Anim8or Community
Artwork => Finished Works and Works in Progress => Topic started by: davdud101 on April 02, 2015, 03:39:30 pm
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So I just did these yesterday and today. I don't have much in mind but I don't want to lose any skills I've built since I started!
Comment and crits well received :)
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These could make for some interesting characters, I hope to see more!
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Thanks, Raxx! I'm continuing working on Rutherford Rat. I've never been much good at making humanoid bodies, much less clothing and limbs, so this is a workout for me!
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legs have always been a difficulty for me.
well, I'm done for a day!
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Clothes make the man :) I'm always happy seeing people give actual organic modeling a shot. It's hard starting out, but after a while of doing it things like appendages get to be pretty easy.
A small crit for your last update, he's lacking a bit in the pelvis department. Try giving him a groin ;)
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I'm curious- I'm actually considering re-modeling the pants. Is there a particular area of the below-torso that is better to start with?
I'm thinking if I start with a triangle-shaped cylinder, or maybe even a trapezoid... I dunno!
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Cool nice to see cartoony characters being made.
Will they be animated?
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I'm curious- I'm actually considering re-modeling the pants. Is there a particular area of the below-torso that is better to start with?
I'm thinking if I start with a triangle-shaped cylinder, or maybe even a trapezoid... I dunno!
Usually, I measure out and model a basic form of the groin and butt first, with a hole for the leg. When I'm satisfied, I just extrude the edges out of that hole to make the leg portion. Then I go back over it all and build up the form and details. Obviously, our methods may differ. All I can say is that the best way to do it is up to you ;)
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thanks for the method, Raxx- I found a 3ds Max tutorial that did it that way and I came up with what's in the image below.
It's pretty imperfect, but it's okay for a first try. I should probably show some more images.
Jos, long time no see! I do like modeling things like this but I'd have to say, animation (beyond facial morphing) is not my strong suit and it's pretty tedious to do in Anim8or, especially to make it look good. I don't think I'll be animating them very soon.
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Hi davdud
Been watching progress here, and had a thought.
Rutherford Rat is quite tall. Either he's meant to be tall, or its happened by following tutorials made for building human type characters. (human ref image?). His proportions are very human, tho arms are perhaps marginally shorter than human arms.
If he's meant to have these humanoid proportions, then all good, but maybe his tail seems a little small?.
If he needs some more 'ratty' type proportions, then maybe his legs and arms are a little long?
But then, maybe not. Just something i thort i'd mention.
Its good watching characters getting started, and then progressing into 'who they are'...
Liking Rutherford rat.....appearance and personality can go hand in hand.
At the moment, i'm seeing a teenager rat. Young, fit, healthy, inquisitive, full of beans. A young Rutherford Rat.
But if he had a monocal, and a tweed jacket and hat, he'd look more like a resident of some castle type dwelling. Older, well off, gentlemanly etc.. (eg: Toad of toad hall)
lol. Just thinking out loud...
Good stuff. Hope you keep at him. (http://s6.postimg.org/4y98eizkt/grywink.gif)
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thar be my "problem", johnar- He's made to no particular proportions but what my eye could tell me. I am going for a lanky young adult character, so definitely straying away from more rat-like proportions, but in addition his tail was made in about 5 minutes so that it'd be there when I made the pants. Guess I should rework that as well.
[EDIT] I adjusted some of Rutherford's proportions. I think he looks a bit more even now; shortened torso, longer arms. Happy Easter!
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So guys, I decided maybe I will give a shot at animating him.
I'm getting ready to add some detail, design some feet, and then try to rig him... I'm looking for some tips.
How would some of you do the hands? Morph targets or bone (maybe making each set of knuckles per finger just attached to one bone, instead of fully articulated hands...)?
Also, how should I do the feet? I'm thinking just shoes, but I'd like something that aesthetically is agreed upon by some 'outside eyes'.
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i'd say rig the hands properly (i.e. individual fingers); it'll be more work now, but it'll make the figure more flexible and therefore more expressive in the long run. i've spent far too long working with Lego figures, so i know all about non-flexible hand models!
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Makes sense. I don't think I want to go 'all out' with this character even with how happy I am with how things are going. I put together a basic (incomplete) rig and honestly I totally hate the animation aspect, especially character animation, of 3d... it's so tedious and difficult and error-prone. The image below shows some of his articulation.
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There's definately 'knacks' involved with animating in Anim8or.
Sometimes it seems impossible to get a bone to move just the required amount by dragging with mouse. Having axiss' showing, Changing view angle and zooming in closer can all help, but sometimes you've just got to double click and add the value manually. Graph editor can be handy for tweaking movement.
Definately rig hands completely. (fingers individually)...imho
Making 'poses' in sequence mode can really make things easier as you get a collection together.
The pic below literally took less than 2 minutes to animate with just a few left and right hand poses/sequences added 4 frames apart in scene mode. (LHopen, LHshut, LHpeace, LHpinkydown, RHopen etc...)
