Hi all,
A simple animation exercise using 2 classic characters.
Comments & critique welcomed,
Randy
Good work, and believable interaction. The only moment I think could use some work is when Dougie leaps out of Pantin’s hands onto his shoulder. Seems a bit floaty, like the forces aren’t quite right. Can’t be more specific, coz I couldn’t do any better 
nice work!!!
Hey, thanks for the replies!!!
Yea, the jumping out of the hands, of Dougie, needs work. Now that it’s brought to my attention, I’ll keep an eye out for stuff like that. I never noticed how weight less it looked…
Eeehhh… it’s a learning thing…
Randy
well done … i am impressed with your work.its so much interesting.todays time to VFX … the animation want VFX effects in the animated movies.you are a great animator… you try in film movies too.keep it up
Nice. I like the chemistry. Its a great start.
I am only gonna be talking about poses in this, cause timing is a whole different beast!
First up, I would suggest workin on the starting pose first. You could push that pose to show the eagerness of the Pantin and the shyness of the pet. Think of it like a space issue composition wise. Check attached jpeg.
Also the legs are spread apart too wide and not taking any weight. Also check Pantin’s right hand extending out n the left hand is bent. Think of it as squash n stretch. Also breaks the symmetry Rotate the hips forward. To give him a slant towards the pet.
The pet can have a shy/coy pose. circled in a ball. Play with the tail.
Also open his eyes wide. Like come here boy. He’s excited. So his eyes would be completely open.
When the pet lands on him, his hips feel rooted at one place, because they are just rotating backwards. Add some translation to that move.
Their is a problem of IK snapping/parenting as the pet jumps on his shoulder. But that is a for a POLISH pass.
For the pose when this guy is on the shoulder of Pantin. you can play with his eyes and shoulder and push that TICKLE feel that you currently have.
For the last GOOD BOY, You’re a good boy pose, push that pose in the opposite direction. Screen right tilt. OPPOSITE to the beginning of the shot. Its the PAY OFF. so it can be in contrast to the entire thing. Also have him close his eyes there, TIGHT. Again in contrast to the entire shot where his eyes are open.
Hope i am not coming across harsh. Its a fun piece that you have already. Feel free to igone/rebutt anything that i have said. We can talk about timing if you got all this?
Cheers!
Thanks BlenderArien!!! Very good comments, not harsh at all!!! This is the kind of feedback I need… Almost everything you mention I can see being an improvement to this, but there are a few things that I don’t understand. If you could explain these a bit further, please:
Also the legs are spread apart too wide and not taking any weight. Also check Pantin’s right hand extending out n the left hand is bent. Think of it as squash n stretch. Also breaks the symmetry Rotate the hips forward. To give him a slant towards the pet.
Got it, legs spread to wide, but what do you mean ‘not taking any weight’?? How can I show more weight? Move the torso lower?? Also, what do you mean about the hands? Both hands move symmetrical, do you mean I should break that symmetry???
Their is a problem of IK snapping/parenting as the pet jumps on his shoulder. But that is a for a POLISH pass.
By this, do you mean the way the arms move around awkwardly as the ball is moving from one shoulder to the other? If so, yes there was a problem there. I should have fixed the problem when I found it, but thought I could correct it in the graph editor, I was wrong. Learned a lesson here and won’t repeat the same mistake again.
Overall, your comments would improve this animation greatly! I doubt that I will go back and fix this, but please talk about timing. How can that be improved? What’s wrong?
Been doing some simple animation exercises, hope to post them up soon, and would be happy if you’d look at them.
I will be pointing others at this thread since your advice was so good!
Thanks again,
Randy
Sure.
I could tell you for the poses in this animation but if you want to understand the concept of weight in posing, you need to study posing. Start by posing out yourself if you can. Best way would be sketching/observing people you see around you or a site like http://artists.pixelovely.com/. Try to draw within a time limit, like a min at first then 30 secs. After a few days start reading Mike Mattesi’s Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators. You’ll start to see ways to improve your poses.
Back to your animation. Yes, the front leg is out too far. Imagine, the legs and the hips to be three point of a triangle and how you would keep that triangle balanced/off balance depending on what you are going for. In this case, when i am bending forward, i can feel that the front leg would support more weight. I would suggest trying out this pose and recording yourself, you’ll see what i mean. Check the attached image.
With the snapping/parenting issue, i was referring to frame 84-86 as Pantin’s left hand lets go of the pet. Check the increase in spacing of that hand over a single frame. Another snapping issue at frame 109-111, check the difference in spacing over a single frame, of the pet coming down.
You need to work on Spacing and Arcs for all your moves. Make sure things is easing in and easing out and moving in arcs at all time.
Ok, since you are unlikely to work on this animation, lets break it apart. The overall timing now.
We break this shot into 4 moments.
Frames 1-40 : when the guy is encouraging the pet and the pet is shy.
Frames 45-85 : When the pet obeys his command and the guy is perhaps taken aback.
Frames 95-119 : Now the pet is happy.
Frames 125 till end : The final payoff. They embrace.
Think about the highlight moment of the shot and how the rest of the moments can play to really make the highlight moment shine. For me, it would be either the pet being happy or the final pay off.
In the “final pay off” being the highlight scenario, frame 125 to end:
I would make the initial tasks seem difficult. Like the guy has to really encourage him and the pet is really scared or shy. You can do that with just working on the pose for the pet, make him crumbled up in like a ball. Maybe, he has is back turned towards the guy.
And then the pet tries to do it. Succeeds and goes overboard, which is the third moment. And u reach the final embrace.
In the “pet is happy” being the highlight scenario, 95-119:
The pet has his back turned, he need to be encouraged more. Maybe he does a small hop in place first and then on to the hands. Succeeds. Loves it. Goes crazy with happiness. Climbs the shoulder of the guy and does a circle. Is about to try another circle around the shoulder, when the guy grabs him and embraces.
So depending on which scenario you want choose, i would tweak the timing of the moves. These are changes pretty much wit just increasing/decreasing the frames spent on complete the tasks without changing your poses much.
Example of milking up a moment.
The first 40 frames are great. Pantin’s energy is great. To highlight the point you want to get across to the audience, that Pantin has to really encourage the pet to trust him. You can have the pet a bit more subdued. One by removing the first stretch around frame 20-22, instead he squashes down. Think of it as taking a step back, before you are about to do something crazy like bungee jumping.
So, summing it up,
Check your spacing. Proper easing ins and out. Otherwise you get POP, JERK or a hit and weight issues. Like frame 85-86 on the tail. The tail comes to a sudden stop, as if it hit a wall.
Check your arcs. Otherwise you get mechanical motion and weightlessness. Like the hands letting go of the pet around frame 83-93. Pantin’s left hand moves in a straight line.
Regarding POLISH, i meant to make sure even the eyes, eyebrows, knees, elbows, toes, fingers are moving in arc with spacing. And you fix the Pop in the parenting. Add eye darts. And think of small moves that would increase the fun.
That’s about it for now.
P.S.: A frame counter is really helpful for a detailed crit.
Cheers!
