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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hello, this is my new animation I'm currently working on, I was just going to model a simple Bus Stop shelter, and just render out a nice still of it, but i though it would be loads more fun if i could have a character in there. This is what I've got so far;
He's just missed the bus - afterwards, he's gonna go and sit on a bench that's behind him, look on the floor all angry with himself, and then miss another bus.
Any Comments or Crits anyone has thus far would be great.
Ta.
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kilroy 787 posts
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hype 2,964 posts
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Claymation 600 posts
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mechis 520 posts
It's a good start!
Couple of notes:
On the run, overlap the spine and head a bit more with the hips... it feels a bit stiff right now. I'd also suggest that you have him lean forward a bit more... he's running almost straight up and down now.
Once the character stops running, it feels very "pose-y". Try to break it up with some overlap.
Also, the anticipation needs a bit of work-- that feels a bit jerky b/c you step back quickly and return to a similar pose when going through to the kick.
These are just a few suggestions... hope they help!
~Mechis
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
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mechis 520 posts
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Global 1,589 posts
Yeah I think it's a promising start Iest. I'd go with what others have said. Though far from saying it's too "posey" I'd suggest really trying to exagerate the poses. It's a far shot, so it'll be difficult to read if you don't have nice strong poses.
One other thing to mention is that of timing... it just seems to run from one pose to another without giving us time to read what's going on - it's not just anticipation of motion that you need to think about, but anticipation of emotion, the emotion that leads to action. Like the way he slumps down as he realises he's missed the bus, I think that needs some small pause or held pose before the realisation hits - then we go for the slump.
Looking forward to updates.
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hey Globes, thanks a lot for the Crits, excellent points man, really like the whole anticipation of emotion, I've made him hold the pose where he's just realized he's missed the bus for about a second and a half, and it really adds a lot to it, thanks man, good point. Hopefully, I'll try and have an update up tonight.
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
This is what I've got so far nefore I retire to bed;
I've hit 'no 7' on the keyboard, and have no lights in the scene, lets me see the Silhouette of the character a bit better, so I can see if everything makes better sense. Is it a step in the right direction?
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ALi 608 posts
that's really nice Iestyn.
I just think that in the 3th and 4th steps it's a bit unusual. like you wanted to stop him running out of camera view. may I say he stops suddenly.
(sorry 4 for my english. hope u understood what i meant)
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Global 1,589 posts
Aye that's getting there Iest. I think it still needs some work on the way that he 'deflates' It's too much 'arm... then head... then slouch'. Deffinately bring the head down some with the arm. The shuffle as he comes to a stop is kinda nice though.
Be careful of the knee popping when he kicks.
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hype 2,964 posts
wow, i would be THRILLED if I created such an animation!
it's interesting to read the crits and then go back and watch it, looking for what you guys are talking about.
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hey guys, thanks a lots for the compliment!! You should defiantly give animation a try man, and post it up here so we can crit it - like everyone's doing here - and very very soon you'll discover what you're doing wrong. It's great getting feedback like this, it just helps you realise what you're doing wrong, and it'll soon click!
Ive played about more with how he 'deflates', and tweaked the knee pop - I've kept a bit in there, as I thought it has a nice feel to it;
Anything else you guys can see hat needs some attention?
Thanks
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Latos 55 posts
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Global 1,589 posts
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hey, nice one, thanks for the tips Global, they're really really helping me out a lot! I definatly see what you mean with the right arm snapping up waay to fast, ill address that later on tonight, and I'll make his left arm a little bit more sturdy, like hes actualy incontrol of it a bit more, I'll also play a bit with the COG, to see if i can ease that pop out of the leg a bit
With the second slouch - my idea is to have sound effects in the shot as well, so as he's running towards the bus, all you hear is the massive sound of the bus engine, so as he realises he's missed the bus, he slouches, but then in a gimmer of hope, the engine roar dies down a bit, this causing him to look back up - but as he looks back up, he realises that the bus driver is just simply changing grear, and then still carries on, thus causing him to slouch even more - thinking along those line, do you think it makes sense?
Thanks for the comment Latos, could you explain a bit whats wrong with the left leg?
Cheers
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Maybe I should hold the pose where he's looking up inbetween the two slouches a bit longer?
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Latos 55 posts
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Ahh right yeah, I'll need to do a full foot pass at the end me thinks, get his feet up to actually step here and there.
This is my latest update;
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Richard 1,943 posts
hey dude that's really getting there, looks all good now,
although the bit where he kicks the can or whatever that is, check the center of gravity, it seems wrong, looks like he is goig to fall forward, he should actualy move back instead of forward.
try filming yourself doing it and you'll see what i mean
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hello - Cheers for the crit Rich, I've gone ahead and corrected that, and I think it looks better now.
I've also gone ahead and animated the next part in the sequence - this is what happens straight after he kick the coke can, it's ment to be all one big camera shot;
Any Crits on this part would be great!
Thanks
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Richard 1,943 posts
not much to say, i think you naild it!
great anim, you might hae to polish it just a bit and that's you
can you post the new version of he first shot?
