I have been working with a young animator who needed help with an animated creature test. He gave me permission to post our correspondence here for those who are learning and those who might be interested in similar mentor ship I offered last month.
Creature test for review Version 01
Creature test for review Version 01
Hi "J" -
This is really good.
It's funny though.
This test you made involves much more acting, than the mechanics of motion a creature test usually demands.
This is not a bad thing, but what I see lacking on many reels (regarding creature stuff) is real mechanics of motion and understanding of weight shifts. Like taking a creature and having it run towards camera and slide to stop? Showing the momentum gaining and topping out and then trying to stop all that weight from moving.
Know what I mean?
Like a train.
For this test I would just start at frame 30, where he reacts. That first beat is kind of boring and confusing, so I would dump it.
Frame 47 hyper extend the elbow to show that the swing of the arm happened all the way in the other direction before coming back.
Frame 62- 65 the elbow seems to hit a brick wall and needs a little hover there.
It holds so still while the wrist is overshooting, it needs to feel the weight the shoulder is forcing.
Frame 71 hyper extend that elbow again to show the shoulder is leading the move, dragging the arm.
Frame 87 break the left wrist down to the ground here to show it's reacting to the force of the arm coming down. This pose will then compliment Frame 90 and the wrist continues the arc dragging down.
Frame 138 I would antic the COG (center of gravity) hips down before moving up for the jump.
Frame 140 arc the whole body and head down so the spine and head make an upside down C shape from the side view.
Frame 148 should create a reversal of that C shape through the spine as his body absorbs the move.
Frame 158 I would hang the hips in the air like one more frame before coming down - think bouncing ball here.
Frame 162 I would drag the head so it's looking up here more before it comes down.
Frame 166 rot the head down here to absorb the weight of the body moving.
These are just little things, but they will help with weight shift and adding life.
Make sense?
Angie
Creature test for review Version 02
Hi "J"-
Nice work.
The addition of the leaves, tree and camera reacting are a nice touch.
I still feel he isn't as heavy as I would expect.
How heavy is this guy - in your mind?
He feels young but his design looks old - you see what I am seeing?
He moves VERY fast.
If he is a small chimpanzee then that works.
He feels he is moving at this size.
Check out this clip from the BBC Motion Gallery as reference.
If he is a mature gorilla, then he needs to gain momentum before moving that fast.
Look at this for reference...
Silverback Gorilla Fight Example
I also want all of the weight to start at the hips and slowly, progressively offset through the spine and out to the arms. You have nice offsets in the arms, but the hips need more time to recover if he is a heavier creature. Right now it feels a bit "game-like" because it moves so fast and many times when making game animation you have only so many frames to make a move.
The reaction at frame 123-137 seems to hold too long. Only use about 8 frames for a moving hold for him to see what he hears and react more quickly. This may seem contradictory to my other comments saying he is moving too fast, but this is the acting bit in the piece. The overall comment about it being to fast has to do with his weight shifts in his body recovering from the jumps and hops, not the acting.
The slam of the fist at frame 167 is nice. The whole body needs to come down from that slam of weight. He recovers to quickly at frame 170 making him feel light. This is where I would have him hold a bit more and do some acting. He is making a stand. I would give that slam a beat where he sizes up the prey.
Then, he stands up and beats his chest.
Might be more engaging if he broke the 4th window and did it for the camera.
Sound good?
All the best,
Angie
Hey Angie
Great feedback again.
I do see what you saying about the weight. i see this character as begin somewhere in the middle of what your saying. the model of the character is very muscular hence my head space of his speed but if you think its too quick I'm going to give it a try. since i really want to push the weight with this exercise. I agree with his too quick recovery at 170 I'll try there first and see how it feels.
hmmmm, i whole new acting piece. from 170 . great thought. I didn't want to do too much acting with this shot. I'll have a good think about it and shot some reference and see what i come up with. (i don't mind a challenge)
There is one suggestion that I'm not 100% sure what you mean but i think it's something i have always struggled with or just lazy....! when you said "the weight to start from the hips and slowly progressively offset throughout out the spine". i gather you meant the rotation of the torso a chest not the translation?
and "the hips need more time to recover". do you mean the hips should slow down like a sine wave.(a very subtle wave) or to be slower generally and more frames?
thanks again for the feedback and reference.
