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View Full Version : simple character animation. first attempt

malcon
03-16-2007, 11:47 PM
this is an animation for a class. somthings i am going to change, i am changing the position for the sign so that you do not see that it says "no jumping" untill the end of the animation. also i am going to shorten the sequence where the angle character is getting ready to fly. it just seems a litle long.

if you could give me some advise on how to make a walk cycle move across a platform without moonwalking i would really apreciate it. thanks!

here are some images from a render test i did.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/malconpierce/3d/short3.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/malconpierce/3d/short2.jpg

(this is just a playblast of what i have so far)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/malconpierce/videos/th_bouncewithmefinal.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/malconpierce/videos/?action=view&current=bouncewithmefinal.flv)
Psyx9x
03-17-2007, 03:32 AM
LOL. That was pretty good. I am a bit confused though, there are parts there that are exelently timed, great motion and such. Yet there also seems to be a lack of weight distrobution. When the balls squash and stretch his legs should not remain static like they do...
malcon
03-17-2007, 05:08 AM
when you are talking about when the legs remain static. do you mean when they are suspended in air??
thanks for the insite!
malcon
03-17-2007, 09:29 PM
anyone else?
patfour
03-18-2007, 06:15 AM
Haha, fun story! I like the concept, and it's always fun to see people use accessories to give more character to free rigs.

The main thing I think you should work on is your timing, especially when the balls squash and stretch to show alarm or confusion. Think about the way your own face and body language react to a surprise or sudden realization: the transition from 'neutral' to 'shocked' is almost instantaneous, perhaps with a split-second instant of anticipation at the beginning. I think the poses (or shapes, or deformations, or whatever you want to call them) are good for showing the balls' emotions, but I think that speeding up their expressions in many cases would add a lot of energy.

As for the walk cycle, I'm not completely sure because I've never actually tried it myself, but I've always assumed it would work like this: Look at your walk cycle and use the graph editor to determine how quickly each foot moves "backwards" along the ground during a step. Then take whatever controller moves the entire character, and move it "forwards" along that same axis at the same speed. In theory, this should make the foot stay in one spot on the ground as the rest of the character moves over it. Of course, it's probably not that simple in practice (these things seldom are), but it might be a good place to start. Good luck!
malcon
03-19-2007, 12:27 AM
awesome ill rework some of the timing and try and make the expressons faster and more to the point. also ill check out what you are talking about with the graph editor. im not sure how easy that wil be to do that. maybe if i move the foot back say 5 unitrs, the the entire rig would move forward 5... hmm maybe not. ill check it out. thanks for the comment. ill update when i get it finished thanks again!
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