(http://s11.postimg.org/4wyxuvo1v/Untitled_1.gif)
Animating in sequence mode is easier than scene mode, and if you collect all sequences and poses for each character, you can end up with quite a decent library that can save a lot of time and frustration in the future.
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Ah, the must be it, johnar! I've always had an idea that I HAD to either DO entire animation sequences in Seq editor OR in the scene editor... I never thought about just doing poses. That's going to make this a lot easier! I'll get started right away!
Got any tips on that? What poses do you usually start your characters with ?
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Good on u davdud101
Usually, Stand is the first one. Put him in a standing pose and key all bones. Make Pose 2 or 3 frames long. (used to be problems making 1 frame sequences.(a pose) Not sure if there still is, but for me, 2 or 3 frames for a pose has become habit).
Stand pose(s) can have a variety. Like, StandSet is all bones keyed. StandnoNeck would be all bones keyed except neck bone. (so u can reset him to stand, without affecting a neck key which might already be set in scene mode). Theres no end really, Standnohands would be all bones keyed except hands, and so on. These can be handy when you've got something going on in the scene, and just want to reset parts of his body, and not others. You'll come across these situations, and maybe think about 'selected key poses as you get to those situations.
But stand is usually the first pose that i set for a character.
Next for me is usually Walk. Of course, thats a sequence, not a pose, but stand and walk are used together quite well. (for walking, stopping, walking again....)
After that, it usually depends on what you need going on in the scene.
If you wanted him to go from stand to sit, you'd make a sit pose. Then In scene mode, you need to add stand pose. Then copy all stand keys, (select figure to select all keys), and paste to the frame where you want him to start to sit, so that theres no 'drifting' before he actually starts to sit down. So then you add the sit pose a few frames after the ones you've just pasted.
Tweaking in scene mode is often required.
Things to watch, when copying all keys, to paste at an end/start point, is the position and orientation keys. They become relevant depending if position and/or orientation need to be kept or changed at the moment.
'Set' keys are also a handy thing. eg: in a new sequence, pose just the hand(s) into a comfortable position, and then key only the hand bones.
Then, you can add that pose at anytime in the scene, just to get his hands back to a decent pose. Really handy if you start getting in a bit of a mess in scene mode, and just want his hands back to normal.
Ideally, you want a mixture of poses and sequences, and also to be animating in scene mode as well. (tweaking between poses, doing other movements not posed in sequence)
With time, you get in the swing of it. My most 'interchangeable' sequences involve: A 'walkLegsOnly' sequence, (key only leg bones). Then i have several upper body sequences, throw ball, wave, Armsswingnormal, Armswingwild, hands on head etc, so he can do all these things while he's walking. AND a heap of HAND POSES to mix with the sequences.
Good luck. Happy to help where i can. (http://s6.postimg.org/p4cqdev8d/grysmile.gif)
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Oh whoa, I thought I replied a week ago...
I meant to say- that lip syncing must have taken a long time, John! The hard work shows for sure. I think finding out that new trick is going to make animating him a whoooole lot easier (because previously I was only using two of the axis! haha)
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So guys, I of late have come up with a host of characters each with their own personality and ambitions. I'm thinking of trying a couple of VERY SIMPLE animated shorts, but I'd appreciate if there was anyone willing to give me a little assistance with simple animation and lip syncing!
Reply here or PM me if you want to know more (although I'll admit it's always been a bit tough to get support for animation projects here :x )
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I've got a couple of tips in mind.
Lipsyncing is easiest done first if possible. That way, you're not needing to follow a moving characters face all over the show while you're trying to get his mouth right. (and other expressions that go along with mouth, like eyes and eyebrows)
Animate character in steps. 1)1st time round, get the basics, poses, positioning, orientation.
2) Go over it again and tweak/improve 3) Go over it again and tweak/improve 4) Go over it again and tweak/improve 5) Go over it again and tweak/improve 6) Go over it again and tweak/improve and so on. The more you go over it, the more detail and effort you put into it, the better it will come out. Of course, sometimes the tweaked version is not as good as the earlier version, so save files differently for each tweaking 'pass'. Ie: runnhide001, runnhide002 etc
Have a character file, that holds everything for that character. The an8 files, textures, sequences etc. Still good to have sequences in the import->sequences folder, and materials in the proper global material folder etc, but if you have a copy of everything related to the character in one file, then you can move him from computer to computer and he's all there, sequences and all.
If you have trouble with 'drifting' before or after a keyed movement, copy the key and paste to the next, or previous, frame. (double key). That'll stop it in its tracks..(http://s6.postimg.org/4y98eizkt/grywink.gif)
Edit: nearly forgot Timing
I like 24fps, some like 30fps. There's a wealth of information and argument over whats best. Your choice. Just remember, 24fps IS 24 frames per second, so work out how long you want a paticular movement to take, and relate the time required to fps. I render a test copy after every pass, and thats when you see if your timing is ok, and if not, you can change that around as part of your next pass...