Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on this flip I animated? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Flip
Rasch
#2
Hi. Good job. It looks pretty good.
Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert on backflips, so take my comments with some healthy sceptisism. When your video finished, the first thing that popped up was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltho8_PzC2U
Compared to that, I would say that:
- The landing seems a little off balance. I think he/she needs to land a little bit more over the legs. To me, the “rolling” motion there seems a bit unnatural. It feels like the person is landing in a pose where the legs would push him forward, or if the upper body has so much force that it manages to rotate like that, he should topple over backwards (Maybe not quite that extreme, but it’s hard to explain this stuff :P). I don’t know, have alook at it and see what you think.
- The arms seems a little stiff. More so during the landing. The arms doesn’t seem to be helping the body regain balance. After the landing they just pop upwards before the character has regained balance.
- The rotation of the body in-air seems a little bit to fast.
Protip, upload to syncsketch or somewhere we can frame by frame the video 
This seems like a solid foundation. Good luck with it.
mfarr
#3
Hey, thank you so much! That actually helps a lot! The video was also really helpful, now I have a better idea of the mechanics of the move!
I’ll work these into the animation and post it again, and i’ll be sure to try syncsketch! It’d be good to have someone look at it frame by frame haha
Thank you again!
Rasch
#4
Hi.
I just watched this again, and tried to move the “timeline” thing in the video back and forth a bit.
As far as I can tell, the body sort of hovers a bit before landing. Around the 1 second mark, lol.
If you scrub the timeline slowly in your animation software, I guess you would see something like the head being in the same spot for a few frames, while the body kinda rotates around it.
Now, generally, the body does try to even out head movement to keep our eyesight properly focused, but this seems a bit extreme. I would also guess that the movement arc for the head gets a little bit fuzzy right before the landing as well.
I would also, maybe, make the anticipation just a little bit longer. Try to just keep the “knees bent, ready to push off” pose a little while longer, and see how that feels to you.
I’m subscribed to the thread, so will check out your update 
Good luck.
adamturnbull
#5
Hey, good start!
The main things I noticed that could do with some tweaking are:
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I think they need to stay in the air for longer before coming back down, they seem to come down too quickly. Check the arc on the up/down motion. The body feels like it is being pulled down quickly and doesn’t seem natural.
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Maybe try making them tuck in so they are almost in a ball shape as they start flipping, then keep them in that shape until they need their legs to land. See how this guy has his legs tucked in and compare that to yours at that point in the flip: http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7204/6911949482_8137605d16_m.jpg
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Like Rasch mentioned, keep the anticipation for a few more frames, it seems too quick at the moment.
Syncsketch would definitely be good to use if possible
mfarr
#6
Hey, here’s the updated version! I tried to incorporate in what you said, but I’m not sure how well the head is working haha
I tried uploading it to syncsketch, but it kept saying failed. I’ll try again later on today to see if it’ll work!
Thank you again for your advice, it’s really helpful!!
Rasch
#7
Hello again.
It’s looking better. Good work.
So, here are a few things I’ve noticed:
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The legs need to to kick off the ground when the jump happens.
It doesn’t have to be a big motion, but right now it looks a bit like no force is applied to push the body upwards, and that the body sort of just floats away after the knees bend. I’m exaggerating to try to get my point across -
I may be wrong here, because it’s not that easy to see without frame-by-frame, but it looks like hips are still slowing down a bit to let the rest of the body “catch up” just before the landing. If you track the hips movement over time, it should follow a smooth curve. This is the most important part to get right, because the center of the rotation should be the hips/lower abdomen, since the legs pull forward and the back and head pull backwards. Track the positional arc on the hips, and see if it follows a smooth curve. Then, see if it’s the center of the rotation during the entire motion.
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I agree with adamturnbull. The legs need to come up a bit faster, and turn the body into a “ball”. Right now it doesn’t really look like there is enough motion to rotate the character. I think this is what’s causing the “floating” before the landing. There’s just a little bit to much rotation left for the body to do, just before the landing.
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Since you’re opting for a “nice and controlled” landing, with no imbalance or double jump or corrections, it could be that the body needs to stay a just little bit longer in the crouched position at the end, so that the shock of the landing can properly be absorbed by the muscles. I often find that there is as much of an “anticipation before the return to normal” at the end of a movement as before a big motion. It kinda makes sense physically, as you generally need as much force to stop stop something as you need to get it going. Newton’s laws and all (sort off :-P)
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In version 1, one of the legs dragged behind the other a little bit. It’s a nice touch. If you break symmetry just a little bit, it can make the animation look a little more alive. Also, the arms look a little to symmetrical and stiff. Concentrate on the other stuff though.
I hope you’re not discouraged by the feedback. We have a tendency to get blind to our own animations after staring at the same stuff for too long. Also, I assume you’re going for a somewhat realistic look here, not too cartoony with lots of squash and stretch etc.
mfarr
#8
Hey, thank you guys so much! I’ll work on adding everything in and post another version once I’ve finished! And I’ll try and see if I can get syncsketch to work!
Thank you again! This is all extremely helpful!!!
mfarr
#9
Hey! Sorry, I know it’s taking me a while to finish another version, just wanted to let you know I didn’t forget! I’ve been working a lot lately, but I’ll have another one by the end of this weekend!
mfarr
#10
Hey, here’s the newest version! Sorry it took so long!
I know the arms aren’t great, but I’m still working on that! I’m still trying to figure out what exactly to do with them >_< I’ve worked all your guys’s suggestions into it, but I’m not sure how well I did that haha I’ve also uploaded it to syncsketch! Let me know if there’s a problem with the link!
Rasch
#11
Hi.
Apparently, I din’t get a notification from you last post… Odd.
I was looking at a site featuring fighting game animations (http://fightersgeneration.com/), and saw this, and remembered your post:
I’ve added some comments to your syncsketch. The animation is starting to shape up. I like the part from frames 1 to 30. Like you said, the arms need some work. I’ve added a suggestion to have the arms swing in the front of the body. I just drew this on at random, so you’ll have to see what works.
Maybe the legs need to come up just a tad slower, but it seems to be working.
The biggest issue is what happens from frame 33 to 40. For the first part, there is very little rotation, and then the character rotates superfast. Physically, that sudden increase in rotation speed would require some force to enact on the body, and here there are none. In a move like this, I think the rotation would star at the highest speed, and slowly decline as time goes by, as the energy from the kick-off is spent.
Try to keep the rotation pretty constant, or very slightly declining from frames 28/29 to 40.
The landing from frame 40 to the end feels pretty good.
Good job. Looking at your progress is inspiring me to try to finish some of my own animations 
mfarr
#12
Hey, I didn’t get one either when you commented haha not sure why
Thank you so much! That’s really helpful! The timing didn’t feel right, now I know why! haha And same with the arms! I’ll put all that in and post another version if you have time to take a look!
Thank you again, all your advice is extremely helpful!