-J
J -
I would do this.
Hide everything but the legs, hips and feet.
Playblast that.
Watch how far down, the timing and the spacing that the hips make to recover from the jumps.
It's pretty quick and need to hang a bit to recover.
I could show you this so easily in person, but I think this exercise will help you see.
Then, look at your animation.
If the hips are going down - the shoulders go up... until the hips reverse, and move up...and then the shoulders move down.
This will make him feel more natural and very heavy.
The hips should hang and be recovering - moving down as the body-torso catches up to it.
There are two ways to do this.
Manually offset an fk spine through to the shoulders.
Or pose it and create effective breakdowns.
No one way to do it.
It's all about that bouncing ball.
Does that make sense?
I know you didn't want this to be a big acting piece, but you already went down that road...so let's make it rock :)
Thanks
Angie
More to come...
Nice work.
The addition of the leaves, tree and camera reacting are a nice touch.
I still feel he isn't as heavy as I would expect.
How heavy is this guy - in your mind?
He feels young but his design looks old - you see what I am seeing?
He moves VERY fast.
If he is a small chimpanzee then that works.
He feels he is moving at this size.
Check out this clip from the BBC Motion Gallery as reference.
If he is a mature gorilla, then he needs to gain momentum before moving that fast.
Look at this for reference...
Silverback Gorilla Fight Example
I also want all of the weight to start at the hips and slowly, progressively offset through the spine and out to the arms. You have nice offsets in the arms, but the hips need more time to recover if he is a heavier creature. Right now it feels a bit "game-like" because it moves so fast and many times when making game animation you have only so many frames to make a move.
The reaction at frame 123-137 seems to hold too long. Only use about 8 frames for a moving hold for him to see what he hears and react more quickly. This may seem contradictory to my other comments saying he is moving too fast, but this is the acting bit in the piece. The overall comment about it being to fast has to do with his weight shifts in his body recovering from the jumps and hops, not the acting.
The slam of the fist at frame 167 is nice. The whole body needs to come down from that slam of weight. He recovers to quickly at frame 170 making him feel light. This is where I would have him hold a bit more and do some acting. He is making a stand. I would give that slam a beat where he sizes up the prey.
Then, he stands up and beats his chest.
Might be more engaging if he broke the 4th window and did it for the camera.
Sound good?
All the best,
Angie
Hey Angie
Great feedback again.
I do see what you saying about the weight. i see this character as begin somewhere in the middle of what your saying. the model of the character is very muscular hence my head space of his speed but if you think its too quick I'm going to give it a try. since i really want to push the weight with this exercise. I agree with his too quick recovery at 170 I'll try there first and see how it feels.
hmmmm, i whole new acting piece. from 170 . great thought. I didn't want to do too much acting with this shot. I'll have a good think about it and shot some reference and see what i come up with. (i don't mind a challenge)
There is one suggestion that I'm not 100% sure what you mean but i think it's something i have always struggled with or just lazy....! when you said "the weight to start from the hips and slowly progressively offset throughout out the spine". i gather you meant the rotation of the torso a chest not the translation?
and "the hips need more time to recover". do you mean the hips should slow down like a sine wave.(a very subtle wave) or to be slower generally and more frames?
thanks again for the feedback and reference.
-J
J -
I would do this.
Hide everything but the legs, hips and feet.
Playblast that.
Watch how far down, the timing and the spacing that the hips make to recover from the jumps.
It's pretty quick and need to hang a bit to recover.
I could show you this so easily in person, but I think this exercise will help you see.
Then, look at your animation.
If the hips are going down - the shoulders go up... until the hips reverse, and move up...and then the shoulders move down.
This will make him feel more natural and very heavy.
The hips should hang and be recovering - moving down as the body-torso catches up to it.
There are two ways to do this.
Manually offset an fk spine through to the shoulders.
Or pose it and create effective breakdowns.
No one way to do it.
It's all about that bouncing ball.
Does that make sense?
I know you didn't want this to be a big acting piece, but you already went down that road...so let's make it rock :)
Thanks
Angie
More to come...