Click to view attachment]This is part of an animation I was working on for New Year. It started on Christmas Day ( I think ? ).
Theres another 15 seconds elsewhere but this is the main part.
Theres no sound at the begining for 2 seconds and another two seconds at the end. The Instrument clips came courtesy of Garageband.

There is no smart skin on the model as I have not learnt how to do that yet ( !!! )

Any feedback would be welcome, good bad or.indifferent...

Harpy Blues Ear to one band call.
simon

Happy New Year!

I'm curious of the story. Did he find it while he was cleaning up?

There's probably a lot of ways to convey the idea of him bouncing to the beat more, but it's something I've found very hard to do when I've tried to do it. There's a lot of little overlaps to make it work.

Since it's "animation" you might give him a really big harmonica to make it more obvious. Hard to see the one he has.

Really nice movement! Ideas ... have him move the harmonica left and right for low and high notes. Also, have him "take a breath" right before starting to play. Otherwise, you have a winner! Can't wait to see the other 15 seconds.

Hi Simon!
I got a little distracted in viewing your animation (but hopefully that's a good thing!)

A few important things from my perspective:
1. You are animating to beats and that is going to make you a better animator
2. The attempt to analyze your animation has made me a better animator
3. Your concept is a great one and well worth exploring and perfecting.

A few things I recall off of the top of my head:
- There needs to be some music (the beating) before and after the guy begins to play his harmonica
- Because the end occurs after the guy has stopped playing the harmonica it might be ideal to play three beats that fade out (as if the band might be wondering if they should keep playing)
- There doesn't seem to be any particular reason for the guy to lift his foot higher and then step down on the bucket so I assume there may be something else going on here. Perhaps he slips and then knocks over the bucket but his action going into that does not convey that he has slipped in that way. (Here I will simply stress the importance of the contact frame especially given that this is the contact that triggers the major action in the scene)
- Adding a hint of a background will help to convey that the mop is not defying gravity (I assume it is leaning against the wall, lockers or some other thing but it's not good to have the audience assume anything unless you have first directed them to it. Unless of course, "What just happened?" is what you are really going for in the scene.
- The bucket and mop could use a little more shaping/detail to convey their identity at an immediate glance. At first I wasn't entirely sure it was a bucket and mop the guy was interacting with. All I percieved was that these two shapes were the objects that the guy was tripping on. As the symbols for 'mop' and 'bucket' are pretty universal, refining those just a little will quickly convey their primary function within the scene.

Summary: I don't know what all you did to plan this sequence but whatever it was is working! You have got some great action and activity going and with a little focused refinement it'll be a performance to remember.

Additional Analysis Tools: xsheet (basic)

Thank you to Rodney, Mouseman and Rob for their comments and feedback.

Here is a low res version of the complete piece which might answer some of the questions. I posted the other because that was what I was working on yesterday.

I had thought that the reason he fell backwards was because he overbalanced due to getting carried away. However I think I will revise it so he slips on the floor he has just mopped instead.

He does take a big breath before he starts but perhaps I need to revert to the earlier version as that was more readable. I was worried that it was too exaggerated.

I was hoping to make a whole series of these in the coming months while developing other ideas on paper and working through some tutorials ( can anyone recommend a good one on smartskin in figures ? ). This one was made between xmas and New Year, about four hours a day while working on other things. There is another with the same character ( Fred ) which lasts 2 mins 30 but I'm waiting for my friend to do the sound for that before I post it here. I hope to get the full sound ready for this one sometime this week, have to record the bucket and mop sounds first.

Thank you once again for your feedback.
simonClick to view attachment

Looking very good!

There is no mistaking where he is and what he's doing with the mop an bucket there.
Nice background and lighting too! That floor actually looks like it would be hard. Ouch.
Having broken my leg slipping on ice... I can feel this guy's pain.

If I was to change only one thing it would be where Fred's foot slips.

This would probably be easier to draw than to relate in words but... here goes...
On or about Frame 597 when Fred lifts his right leg that is an indicator that his weight has been shifted to his other (left) leg. If he is slipping and that right leg is not the one that is slipping then the left one should slip forward (which is more work... but might be fixable in about three frames). I think you can get away with not having the left leg slip forward by changing about three frames and having Fred's right leg go forward before going up to kick the bucket. I think you already know what I mean but if you need me to I'll draw on a few frames I can do that.

