Learning cHARACTER aNIMATION (Please Help)

#1

Hi guys, i am currently teaching myself character animation because i can’t afford to attend any of those pricey online animation schools, plus i am trying to do it in six months. I will be posting all my animation exercises here, so I need crits and pointers to help me learn as fast as possible. So please if you are a professionals or you know character animation kindly check in here as often as you can to critique my work and mentor me. I hope i am not asking for too much. Thanks

        My first exercise is a walk cycle, it was supposed to be a vanilla walk, but for some reason i kept adding stuff till i ended up with this:
  [VIMEO]137998278?loop=1"%20width="500"%20height="238[/VIMEO]
#2

Hi Seyibilly,

That is awesome that you are teaching yourself character animation, that is a big task. My suggestion is start with the basics and move up from there, they really do help as you move further along.

The basics:

[B] * [/B]  Bouncing ball ( Yes extremely basic, but a bouncing ball is a challenge when starting out)

[B] * [/B]  Ball with different weights (Basket ball, Soccer Ball, Tennis Ball, Golf Ball, etc)

[B] * [/B]  A ball bouncing down some boxes or stair set

Do those first before trying a walk cycle.

It’s hard to critique the walk cycle, because I can’t scrub through it. Just a few things off the bat that stand out are the hips, they don’t rotate when the leg steps forward. For a very first walk cycle you did a good job, just keep at it. Film yourself walking and watch the hips.
Hopefully that helps a little bit.

  • The Doctor
#3

Hi Seyibilly

That is awesome that you are teaching yourself character animation, that is a big task. My suggestion is start with the basics and move up from there, they really do help as you move further along.

The basics:

* Bouncing ball ( Yes extremely basic, but a bouncing ball is a challenge when starting out)

* Ball with different weights (Basket ball, Soccer Ball, Tennis Ball, Golf Ball, etc)

* A ball bouncing down some boxes or stairset

Do those first before trying a walk cycle.

It’s hard to critique the walk cycle, because I can’t scrub through it. Just a few things off the bat that stand out are the hips, they don’t rotate when the leg steps forward. For a very first walk cycle you did a good job, just keep at it. Film yourself walking and watch the hips.

Hopefully that helps a little bit.

  • The Doctor
#4

Hi Seyibilly

That is awesome that you are teaching yourself character animation, that is a big task. My suggestion is start with the basics and move up from there, they really do help as you move further along.

The basics:

1.) Bouncing ball ( Yes extremely basic, but a bouncing ball is a challenge when starting out)

2.) Ball with different weights (Basket ball, Soccer Ball, Tennis Ball, Golf Ball, etc)

3.) A ball bouncing down some boxes or stair set

Do those first before trying a walk cycle.

It’s hard to critique the walk cycle, because I can’t scrub through it. Just a few things off the bat that stand out are the hips, they don’t rotate when the leg steps forward. For a very first walk cycle you did a good job, just keep at it. Film yourself walking and watch the hips.

Hopefully that helps a little bit.

  • The Doctor
#5

hi

it’s good try, have you heard of the book Richard williams “Animators Survival Kit”? if you have not heard of it yet, you can try google search it, there should be a avaialble pdf copy online.

also books like “Sybex Stop staring” or even “the Illusion of life” these are books usefull for anyone in the learning interest.

hope that helps

#6

Thanks all