First Character Animation

[thiaml]

if anyone is interested, i just did some revisions to the animation which i thought could improve on the outcome of it. check it out and like to hear from you guys and girls!!!

http://www.geocities.com/thiaml/CHAR2.mpg

[Mechis]

I thought it was pretty good. Maybe the first part is a bit floaty, but overall- a good effort.
~Mechis

[lightwaveman200]

Very nice for first time.

[thiaml]

thanks guys

i got to say, if wasn't for the plugin, auto rig by jacobo barreiro, i wouldn't be able to create the animation. as rigging is my worst aspect. and before i got that plugin, i couldn't do any character animation at all. at one stage i was keen on learning motionbuilder but wasn't keen on learning another app. so basically this attempt has given me some inspiration to create a short animation soon in the future. but i think i got a lot to learn still.

can i ask what do you guys use for character work? purely lightwave, motionbuilder or messiah?

[SP1R1T]

Very good for a first animation.

I would say, though, then the animation seems too... segmented. It doesn't feel like the character hears a noise and then dismisses it. Instead, it feels like we're watching him go through four seperate, smaller animations - i.e. he waves, then looks left, then scratches his head, then shakes his head. While all of the animations themselves are fine, in the future I'd work more on the acting of the character.

But, as I said before, very good for a first animation. :thumbsup:

[LittleFenris]

Pretty good for the first time. As said before the animation looks more like 4 seperate little animations instead of one long acting scene. Also the shoulders seem a bit stiff to me...other than that I think it moves pretty well.

[thiaml]

hey guys,

i did some revisions to the render as well as added some props to give it a more finish look. again please note (model is not created by me). and there is no facial animation done to it.

www.geocities.com/thiaml/Char_final.mpg

[Miyazaki]

PLZ host it on another server. These geocity links never work for me :cry:

[DigiLusionist]

This is very good for a first series of animation tests.

The character needs to shift his body weight onto the supporting legs when he moves his feet.

I would suggest that there needs to be more squash and stretch to his body movement when the bus passes him by and he is surprised by its passing.

Also, when he's trying to hail it down, you might want to have him stretch (elongate his body) and have him shift his weight onto his toes.

Just a few thoughts. Good job!

[thiaml]

hey DigiLusionist

thanks for your comments, maybe this is a stupid question, but how do you do squash and stretch in lw. is it just a case of using the scale tool in the y axis? you're right about the weight transfering when he moves the leg forward.

can i also ask is there any free servers where i can upload files to and unlike geocities when alot of the times, it won't work!!!

[SplineGod]

The animation looks fine for someone standing, scratching their head and looking around. If you plan to do some animating I would focus on things that show weight, timing, squash and stretch etc etc. Theres TONS of books on character animation and I would take a look at them for ideas.

[thiaml]

thanks for you reply, splinegod,

can i ask how would you do squash and stretch in lw, i'm thinking of scaling the character in the y axis but is there a more professional way of doing it?

[webfox]

I think his emotional responses are out of order.

After the bus passes, his first reaction should be anger at the vehicle for leaving him behind and *then* for him to shake his head in a "what do I do now?" motion.

Anger and frustration are quick, instinctive responses whereas the "what am I going to do?" one is more of a planning attitude and would happen later.

If you reverse these two segments, be sure to include a transition from angry to dismayed to "what now?" His shoulders might drop... hands fall and dangle for a moment while he stares at the disappearing vehicle... the duration of the intermediate attitude has different lengths depending on the situation.

[SplineGod]

Squash and stretch arent necessarily the cartoony thing we sometimes think of. Cartoon physics are simply exaggeratons of real world physics. When a real person jumps down from a box and the knees bend, then the waist amd then the spine up to the head, neck and then the arms...this is squash and stretch.
When you animate a character and want to give the impression that its heavy or light...this is done by varying the amount of squash and stretch.

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