The only other thing that caught my eye was that the strip of moulding running horizontally and the bucket are at the same height and that creates a nasty tangent. Picky picky I know but... since we are here.

You've got a lot of really nice touches in this version.
I'm impressed!

Rodney
Thank you very much for the comments, they are very welcome.
I will go back and make the changes you suggest, it shouldn't take long to do.
I have a high res version rendering in the background, fortunately in single frames...
I hadn't noticed the bucket in relation to the skirting board, to focused on the movement, I shall adjust that too.

Regards
simon

I followed all the suggestions ( I hope ) and here is a revised version.

The skirting board has moved, He breaths more before he starts and he now slides on the floor to cause the crash. He also moves his hands around a bit more.

I did keep the harmonica the same size as before, only because I come from a very literal minded family and, blues harmonicas are usually smaller than the hand, my hands anyway !!!

Thank you for your time and trouble
simon


Click to view attachment

I'm not going to mess any further with success if you are happy with that one.
You've told your story and told it well and it sounds as if you are ready to move on.

With your ability to make detailed changes like the ones you have in such a short period of time you've obviously got a good workflow going for you.

What can I say except that I look forward to seeing the next show.
Keep up the great work!

P.S. I want to thank you for giving me the idea of using Google Docs as an xsheet. That definitely has potential.
P.P.S. If you have any recommendations regarding moving to the Chicago area... I'm considering moving back there.
P.P.P.S. Harpy Blues Ear!

Rodney

Thank you for your comments.

I'm not sure I have a good workflow, I always feel like I should get more done in the time I have. The changes only took about half an hour to 40 mins to change the animation in the action file and about the same to render out the animation as a QT file. It was basically getting the foot target to slip and then adjusting the other bones accordingly to compensate.

You may be getting me mixed up with someone else re the Google Docs ? I wouldn't wish to take credit for someone elses idea.

I have some friends in the Chicago area, almost got married to one of them five years ago ( !) but, I'm actually a UK resident. We have a village called California not far from here and there are still several US airbases in the area ( east anglia ) but thats as close as I've been for a bit. Did study at EIU in 79-80 though.

I'll try to post the other piece when my friend does the sound for me.
Thank you once again
simon

I really enjoyed your character style Looking foward to seeing ( Fred )

No, it was you. I was just trying to come up with a good way to share an analysis of animation online and I started with notepad etc. Then I though... 'Google Docs'! So, you were the inspiration for it. (I wish Google Docs spreadsheets could do what Excel can because then we'd be dangerous!)

Now, regarding the Chicago thing... THAT I mixed up. I was responding to Mr. Gwinklema's 'Silhouette' topic at the same time that I was responding to you and had typed in the note about moving to Chicago. At the last minute I removed it thinking... nobody cares if you want to move to Chigago stoopid. Then I pasted it into your topic by mistake. Ooops. Sorry 'bout that!

But yeah... Gwinkleman... Chicago... Silhouettes... plant creature thingy... here: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=41107

Rodney

You'll have to let me know what this inspiration regarding Google docs is ? I don't even know what google docs are ( !!!)
I read 3D World mag over here and there was a bit in it the other month where, I think it might have been Lucas Arts or a.n.other big name, were using excell to keep their assets managed on big productions and to keep track of the frames rendered.

I have only recently started to use Libraries in AM but, that seems to be a good way to manage the assets. I just need to learn to use Excell to keep track of the frames. I recently had a disaster were a PC crashed and lost about 400 frames out of 2,500 and it was difficult to find out which ones were missing. My organisation will improve next time !

The nearly married saga was like a Hollywood rom com, we are still on good terms but she works an average 80 + hours a week, sometimes 120 for weeks on end. Chicago work ethic I think !

I will try to get the other short posted in the next couple of weeks.
Thank you again for all your help.
simon

Thank you for your comments.
I have tried to up load a low res version of a larger project but the upload process keeps stalling and won't allow it to finish. The file size is 11.5mb in size ?

Slightly puzzled by that.
simon

I'd say you've ran into the filesize limit for uploading.
Lose about 1.5MB and you should be good to go.

(Hash Inc is awesome aren't they. Most of the other forums I attend don't even allow files to be uploaded... at least not without moderator approval which almost never happens.)