Worstest Accidents: Cameron James

I'm in!

Halfway done.


Good luck all!

Hehe - well, just that screenshot had me chuckling! The suspense is killing me!

Sadly there doesn't seem to be many free Max rigs out there. IMHO it is always better to make your own but I also appreciate there is much to gain from pulling apart someone else's rig or animating with it (I know that I have learnt a great deal from the Maya rig's I've seen... Anyways I am beginning to ramble!

The LowMax rig is one of the better ones to work with, nice and easy to use - unfortunately I don't have the link right now as I am not in front of my PC (though I recall that a link was posted somewhere on the threads here) I think I have some links... If I can dig them up I will start a thread (and not hijack this one )

Edit - Dang, sorry bud - I was sure I had a couple of links but the only one other than I can find was terrible!

Alright I'm done.

It's in flash format unfortunately.

http://www.simplycg.net/cameron/jackinabox.swf (6.5mb, I'd suggest right click saving as. It can be opened in flash player or internet explorer)

neat anim cam, my only real crit is that the end seems kind of slow, although that might've just been my old computer trying to read it.

good idea cam
but i miss some kind of suspence... and does the guy jumps through the chair??

Cam - your character animations are getting better

Afraid I have no time to coment as I'm just off to work - will have another peep in here when I get back

about 14 hours form now

Sorry for bringing this back from the dead, but I have a .avi version of the animation.

I think the speed and playback of the flash .swf version was unpredictable and different on every pc.

so hopefully, you can see it properly here with the right timing. There have been no adjustments at all, just put the same image sequence to avi instead of swf.

Paulo, no, the chair beends.

Thanks Global, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

http://www.simplycg.net/cameron/jackinabox.avi (Divx6, 800kb)

i trhink its the moving camera that messes it up

Oops, sorry Cam - that 14 hours turned into something like 3 days. No I haven't been at work all that time... but have had lots going on.

I think the major problem with this one is that there is very little anticipation in both the movement of the character and, in a more general sense, the 'narrative'.

By anticipation of movement I mean what happens just before an action is carried out, at prepares us for the action about to happen. Like, if you throw a ball you first need to pull your arm back to gain momentum. If there is no anticipation in an animation it can make it look stiff and unnatural. If you watch people standing up from a chair - most of the time you'll see a shift of weight and people will rock backwards before they lean forwards to gain momentum for the lift out of the chair. This doesn't happen in your anim, he just goes from hunched to standing - which makes it look quiet awkward and unexpected.

As for the anticipation of the narrative - you are getting there... that lean forward to listen to the box lets the audience know that something is going to happen But that is kinda lost when he stands up. It's difficult to explain why but I'll try...

First because there is no real 'reason' given as to why he stands up (not that there needs to be a reason - but there should be more of an exaggeration in the body language to convey anger or frustration - or some other inner dialogue)

Secondly the actual standing action runs straight into the following and final action (ie the punchline), because he very slowly raises his hand to his chin. That action needs to be done and dusted before we (the audience) can begin to anticipate the next. That's where a nice long pause is needed... so we know something will happen, (but we don't know what) and the longer that pause or anticipation is, the more sudden your action can be

Anyhoo - don't take all this as a negative thing. There are a lot of positives and improvements too in this anim. You've certainly got the idea of secondary motion... from the punch to that slide on the floor is very nice indeed.

Wow, some great info Lee... Will take a bit to digest it and implement it into my next anim..


Thanks a bunch.