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[johnar]

hello all.
 I've decided my main mission this year is to become good at character animation using Anim8or.
 Everytime i make a new one, i'll post it in this thread, and at the end of the year, will be able to compare any improvements over the year.

 Comments, C and C, ideas, questions are all 'more than welcome'.
 (join in ?)

 Heres my first short clip of 2010.
  'Dangerous games of the Outback'

 Mostly done with sequences, and then tweeking in scene mode.

Second Clip.
 Chill Out

 
 Thanks.

[RudySchneider]

Ha ha ha, very imaginative, johnar!  Clever bit of ducking there at the last instant, too.

[Mills]

That's a great start, johnar! I look forward to watching your progress over the year, though I think to be fair you're already a long way ahead of quite a few of us in this area!

[davdud101]

Lucky johnar. I suck pretty bad at character animation. The only thing I wanna say is that you limit your self a little too much to your signature style, with the round eyes and the poked out lips. Any different styled characters?

[neirao]

haha

very cool!

[sgwan]

IM going to school for 3d modeling/animation this year

I'll check back on this post to see your progress though, animation is my slightly lesser ability at the moment.  good luck!

[hihosilver]

A little criticism that I hope will help you improve.  I'm not an expert animator myself, but hopefully I can provide some good criticism!
My main thought on the walk/jog/run cycles is that they don't appear to have as much weight as they should.  In the run cycle specifically, he almost seems to float through the air.  I think a bit more up and down motion, with the feet hitting the ground a bit harder would help with the realism.  Of course, the spear is sliding somewhat, but that's difficult to avoid in Anim8or, probably the best way being two figures (one with the spear, one without.)
The reaction is a bit too quick when he dodges the spear.  Perhaps if he had a second to notice it first, then react by diving or ducking as he did (though when he ducks he shouldn't come up so quickly.)
Good work though, I always love to see your animations, and I hope this help you master character animation in Anim8or!

[NeonFalcon]

Very nice movement and improvement!!!! but if u look hard that the first time he throws the spear and catches it why does it flip sides in the blink of an eye? u shold watch out for those frames.

[johnar]

Hi again, and thanks for the posts.

RudySchneider: Thanks for enjoying that short foray,.
I'm intending to visit www.rudyschneider.com for a proper look next time i'm on a decent connection. Am sure i'll see some cool stuff,

 Mills. thanks. i'll try to keep you interested.

davdud101:  Was going to use a stickman for this, because its really mostly about the animation. But if i use the characters i have, then i can also keep an
eye on skinning behaviour, etc.. while i'm at it.
 yeah, i'll make some new characters one day, for sure.

 neirao: Thanks. . Every laugh counts. Glad you liked it.


 sgwan: Good luck at school this year. I spose you'll be using 3DStudio max, or similar, so you'll be using an IK animation system.  That'll be cool.  IK
certainly does hav advantages over FK. would be good to see some of your stuff later in the year.

hiho:  Good criticisms. . Its funny you should mention weight, becoz thats exactly what i'm working on at the moment. Its tricky, but i'll keep trying. Am doing a bit of 'heavy box lifting', but haven't got it yet. (PERSERVERANCE!!) Will also keep the weight issue in mind when next doing any walk/run cycles.
 I did use 2 figures. 1 with spear, 1 without, and yes, he does dodge that spear a fraction too quickly.
 Excellent crits. Thanks for not letting me get away with it.

 NeonFalcon: Yip. Thats another fault which i just let pass. thanks for keeping me honest. It was laziness,

 Thanks again all. I'll keep working on things, and hav something new in just a little while.

  
 


 

[mak]

an exercise  i was thinking would help with charicter animation; would be a gym. make file with just your charicter, and then in scene mode, no seqences, put him through a workout. pushups, jumping jacks, shadow boxing exetera, but dont save. and each day put him through it again. my thoughts anyway. think ill try that.

[johnar]

 Hi mak,
 Good idea. !!
 I'll do that too.  Might even add some gym equipment later on.
 First i'd like to get this 'showing weight' thing sorted.
 I can show weight with things like 'concrete blocks falling to the floor', but showing in a character is a bit more tricky.
 At times i'm wondering how possible it will be, using FK animation.
 After looking at some examples made using IK, i notice that a lot of the main movement is in the hips. Thats easy with IK, you can drag the hips downwards and the feet stay firmly planted to the floor.
 Not so easy with FK. Even bending legs requires repostioning feet every time. I've been trying different rig setups, to try and get a sequence, but might hav to use scene mode, and repostion feet with the 'position' key.
 But i'll persevere.  

[davdud101]

Well, mak... It's a perfect excersize for those needing to working on their skinning skills... Just a little drasctic to do this everyday and not even save it.

[johnar]

 Personally, i really like the idea, but think i'd be inclined to save 'weekly'.

mak:  What i'll probly do is start Sunday, and try to do an hour of exercises every day, and render out the best one of each day. Then, on the next Sunday, choose my favourite render, save that, and get rid of the rest. (1 final render per week)
 If I/we, could keep up that commitment for 6 months or more, we gotta be getting better. 

  I'm Prepared for some 'frustrations', but the end goal will be worth it.
 Just a thought to add. Although we are using an FK system, it wont be wasted time if/when we move to an IK system. Theres a lot more to animating characters than just  posing  the figures, so anything we can learn now is bound to put us at a good start if/when switching to an IK system.
 I like the idea of 'exercising exercises', and you're welcome to share this thread with your stuff. (if you want to). We might even be able to help each other out.
 Its all good. 

[mak]

this IS proving harder than i thought, several exercises a day aint gona happen. and the more i try this the more nessesary i think it is, for me at least, couse i suck.

[rellik420]

hook me up with a rigged model and ill join in. im still stuck on rigging or else id be animating as well.