 2.5 megs.

Also, I found this thread about a *review* (http://www.cgchannel.com/forum/viewthread?thread=230) on Character Studio 4.0 that starts with some CS bashing but the second to last post on page 2 by spark seems informative, but also makes me wonder if he doesn't work for the developers of CS. :hmm:

-MattR

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