Caveman

[Junerahe]

nice work man.. only thing i found was that he swings the axe in a strange way.. beyond that man ur doing real good work

[Chris Bacon]

Try get a bit more weight in the axe.....its huge so I imagine its gonna weigh alot dispite you characters size.....other than that great....

[IestynRoberts]

Hey man that's pretty good going, funny too. The only pointers i'd give you is the same as what Vivec had to say, more weight in the axe, other than that, it's pretty good going.

[Buzzy]

here's an update (http://www.john-con.com/missioncontrol/smash6.avi).... a friend of mine at Rhythm & Hues has been helping me alot with this.

[d0up]

hi there! i really like your animation, looks really well. i really like the aproximation fase. :) what's on the ground?

[Buzzy]

Here's another update... Pass #8 (http://www.john-con.com/missioncontrol/smash8.avi)

[DaddyMack]

Hi Buzzy, Nice work so far.. The point where he wiggles his left hands fingers could maybe use a little bit of a pullback in his arm and maybe a little move of his head, also, the same hand is kinda static til that time... Great work all round so far tho:thumbsup:

[Buzzy]

Pass #9 (http://www.john-con.com/missioncontrol/smash9.avi)

I keep picking at this... I'll never be fully satisfied... something can always be improved

[studiomaxer3d]

very nice. Im looking for a book to get started in animation. can you suggest any?

[Buzzy]

"The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams (worked at Disney for years).... one of the best and most respected books on the subject (alot of college animation classes use it as the required textbook)

Another good one is "Cartoon Animaton" by Preston Blair (most notable for animating the dancing hippo scene from Fantasia, also did Tom and Jerry) This book doesn't look like much at first glance... but once you start understanding animation more, it is really great.

"Acting for Animators" by Ed Hooks is also considered by many as a must-have. Lots of great acting technique, but not much in the way of actually animation... it kinda assumes you know how to animate already.

Get those three books and you will have a great wealth of knowledge to start learning... but nothing will teach you more than just sitting down with paper and a pencil and animating (I recommend to anyone serious about quality animation to begin learning with traditional style paper and pencil)

[hokoyo]

here's an update (http://www.john-con.com/missioncontrol/smash6.avi).... a friend of mine at Rhythm & Hues has been helping me alot with this.

For me the update I quoted above is the best take. I think as you've tweaked it you've added too much reactive movement in his head when he walks, it now looks like you're trying too hard to make him 'lumber'. Secondly, I like this particular take in terms of humour and character, the way he looks off screen before commiting to touching works really nicely. Communicates that he's not sure this is a good idea, is anyone watching? If so is this a good idea? Your most recent take has him glancing at his axe, which I assume means you're wanting us to feel that he's making sure he's got protection in case something goes wrong. To me the axe is an extension of this character's body, I can't imagine him without it, he wouldn't need to check it was there, go with the off screen glance for more innocent humour.

Secondly the overall weight of the axe is inconsistent. When he swings it it has nice weight in the wind up and this whole action feels right. The walk forwards really feels like the axe needs to be dragging rather than being held forward. The part where he jerks backwards is a particular worry to me as the axe head flicks up without real physical motivation from the character (unless he has some super power in his wrist!)

Overall it's a fun little piece, don't let overtweaking weigh it down too much though.

[Buzzy]

hokoyo, thanks for the great crit. I feel the same about some of the stuff you mentioned, like the head for instance... Changing it was just an experiment that I didn't particularly like either. Some of the tweaking was over done as well in a few place, I agree. I'm still working it over though, so hopefully I can fix some problems.

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