Hi SOers!

My first post in SO film section. I did some work in the first part of the scene. I worked mostly on captain, not much on Trot yet.
First time I try to animate a character in water, so let me know what looks believable and what doesn't. I wonder if swimming
would look better with IK arms.
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Michel

Looks good! I like how they pop up. I'd stick with FK for the arms.....especially if that's the result. The only crit would be the camera angle being too close.....I'd like to see them crawl up onto shore in the one shot. That's only relevant at this stage because it may mean more animation for this shot. Maybe the camera could pan out slowly to reveal them.

I assume you're following the animatic right? If your animatic shows them going onto shore, then you'll have to animate it whatever the camera angle as it won't be done by the person doing the next shot (because they expect it to be done in this shot).

Also, are you using IK feet? I thought I noticed one of trots feet sticking. The IK could have been turned off if you didn't.....which would make it abit easier.

No crits from me. I think you're on the right track.

I'm impressed how much it looks like they have buoyancy - that's very well done

He is not following the animatic. I Keyframed this shot and he is doing the animation. Please don't encourage the animators (except for the keyframers) to change the camera

Thats looking very nice!

Thanks.
Yes, I was wondering when Ken mentioned the camera(maybe it still looked too much like blocking).
I join a clip with a little more progress. I have a question concerning the second camera. I tried to add
a temporary light that I would delete before commiting the cho, because it is so dark in shaded view,
that you can't judge the result, but it seems adding a light in the cavern doesn't change anything at all.
Is there a trick for inserting a temporary working light?
Click to view attachment
A few observations on the new"modus operandi". Please don't read this as critic, just observations
from one the first person animating a blocked scene with the new system.
First, I was surprised how much was already done(well done though). I tought continuity issues meant mostly
camera cuts, and character placement and pose at beginning and end of those cuts. I wonder if all keyframers
will have the same approach to blocking.
I know all the cho's won't have 1800 frames like the one I am working on, but I can see you need quite a bit
of experience to understand what has been done and how it was done, I would have been puzzled a few years ago.
For example there are 2 choreography actions and 5 actions for the captain alone, so you need to understand where
to insert those new keyframes. The layering is clear to me but it is one thing to think about if you are going to encourage
newcomers to animate in SO.
Also, if too much keyframes are already done, it could feel like a day at work, if even blinks and eye targets are done,
not much fun and creativity involved. Now I am exagerating, but it could end up more or less inexperienced animators
cleaning up experienced animators. It can be intimidating for some. Is there some thread where you have clear rules for blocking?
Again, I am not complaining, just adding some feedback, since we are in an early stage of animation.
Actually I am quite enthousiastic with has been done and what is coming up with SO. New models are great,
the Squetch rig is awesome, and animating more organized.

Michel

Oh. I thought you were a zealous keyframer. Don't worry about the camera.



In the chor properties there's an option called "Use front realtime light". Set it to on.

I've got sympathy with your feedback. I'm reminded of the old Disney days where the apprentices would do the in betweens of the master animators who did the poses. How well it transfers to our situation is a learning process. It's abit of a chicken/egg problem, so there may be no perfect way to tackle it.

The keyframing stage is an experiment. I don't think anyone knows at this point what the optimal amount of keyframing is to 1) get pretty consistent quality animation through the whole movie and 2) allow experienced animators to follow their inspiration. The amount of keyframing I did may be too much for you, but may be too little for someone less experienced ??

I know what you mean about all the chor actions being confusing to someone not experienced with using them. Maybe I should take a couple days and write a tutorial about how to deal with them?

Animus you are a participant in this experiment, so your constructive feedback is valuable. Since you obviously feel comfortable animating in a pretty complex chor, I would just ask that you try to follow the script and do what it takes to make the process fun for you.

I can hear what you are saying.
I haven't taken part in SO yet so I do not know how alike it might be to a lot of the interviews/articles I've read where...

