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[johnar]

Haven't posted anything in ages.  Just thought i'd pop this in. Haven't anim8ed much 4 a while either, so had a play around with steve's spring.  More about getting the anim8ion ok than texturing or anything else. Not sure if it has a future...lol
 

(edit) Have replaced dead links with Springy final. 1minute 38 seconds

 Added some screenshots of Springy in action.  

[cooldude234]

I think I remember this thing
I like the animation. It's good in terms that it doesn't feel slow and sluggish which most animations with anim8or seem plagued with.

[johnar]

hello there cooldude234. True, you would've probly seen the eye b4. The spring is from the scripts. Courtesy of Steve G.
 Joined 2 2gether, added a strait up and down bone structure and morphs for up and down. I think most anim8ors, (anim8or in particular ), just seem to use too many frames. Did you know that in a blink it can only take 2 frames for 'shut' and 3 frames 4 'open'..  That's only 5 frames per blink. That's about 1 5th of a second.. (The eye is the fastest moving part of the body).
 Anyway, to all anim8ors, if anyones anim8ions seem slow, get into the time track, where all things happen, and delete some frames.  look out that u don't delete any KEYS!!!.
 Then i render it out, look 4 slow movements, get back in there, and delete some more frames. !!
 The original name of the video is 'springtest023' !! So it took 22 previous tests. I don't bother with materials when 'test rendering', coz it just takes so loooong.  Most of my 'test renders' are all done in about 5 minutes. I think this one took about 15 for the render i posted. My PC is an old Packard hack that came out with a 10GB hardrive.  
  . Thanks 4 the comment.  

[cooldude234]

and I thought I was bad for only having a gig left on my tera-byte

Anyways, it depends on what your frames per-seconds are as well. If you were getting 60 frames per-second, it would take more frames to close and open your eye. But of course the key frames would be also being played faster so the animation may look less laggy. You can change the play back of the frames per second in your preferences window in anim8or.

[johnar]

Yea. I pretty well stick to 24fps, so thats where i get the '2 frames close 3 frames open' thing.
 I suppose using a faster frame rate would also increase the size of the finished video.

[cooldude234]

Yea. I pretty well stick to 24fps, so thats where i get the '2 frames close 3 frames open' thing.
 I suppose using a faster frame rate would also increase the size of the finished video.

Yup, also I try to stick with a 30 frames playback. It's the standard for movie frame playback rate (there not really any technical word for it ).

[Raxx]

Like always, nice and bizarre, johnar It looks pretty good, especially considering that it's animated in Anim8or. I do feel that the physics need to be tweaked a bit more. His initial hopping does not have enough forward momentum in its movement--it looks like that animation would work only if he was hopping in place. I think if you made the bottom part of the spring (his "feet"), angle so that they face more towards the direction he's landing in anticipation of said landing (but only in the last quarter of each hop), it'd look more realistic. Kind of like how you walk and plant your heel first and then the toes follow.

The center of gravity and center of rotation for the backflip seems to be off. Its current motion seems to suggest that the heaviest part of its body is in its feet and it's the feet that is dragging the rest of the body along with it (kind of like how if you put a rock in a plastic bag and throw the bag, the rock influences its rotation in the air the most). You need to make the center of rotation be nearly equal to that of its center of gravity, and the center of gravity needs to have constant gravitic translation while the rotation motion is also constant around that center of gravity. Right now both are a bit unequal and inconstant. What I said probably doesn't make much sense, but just look at some vids of backflips if you haven't already

Hope that helps. I know this wasn't an all-out serious animation, but it'd be interesting if you actually went somewhere with this.

[johnar]

 Hi Raxx, and thanks for the input.  The things you mentioned are also the things which i realise are not quite right as well. Trust you to spot them.   

I think if you made the bottom part of the spring (his "feet"), angle so that they face more towards the direction he's landing in anticipation of said landing

Yes, i have actually tried for  that, but i see that it does need to be more obvious. Have got a morph target in the bottom of the spring for the movement you have explained, (the 'heel toe' thing), and will tweak that up to make it more exagerated. (noticeable). You can see that bottom movement in the last couple of fwd bounces, but now realise that its far too subtle. Will sort that out.
I was wondering about those first few jumps being not quite right.

His initial hopping does not have enough forward momentum in its movement

Thats it. Cheers. I'll work on it.

The center of gravity and center of rotation for the backflip seems to be off.

I do understand what you are saying. The backflips were a bit of a problem from the start. The simple rig that i've used made it a bit  difficult to get it 'physically' correct. Because it is rigged 'from the bottom up', then only the upper body is bendable with the rig. This anim8ion was done straight from my head, so I will take your advice and study some backflips and try to get it more equal, constant and realistic.
 Appreciate your 'eagle eye' and the decent explanations of your observations. . Gold. 
 Will post updated video in the next day or so.  Thanxx.
 

[johnar]

 I think his forward jump looks better now. Never realised how 'out' it was till i started fixing it.
 Only the fwd jumps here;
edit/update.
 dead link replaced with springy final.

 Will work on the backflip next.
geez, its 3 in the morning  

[Blick Fang]

The animation is great johnar!

[johnar]

 Thanks Blick.  

  Hav fixed up the backflip. Still not perfect, but better than it was. (Thanx for pointing those things out Raxx. It has defineately improved because of it.    )
 May tweak it as i go, but need to move on. Wanting to stick it all together,  add a bit more, tweak a bit more, maybe change the scene setup, add some music...lol.
    Actually, been thinking bout a poem....
 I made a little thing, it was a little spring, and it sprung off down the road to see the view.
 It sprang around with glee, it was absolutley  free, and  everything it saw, to it, was new... lol  

 Backflip only

 edit/update: Replace dead link with springy final.

Thanks again for your inspiring comments  
Will update as things progress.

[CrashDrive]

Nice job on the animation 'Johnar'.
That's exactly how I get out of bed in the morning.

[davdud101]

Really nice-looking, johnar! Nice to see you around here.

Regarding cooldude...
I'm not so sure about that one... 30fps for the smooth video look, 24p / 24fps for the 'cinema'/filmic look.

[Raxx]

The backflip definitely looks a lot more natural, Johnar. Good job!

The forward jumps also look better, but they may be suffering from too much keyframing. I'm just nitpicking though

There's been plenty of debate on the internet regarding framerate. Personally I think whatever works for you will work for most, and let the videophiles whine if they will.

[johnar]

 Hey there guys.

Crashdrive. Thanks.

That's exactly how I get out of bed in the morning.

Lol

davdud. Thanks. Its good 2 be back. Finally got a reasonble internet connection at a reasonable rate. $20 per gig, thru mobile phone to laptop. Was paying $5 per hour b4 that!

 Thanks raxx. I hear what you're saying, and will always keep your c&c in mind. Cheers.

 I've added sound effects, and a little xtra bit at the end.
edit/update. Hav replaced dead links` with springy final.

 Will hav 2 leave this for now.  Not sure where i'm going with it. When i get back to it am thinking about starting again and perhaps having a go at making a kids story-book. Maybe even a wee 'e-book' like would go on a e-reader. Don't know how advanced these e-readers are today, but i'm guessing they would support 'at the least' animated gifs, which could be quite cool.
 (speaking of animated gifs, think i'll  redo my avatar.   )


 

 So, thanks again, and not a stranger anymore. Will pop in daily.  cya.