Thanks, it’s always good to get some constructive criticism. I’m going to hold back on retiming any of the body acting until I see it with the eyes-texture which is the next thing to do.
WIP animation "Cubed" part 3
halfworld
#22
Take a bow! That’s a better ending, will you be posting that in the Finished Animation forum when it’s done?
Now you just need to pull two days out the hat in order to get it rendered!
Ian
:applause:
AzOne
#23
Then start planning the sale of Kitty toys! I know I would buy Kitty mousepads or a key chain. This might be the start of a franchise!
pollywoggles
#24
Wow. This is really beautiful work. I love the world that you created, and the snappy styalized animation really fits. I definately will be returning to watch the progress.
Here are a few suggestions about the animation…
Between frames 193-194-195 the movement feels a little linear (maybe arc the hips a little more on frame 194).
198-199-200 the spacing feels a little even, I’d like to see a little more acceleration as the character is falling.
201-202-203 the spacing also feels even, I’d like to see a little more play with the spacing (like how you spacedc 193-194-195). The timing on that jump and the jump right after (the one ending on frame 210) is similar, maybe make that last jump a little faster.
Frames 224-228 feel a little too much like the character is hovering. I see your animation is styalized, and that it’s used as an anticipation – but I haven’t seen the character hover for that long before, so it doesn’t feel “built” into the reality of this snappy little world – perhaps take some of those frames out – and use it in anticipation just before it actually does that jump. Also, during that same jump, it might be cool to see the legs completely extended (instead of bent), to really show the thrust.
I’d like to see the spacing of the hips on frame 231 favoring frame 232 (instead of 230). 232-233-234 the spacing feels very even to me. I’d also like to see the spacing in frame 233 favoring frame 232 (instead of just sitting linerarly between those two frames).
manuel
#25
Wow Paul, you went through it frame by frame. Quite a feat considering how small that last quicktime I uploaded is. I’m surprised you managed to read the frame-numbers, unless you took it into your editing app or something.
I’ll have a look at your suggestions this evening. But first I’ll animate the face, render it out with all the shapes subdivided so the arms and legs show up properly and motion-blur switched on. The timing feels very different when viewed that way.
We may have to agree to disagree on certain style choices, like the floaty jump at 224-228. For some reason I really like that, it contrasts nicely with what follows. Even though it “bends” the rules temporarily, I feel it creates a nice rhythm to the overall flow.
Having said that, all the other remarks make sense. Thanks for the effort.
manuel
#26
Well, I had a look. Pretty much went with all your remarks. Apart from the floaty jump 
Gotta admit, you really managed to pick out all the rough edges. Are you the same Paul Briggs that worked on Tarzan and Hercules? That would explain your eagle-eyedness. Again, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
velarde
#27
Manuel:
Also been following your animation progress.
It looks better and better with each revision. You’ve added a lot of personality to your character.
Let me know when you have the final render and I’ll be sure to put it in the EIAS “character animation” page.
Good luck and congrats!
fjv
manuel
#29
Right then. The end is getting nearer and nearer. Still only an OpenGL preview I’m afraid. I took a few of the comments here on board. Sharpened up the animation here and there. After this I’ll start doing the eyes. It may not look very different from the last version, but a lot of little things have changed honestly. Hands up who wants to see a finished version.
Here is a low res version (around 5Mb)
http://www.funnylittlemen.co.uk/Quicktimes/cubed80.mov
And a higher res version (around 16Mb)
http://www.funnylittlemen.co.uk/Quicktimes/cubed80High.mov
halfworld
#31
You made me laugh on a monday morning! Kudos! Love the little side steps at the end there. It really emotes buckets!
I also second Brian.
Ian
manuel
#32
Don’t worry guys. I will render this baby. As soon as the eyes are done and my first low quality test looks good. Thanks for all the encouragement.
WmH
#33
Yes defiantly you must finish it…
Kitty demands it!
Seriously though, I would like to see it, we haven’t seen a rendered one since V27.
You know Steamboat Willie was just a doodle of Walt’s, that developed into a short test animation. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
manuel
#34
The look of the final render will not have changed that much since that first test. I have to resist the temptation to constantly do GI renders just for the sake of it. Until the Quicktime with the eyes-texture is done, that would be wasted effort anyway. But don’t worry, I was just joking when I asked who wants to see this finished. Of course I will finish this.
manuel
#35
I didn’t even know Walt could draw. Fact is that I’ve got a full time job at the moment and I have to budget my time and energy between all things in my life. For the foreseeable future, this will be the end of Kitty’s adventures. Who knows if it develops in something more in the long run.
Let’s just say that I wanted to develop this into an idea for a television series or a personal short film. The next step would be to write a script, design more characters in this style, flesh out the world, get interest from backers… I wont involve me making any more test animations and posting them here on CGTalk.
To get back to Walt. Maybe it did all start off with a little doodle, but the doodle may well have been made two or three years beforehand.
WmH
#36
Yes Walt was an accomplished artist, illustrator and animator, as well as quite a visionary. It is a shame what became of the company (and some of his visions like EPCOT) after he died. Perhaps Lasseter (now in charge of virtually all creative aspects of Disney) will return some of it’s former magic. (I am a boomer so I actually remember Disney’s glory days)
Steamboat willie was actually not the first animated short that Walt did. It was just the first to make it all the way to release. (as I recall some of the previous animated shorts were actually released subsequently, based on steamboat willie’s success)
manuel
#37
Well, we’ve got eyes now. The poor thing can finally see what’s happening to him. this is the time to start making the last tiny final adjustments. Something bothers me about the way Kitty, as he has been named by the people on this forum, gets up at the end. I’ll look into that.
Other than that, any crits welcome. I’ll have a first stab at rendering this little monster hopefully this weekend. So if anything stands out like a sore thumb, now is the time to let me know.
manuel
#39
Come and get it while the bandwidth lasts!!
http://www.funnylittlemen.co.uk/Quicktimes/cat01_full.mov
I couldn’t wait until the weekend. The whole render took a bit less than 24 hours. The end bit with all the cubes is an absolute killer, if it wasn’t for that, it would have been a good overnight render. Still, I’m very impressed by the render speed, my initial calculations pointed towards 2 days.
As those who have been following this thread will have guessed by now, as soon as I saw the finished result, I thought: “Mmm, there’s some room for improvement here. And maybe here too. Oh, and here…”
So I’m not promising this is the final version, but for now, it’ll do (looks longingly at the sofa).
Man, I love H264. At this size and length, it still manages to come in under 4Mb. Tip: If you want to create an H264 Quicktime, don’t do it from After Effects or anything like that. Use Quicktime Pro, it gives you some extra options (multi-pass and frame re-oredering) which make all the difference.
manuel
#40
By the way. The motion blur on some of the bigger cubes gets pretty ugly. What would be the settings to improve that? Is it just the noise settings? So far I’ve always used the default settings.