Gliding to bed

Started by jwalt, Sat 24/05/2014 13:59:54

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jwalt

I've been working on this, since I'm stalled out on the Motel Diner thingy (issue with the female's skirts misbehaving). For this one, I wanted to move the little girl from one area into the carriage/bed. I'm not happy with what I've got here - too much glide, too little walk. Thought I'd open it up for comments. Is the solution here, merely adding more of the walk cycle frames to the animation, or am I doing something else fundamentally wrong?



Thanks.

Cassiebsg

Nice model jwalt. :)

Think you need to get her walk cycle complete first, before you can adjust the walk/move speed to fit her steps.
Right now she looks very stiff and gliding, like you said. Try adding the bending legs and feet, moving arms and bounce of the body. If in doubt, there are great reference pics on google and tutorials on youtube.

But maybe someone with mode experience will have some other useful tips. ;)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Scavenger

She needs many, many more frames in her walk animation, yes. Give her knee rig a workout, and try to match moving her whole rig with her leg movements - ideally you want her feet to be leading the action, not the action shifting her feet. You may have to go and fix her feet every frame in order to eliminate the glide effect. (I suggest making a new scene and testing out animating a walk cycle in that - just try to move her across the screen without her gliding - you may be able to make an animation clip out of it and use that in other scenes, if the animation capability of your program is anything like Maya).

But I'm more concerned about the actual action here - her journey seems a little dead. There's no character, no life in her movements. There's no thought process going on in her head. Try to imagine being her walking through the set - what is she thinking? What is she feeling? Is she absorbing the wondrousness of the set? Is she pointedly trying to ignore the whimsy? Explain to us, through her actions, what she is going through in this scene.

Generally when I'm animating a scene, I like to create a 2D version of the movements I want to portray. Very quickly, without much detail, just getting the action across. Here I have her interact with the horse, notice the carriage, and leap forward at it. I would probably make it more of a skip than a leap if I were to continue with this, but I only wanted to demonstrate the technique:


This contains a lot less actual walking, but a lot more specific animation - it tells us far more about her theoretical character than a technically accurate walk cycle (though getting the walkcycle correct is also important). What I've animated is not your character, though (since I don't have near enough information on her personality or intentions) - you need to work out what she's doing yourself. If she's familiar with this room, or if she's just seeing it for the first time, she's going to react differently. Nobody just walks anywhere. Use this scene (and all scenes, really) as an excuse to tell the audience all about the character.

jwalt

@ Cassiebsg - I'll work some more on my walkcycle. It doesn't, on its own, look too bad to me, but both you and Scavenger made comments that make me think I still have problems.

@ Scavenger - That was a wonderful response! Very insightful. Thanks for taking the time to do the paint-over. I actually planned on an interaction with the unicorn, similar to what you showed, but wanted to get her walking around, first. We get so focused on the walk cycle, that we lose sight on the other elements you mention. I'm sure your response will help more than just me.

Mandle

Quote from: jwalt on Sat 24/05/2014 17:10:34
I'm sure your response will help more than just me.

+1

It's like a little mini-tutorial in itself! Amazing!

Ghost

Quote from: Scavenger on Sat 24/05/2014 16:02:46


This is just gorgeous! Actually makes me wonder how the (nicely detailed) 3D scene would look with a well-animated 2D character. You got the modelling skills alright, jWalt, but sometimes I think the amount of work you pour into the actual animation does not quite pay off... I have no idea how complicated it is to "rig a character", but apparently it takes MORE time than a nice (or decent) 2D animation 8-0

jwalt

#6
Quote from: Ghost on Sun 25/05/2014 04:05:45
but sometimes I think the amount of work you pour into the actual animation does not quite pay off... I have no idea how complicated it is to "rig a character", but apparently it takes MORE time than a nice (or decent) 2D animation 8-0

In the hands of someone who knew what they were doing, I don't know that there would be any time difference between the two. I still do a lot of bumbling around with animations, and this is aggrivated by my main internet connection still being dial-up, so complicated animations get boringly frustrating to upload/download. Armageddon, a long ago, suggested that I "tween the suckers." I rarely do, but I do realize that it would help remove some of the slideshow/time lapse results I've posted. I'll work on it.

I revisited my walkcycle, and I've also worked a bit on Scavenger's suggestions. Still not up to "snuff," but here it is:



I gave the head I'm using a couple of facial morphs. Not sure the morphs would be of use here, and in fact the face in the animation is a 3ds file, so the morphs are "missing" anyway.



Edit: Add link to download AVI of this. Tried to get her to pet the Unicorn. Still running too fast.

http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/jwalt10705/media/kbAVI_zpsf8e51712.mp4.html

Myinah

I think as Cassiebsg has said the walkcycle probably needs a bit more bending in the legs. You've improved it considerably already, but her legs are very straight when she walks so she looks like she's doing a little baby goose step. I think bending her knees and raising the feet off the floor a bit more as she walks would help.

jwalt

Seems to be a consensus that I've got problems with the walk cycle. I have worked on it, to the extent that all three of the posted scenes have variations. This is the latest incarnation:



This is a straight eight frames, without tweening. I've made use of a few more bones than in the previous versions. Rip it up.

Darth Mandarb


Cassiebsg

There's still something off with her legs... to me it's perfect, if what she's doing is cleaning the soles of her shoes on a doormat... ;)
Not sure if it's the "pause" frame (did you remember to "delete" the duplicate frame?), if it's the way the program is bending her legs (soft curved, and not angled), if it is the fact that the feet don't bend (I know I did that in my first walk cycle too, cause I didn't want to bother doing them, if the legs weren't right), or if it's something else altogether... :/
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

jwalt

#11
Thanks for all the comments!

@ Darth - I did pull in a couple of things along the way, but looks like I missed the important points. I took another look, just now, and found a sequence of seven frames that look good for the legs (no more cleaning soles of the shoes). It also seems to have the toes pointing in the right direction without my having to do anything. I'm still working on it, since the arms seem a bit messed up at the moment.

At one point in time, I thought I could do a reasonable walk cycle, but looks like I was wrong.

Edit 5/29/14:

I couldn't seem to get the arms to look right with that seven frame cheat sheet. Went back to eight frames (no tweening):

[imgzoom]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o756/jwalt10705/walker2_1_zpsac15e80c.gif[/imgzoom]

I also brought in the head as an Anim8or file so I'd get back the facial morphs (and smooth out the mesh). And, (@Cassiebsg) I added some points to "pop" out a kneecap, but I didn't bend the foot. I may have to do that, too, since it does sink into the floor off and on.

I seem to have lost some motion in the hair along the way. Earlier versions seem to be riding the shoulders. It wasn't anything I'd done, and I don't see any reason for it in the weight painting screens, so I'm at a loss. I'd like to get it back. It looked good.

Additional Edit:

Link to latest AVI

http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/jwalt10705/media/kbAVI1_zps23590d59.mp4.html

Still too fast, but in Media Player ctrl-shift-s slows it down a bit.




Darth Mandarb

While it still needs some work, this is LOADS better than the previous version (references are the key!). 

Keep studying, learning and practicing man!  I think you have it in you to do some really good stuff! 

You've got persistence for sure (nod)

Cassiebsg

Legs are looking nice now! :) As for the arms, think if you add the elbow, you'll get the more natural arm swing your missing. Just try and walk with your arms stiff like she's doing. ;)

As for the hair, I don't know. I have yet to look at tutorials about hair. :/ It does look very stiff and unnatural right now.
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

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