I'm starting on this one now. Before I animate, I'll be rigging the bridge (hopefully with help). So, anyone who's working on a shot using the rope bridge please wait till I commit the rigged bridge. Thanks.

Ken are you finished animating this chor? Just asking so I can try to keep the records current.

Not yet. I hope to get it done sometime this week.

Whew. This one was hard to start and hard to finish. There are things I'm not liking such as the speed they cross the canyon at but it's such a big distance that the shot would take ages otherwise and lipsync seems to be out abit in the playback. But it's "done" for now. Another 70 or so of these and we have a movie made! It's a big download at 16mb (on svn).....it's 50 sec long.

2_01_01

Scarecrow's feet slip quite a bit at the beginning.

Here's an idea. Maybe it will help a little.

I don't think Bill would be jumping up onto the rope bridge. You don't have to show him crossing all the way across. Just animate him carefully stepping up onto the bridge, then cut to a close up when he gives his bit about crossing bridges like this in his past.

Then cut to a close up of Scarecrow "Coordination is not something ..."

Then animate SC watching someone cross the bridge for two seconds (it doesn't matter who, because they are offscreen). 13 seconds of nothing but Trot scampering across the ropes is almost unbearable.

Leave a couple of seconds before "Maybe you two should go on..." so Martin can add a fade there during the final edit to denote the passage of time.

Ideally, Scarecrow's bit would have gone into the following chor. But you can make it work here almost as well.

If you want try to use Scarecrows "bridge crossing" action on the other characters, it is in his Actions folder.

These are just ideas. You can probably think of half a dozen other ideas to handle this scene.

This bit would be almost as un-bearable as Trot crossing.

Oh I'll leave it till later for now.

Yes, I think you are right about that. I was trying to get you to imagine different solutions to your problem. This is one area where group brain storming sessions would be really helpful.

What about showing two seconds of Trot carefully crossing the bridge (instead of a close up of SC watching someone crossing the bridge)?

I do not wish to meddle or offend. As of yet I have no animation skills, but someday if I don't grow up, I will. As someone who has no animation skill it seems rude of me to critique someone else's work. I'm not entirely sure of the whole animation process yet. It appears that the sequence goes something like this:

1. Keyframing
2. Blocking
3. Animating.

Are there further steps or refinements?(This question is not rhetorical)

Having said all of that. I offer these observations:

In scene 2_04_01 there seems to be no weight in Capt Bill's jump up to the pylon to start his trip across the rope bridge. It also seems that there should be more weight bounce on the ropes when any of the three are crossing (Scarecrow a little less maybe, cause he is after all made of straw). And Trot's jump at the end of her crossing.

Are these issues handled in a later process?
Sorry if I'm out of line.

Myron

Basically, here's the etiquette of an "A:M Films" production.

First a little background:
Animation is d*mn difficult. Interactive animation - like walking along a rope - yikes, that's a backbreaker! Too much criticism... Volunteer animator disappears. So, given that... We take whatever we get.

Here's how your "suggestions" help:
Someday, when the shot is no longer a millstone of pain & anguish (moved on, time's past, new animator), we sometimes read these threads to see if there's anything particular that people were picking up on, and, sometimes, we change the animation... Sometimes...

Myron, as a suggestion giver, you're doing pretty good about being supportive, and now, given this insight, I bet you'll do even better in future posts.

Thank You Martin,

Ken, I should have said, before I said anything, how good the animation is. Because it is very good.

Animation is a new art form to me, and I'm trying to absorb it on several levels at once. I'm like the little 5 year old kid who says in too loud a voice:"Daddy, why does Great-gramma Bessie stink like that?" I don't mean to be so obnoxious, I just am. Sometimes I think I've made a career of being guilty and innocent at the same time.

Thank you for your patience.
Myron

Yes, it's just "first pass" for now. As you can see, it still needs some major re-thinking. No point putting in all the work and it needs to be totally changed. But keep the suggestions coming so we know what needs changing.

Holmes, maybe a fancy camera move as Trot crosses might make it more interesting. Let's mull it over a while.