The blocking is the most fun. The most creative stage. All the imagination. All the acting choices/decisions.
The rest is the real work. The mechanical stage. All the keyframing for timing and spacing that will make it look natural/real. And this stage of fine tuning is suppossed to take the most time. And is the art of animation.

Some more animation on capt Bill.
Not much lipsync yet.
Still lot's of work to be done with this cho, but I like having a long sequence to play with.
Thank you for your answers.
Click to view attachment

Michel

Another vote of confidence for the new assignment strategy. So far, it's working out better all around.

OK, first up it looks like he is hanging off the face of a cliff rather than lying on the beach. The way it looks at the moment is like he has a very confined amount of space available to him.

He should be up on his elbows and not doing pushups and/or he should have rolled on his side to face Trot. Remaining face down int he sand after being washed up is not a natural position to hold.

Cheers

Hey, give Bill a break, he just went through a whirlpool! That's got to sap all your energy out.

It's not clear from the angle, but there's a slope on the beach/rock so, they are holding on for dear life. I'm sure they could slip off back into the sea very easily. Perhaps that needs to be emphasised more.

As you can tell Michel, I think it looks great. Again though, the camera angle is abit strange. We get to see everything of Trot but her head.

Ditto. The audience will be looking at a wet Cap'N Bill's mouth and face, and listening to what he's saying. We'll also try to get the new Fluids feature to run water down his head. What you've got here will work just fine.

Yes I wanted capt Bill to have a more of a "climbing on wet rocks" look. The camera shot before
that take shows more of a steep rocky slope in the cavern, I didn't render render that one yet,
still much work to be done there. The blocking suggested more of a"hanging there" feeling.
Some more animating done, mostly blocking on Trot. The camera felt strange to me too
at first, but the transitions look fine to me now overall.
Click to view attachment

Michel

Very encouraging. (Bill & Trot's voices have really grown on me. I now "hear" the story in their voices.)

Animus will you please upload your progress so far (choreography) to SVN?
Thanks. Great work!

Animus, I just opened 1_03_03 and did a couple of quick test renders. When they are sprawled on the bank, Trot's arms and Bill's hands are submerged in the ground. This kind of thing is not always apparent in a shaded render. Please make sure they stay on top of the ground and do not sink into it Thanks.

Yes, still lot's to be worked on. I actually saw what you are talking about a couple days ago,
when I did a shaded 16 polys per patch render. I just commited a new version with some fixes.

Michel

Nice job Michel!

Thanks Steve!
I haven't been very fast lately, but still working. I am stomping a little on the climbing
on the rocks(second camera). Starting to work on the last part. Still need a week or two.
Sorry, the file is big.Click to view attachment

Michel

looks really terrific so far

Very nice, Michel!

Do you like working in these longer sequences?

(Finish up quick, I've got some more assignments for you - you're getting really good.)

A few rough spots but overall excellent. Especially for the first pass. Keep it up. (btw the mov file took 20 min for me to download on a 3mb line)

Very nice. Very nice indeed.

Something was gnawing at the back of my mind near the end so I looked a little more.
Apparently its the composition that confuses my mind on which way is up?

See pick for example of three different up directions in one frame.

Minor nitpick which I'm sure will be addressed in time but I believe that is what was distracting me.

Thank you!

You are right Rodney about the captain's body angle, still working on polishing the transitions
with the path and the walk cycle.
Yes Martin, I like long sequences, but I will be happy to see something new, I have seen
this sequence sooo many times .

Michel

I feel that trot is standing up too fast you have some time in there maybe if you slow down her standing up it would be better?

Yes, I did make some changes since the version I showed, and that is one of them.
works better not so quick, not so high.

Michel

Ok, I finally reached the last frame. Some parts I don't like much,
but I think I need to look at something else for a while.
Click to view attachment

Michel

Looks great!

Give him a new assignment, Holmes; one above ground and with some other characters!

That looks great