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Cheers Rich! Yeah there's just a few things here and there that just need tweaking - but do you think it flows nicely otherwise?
Here's the kick as it now stands - any crit on it?;
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Richard 1,943 posts
whar's disturbing me in that clip is that he moves his body forward when he kicks... usualy i move my body back when i kick something, anyhow, all depends on how you see it,
apart from that, yea it looks good
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Here's the whole thing linked together -
Any crits up to here from anyone?
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Richard 1,943 posts
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
I've gone and tweaked the kicking a little bit again Rich - what do you reckon now? I've also added some background into it, along with some fence and a box as the bus just to get the feel of it better;
Cheers Rich - I had so much trouble animating the second bit you wouldn't believe, trying to spin the character round a 180 degrees and having him walking like that was to me, very difficult - but I'm quite happy with the results.
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Richard 1,943 posts
ha ha - he missed his bus !
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hmmm - this is a new one on me. I've just playing about with lighting now, and I wanted to render with Mental Ray, but whenever I render out, I get this;
Where's his face?! This only happens with MR, its fine with the Maya software renderer
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
I went onto the Script Editor after the render and found out that the skin shader was actaully attached to the face geometry - I've simply re-applied that shader and everything works fine now.
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zachm 1,230 posts
man, I just checked out the progress on this, Looking great man! I really like what you are doing with it so far! My only suggestions at this point are to maybe add an edit so that right after the bus leaves and he turns around, you cut the camera to a closer shot maybe,and then another cut when he sits down. I think that would make it feel even more dynamic.
-Z
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hey Zach! Thanks man - yeah I was thinking of that last night too, ill have a play around now with what interesting camera angles I can get out of it - I quite like the long shot to start out with, but where I go from there could be quite tricky - I could have the camera situated around the bench so he then walks towards the camera - hmm I'll test that angle out right now.
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
I've added a single cut to the sequence, what do you think?
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
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hype 2,964 posts
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Richard 1,943 posts
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
I made a very rough sketch this morning, and blocked in the colours of how I'd like everything to be, and this is what I got;
Do you guys think the colours go well together?
Thanks for the help on the lighting, im still tearing my hair out about it - ill play around a bit more, and ill post a render so i can get some feedback about it. I like the idea of night time as well Rich, that sounds pretty cool. I'll see what i can do.
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hype 2,964 posts
it's really vibrant and saturated, but it works for this animation, i think, especially the yellowish sky. very nice!
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Been paying about a bit more with it in Photoshop, and this is what i got so far;
Might playabout a bit with the sky, and maybe some buildings in the background.
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Master_Blaster 43 posts
Try making it more like in your first concept
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hype 2,964 posts
yeah, i'm missing the yellow sky, golden-hour feel!
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Cheers guys, do you think this looks better then?
I've tried it with some buildings, but I don't think it looks good, I might keep the buildings out.
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hype 2,964 posts
yeah, i like that one!
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
I had a spare few hours today and I rendered out the whole animation and composited it all together, and this is what I've got thus far;
I'm yet to add the bus into the scene, and complete the background for the second shot, but does anyone have any crits about the whole thing so far? I'm aiming to finish this by Friday, so I can carry on with some other stuff.
Cheers
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quinn paynter 356 posts
Pretty sweet man, its coming along. For me personally the moving clouds in the background drew my eye away from the character. Also the second time he bends down with a huhhh as he missed his bus is very low. But still all in all looking pretty cool man. Keep up the good work ^__^
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
Hey iest!
Checked out the latest render and I think the environment looks really nice!
Right now I think what's killing the animation for me (well not killing it
...degrading it a bit though) is:
a) his hips (center of gravity) are moving all over the place in the 1st shot. Look right before he kicks the can: he's shifting back and forth and back and forth, and in some instances it makes his body look like it's jerking around. Might want to look into that (I suggestin opening up the graph editor and looking at the positional keys for that area of the animation....if you see a lot of hills and valleys--little ones---then smooth those out
b) his head in shot2 moves really awkwardly. It's like....he's in a neck brace or something. Hi eyes move, but his head sorta tilts to his left the whole time.
Other than that...you're on the right track!
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Hey guys, thanks a lot for the feedback - ill delete the motion on the clouds i think, keep 'em static, and ill ease out that 'ohhh' a little bit as well Quinn.
I've had a playabout with the COG on the kick, and a few places here and there, and also re-animated the head, and i think it's looking better now, what do you guys think?
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Richard 1,943 posts
hey, that's looking really nice, i am really impressed with what you where able to come up with,
god, that ketchup bottle seems like it was yesterday and look at what you're able to do now! keep it up dude! brillian work!
the part when he kicks the can still disturbs me, he seems really pissed off, but his kick is too energetic to express it... i don't know how to explain, but i hope you know wat it mean.
neverthe less, great work!
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
Ha ha, thanks Rich! Yeah that good old ketchup bottle only seems like a few months ago, but that horrible animation i did was made 7months ago now!
(ha ha - i bet people reading this are thinking what on earth are these guys talking about?!!)
Sorry but i don't think I get what you mean with the kick Rich - could you explain it a little bit please?
- Thanks
