Hi!
I like the jump, it looks very good, but (sorry if its too late already) the jumper seems to loose a lot of momentum before he's jumping, which can be seen pretty good, spacing wise with these red dots on the screen. Physically correct would be for him to even gain speed before jumping, I think.

Just wanted to post my key poses on the shot I'm working on now. No timing, just poses

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Haha, this made me laugh You timed this timed very well! I would maybe try how it looks if he had 1-2 frames more time on the pivot of his flight? That's of course just my personal opinion

Continued to work my blocking... got a bunch of C&C from some peeps at AM

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Started layering in some stuff before putting up the weight... just makes sense to spit on the hands to get a better grip.

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Still going...

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Time to start polishing...

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Hi, Polish your progress is admiring! I have narrowed down my thoughts about your second shot. By all mean, feel free to disagree with me because I am not a professional animator, but I have acted out your scene and observed thoroughly so I hope some of my comments would be helpful. I also have a question, is the ball supposed to be heavy or light? If heavy, heavy enough to pull the character? It has something to do with gravity or moving itself?



Because of weight he used to grab the ball and lifted up. The body will shift to where he is moving the ball and left leg gets raised because of that. But it depends how heavy the ball is.



And then, foot settles on the ground which gives more stable landing position. I find this better than sliding.
Also check your arm position when holding a ball, it is lifting while both arms being twisted.



When you raise the ball, again, I don't know how heavy the ball is but based on what I am seeing, it will take about 4 frames to hold the ball before he drops on his shoulder. Otherwise the ball wouldn't be so heavy.



The timing seems little too fast, try slow in and out. Lift the ball and drop gradually and bang! Also little squash and stretch after crouching would be nice I think.



Again, I don't know how heavy the ball is (I should stop saying this..), but as you lift, I think you kinda need to put more efforts by shaking the body or taking some time before you completely put your ball on your shoulder.




Also after putting a ball on your shoulder, move to the left and to the right to show the weight shifting. I would raise the left leg a bit and keep a few distance from the right leg. The most common thing that people forget when doing a weight animation is they don't try to use as much root/leg to show the weight shifting. I still do it sometimes



Now I tried this pose and I can't really pose like that with a ball on your shoulder/face. This is what I got after trying a few times, first you lift your right leg while looking at the direction you are going to throw.



A nice pose! So after raising the right leg, it lands on the ground and check its left leg to make sure it is on the ground. I would use a toe to maintain the feet. Also I would drop a ball from shoulder, I find it very difficult to do that pose while holding the ball like that.



When throwing the ball, a nice silhouette would be plus. I would also anticipate a little bit by moving back with a ball and right feet seems twisted, I would leave it on the ground stably.



I would flip the feet to show the side of feet. I would delay the hand with a ball to show that the ball is heavy.



I would bend the leg at that point and keep its left hand upward



Now, this is the part where we will have a different opinion, I am assuming he is flipping 360 degree because the ball stopped by itself or because the ball was too heavy to move forward? If it is first one, my thought and critiques below will be voided but if it is second one or any other reason. I think the arc of the body and the ball should react in the same way which will result in something like



This instead of his hand getting stuck on the ground, the ball will fall and reach on the ground first and then



Slides or stumble backward like you did. I don't think it will slide, I think your way of falling is the right way.

Last edited by keyos27 (02-24-2012 3:53 am)

I am glad you understood what I said because you know I am not good at explaining stuff   I see in that case, I would add overshoot while moving in a nice arc. Like shooooo------Bang! I am reading acting for animators too and one of the quotes that stuck in my head was. Actions do not have to be the words of illustration.

...I enjoyed it!
(but I think it needs those "extra subtleties" so NOTHING looks "solid stiff" at any given moment...  even when we try to be "still"... we move!)

love this thread more & MORE!

Last edited by ricekrispyninja (02-26-2012 5:02 am)

I know I know... Sorrya keyos. I made some of the changes you suggested, but they didn't stick. The shaking in theory made sense. It when applied it looked like he was in an earthquake haha I changed some timing to really drrraaagggggggg the weight across and have take longer getting back up after the weight settles onto the shoulder. It's a shotput and all the reference I watched constantly put it under the weight wedged between the jaw line and collarbone. Some of the arcs were changed to help it read better.

I plan on applying to Pixars summer internship and demo reels are due in like 6 weeks. I wanna see what I can gather in a month and get a reel. Once that's done I'll submit it to animation mentor for a reel review and see what they reccomend.