1st animation (jump)

[dalmanna]

those little green lines around his foot select them and tap (W) 'move tool' and key away but considering that you haven't touched the feet the timing isn't bad. just need to have a play when you know the rig.

[Amrit-Derhgawen]

Hey good job! Don't worry, you'll get the hang of maya pretty soon. Just grab those LOCATORS (those green looking thing near the foot). They've got all the controls of the leg part. You can move them up or down, forward or backward, by just selecting them and using the move tool. And the feet will follow them! Try playing with the controls. Move them around, chenge their attributes in the channel box. So go ahead and play with them! and have fun! Good luck!!

[Animonster]

Hello,
This is a simple animation, so there isn't a ton of stuff to critique, but let's see if we can't improve on it:

1)The up and down movement of the root or body (Y translation) is too even and smooth. It looks good, but if you weight some of your curves, you can make it look better. Add some weight to the point on your curves that makes up the peak of the jump, then add some weight to the take off and landing. This will give the movement a snappier feel.

2)It has been mentioned that the legs need to come up. Seeing as how this is not a hyper-real character and, thus, does not need to move in a hyper-real fashion - you have lots of room to have fun with the way the legs move through the jump. Obviously they need to move up a bit to the peak of the jump. Set your time slider to the frame where jump is at its highest, then pose the legs so that they are in a semi-realistic, yet interesting pose. Then work with your keys to get rid of any popping, and offset the movement a bit to get some overlap.

3)Pose the legs on the landing of the jump, so the feet are not so symmetrical. This will apply the start of the jump as well (and most anything animated). Unless it is machined, movement is generally asymmetrical and it will stand out if it is animated symmetrically. I would also try to make one leg land about a frame or two after the other (it doesn't really matter which). Just try it..it doesn't work in every case.

4)Add a little bit of floppiness (overlap) to the toes of character during his jump...if the rig allows for it.

5)The rebound looks really stiff as the body lands. Make the body drop down more as the legs absorb the shock of the jump, then move back into its rest position a bit more comfortably.

6)Last thing: Add some X rotation to the root throughout the whole cycle. The body should most likely lean forward in anticipation of the jump, extending upright (maybe a bit back even) as the peak of the jump is reached. The body should rotate back forwards as the shock of the landing is absorbed.

Hope this helps.

[guitarplayer6516]

ok, i redid the animation and switched a few things around c&c would be great thnx!
http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=02N6BZSHOU5D12H9NBZLZNBSB

[kayoti]

Looking much better. What I would suggest is to make the character get into the air in less frames. The take off and the landing should be fast. Then at the peak of the jump, make him linger in the air for a few more frames. Here is an example http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/01b/bball.shtml. Granted your character is not moving forward, the same timing and spacing applies. Move those keys around a bit and lets see the results ;)

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