Calio, thanks for taking the time to give me great constructive feedback! I can really work with this.
I'll be back with more animation in a while!

thats really good work man...i guess you have taken real life reference...just wanted to remind you ....make sure that u have given enough frames for the settles after each move...other wise it would look as if its just moving around...i did that mistake wen i was working earlier...in blocking things would look good.....i get the feeling that u don't have those frames that i mentioned...forgive me if im wrong...

anyways...this would look good once polished...good luck...

by settles, wat i meant was the proper eases...

Last edited by Atheesh (03-19-2012 7:13 pm)

Thought you might like to see a work in progress of the stage, I'd love to know what you think!

Thanks wolfor! Yeah I was actually looking into that! But I don't know if the extra render time is worth it yet..

Here's another update! I'm almost done with blocking, there are still a few things to improve upon and I still have to do the fingers! After that it's facial animation and on to splining, but for now I'm still in the blocking stage so if you have some big comments, now is the time to tell me I'd love to hear your C&C's!

Direct Link

This is great!
A lot of work!
Gorgeous Render!
Nice Model!
But most importantly, a very solid base!
(from here you can do what you wish... push n pull... exaggerate... speed up slow down... whatever)

But to be completely honest, her performance... IMHO... seems like she's just warming up... or just trying to remember and practice the choreography?  Like she's at her little dance studio... instead of being on a big stage, ya know?
If this is what you're going for... well then kudos!

...but I'd think it would be far more interesting to REALLY see her stretch as far as she can (pushing and pulling those key poses), really conveying the joy of her dance! Always keep in mind your silhouettes when she's striking each pose and ask yourself, can I push it further? I LOVE watching SYTYCD and the one thing that show has taught me is this = lines, Lines, LINES!!  So watch your lines when she strikes each pose!

I hope this makes ¢?
I'm MOST CERTAINLY going to keep this on my radar, great job so far!
Keep Going, cheers!

UPDATE
[after watching it again and again and again]
- maybe her head is a bit stiff? to continue that nice flow you have going with the rest of her body.
- and in some places, when she lifts her leg, I just feel she could lift it much higher and more professional

(keep shaking my head and smiling every time I watch it, because I can see all the love and sweat that has gone into this piece!)
Bravo!

Last edited by ricekrispyninja (04-11-2012 8:24 pm)

I've been working on this for the last couple of days all day long and I do believe it's much better now! I still have some little tweaks to do, but I'll be going into splining soon! Most important thing right now is working on the arcs of the arms, they seem a bit floaty sometimes... I hope to hear some of your thoughts!

@ricekrispyninja , I'd love to hear what you think of the change! Did I improve it enough so that it doesn't look like a warm-up?

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Been wondering how this is coming along? 

Hello again!
Progress is a little meager at the moment I just started splining and then my teachers wanted me to switch rendering engines (from Mental Ray to Vray) and work on the scene A LOT. I've been adding props and working on the lighting for a while now.. And how I hate it...

In a week and a half on Tuesday I'll have more to show, I hope!

@zstroeher, thank you so much! I'll keep you all posted once I have more to show ^^

I know this isn't the progress I promised to post, but at least it's something! Mind you this is still very much a WIP, so comments are very welcome!
(In the meanwhile I have found time to work on the animation, I'll try to find some time to compose the would-be final version with music tomorrow )

Part 1 of my update, it still needs tons of refining and tweaking!
I'm doubting whether or not to post part two... Maybe later on... I still have a background to create and 800 frames to spline...

Direct Link

I like where you're going with your render, I feel however that sh'es going to get lost in it. Especially when the limbs pass over each other.
I just did a little work in Photoshop, adjusting the colors to make her stand out more, add a little rim light to her body so her limbs stand out more, added a little bloom, depth of field and a vignette.

About the animation, I think you need to key in some overlap/follow through on her hands and extremities. A lot of her animation is really nice but it clinks to a stop and goes to another pose instead of having the force of a greater body pull it(ie, shoulders pull hand).
Make sure every motion has a sense of something pulling everything, a feeling of force into that pose.

Break up your timing a little too. It's very even right now.


Uptil frame 170, your lower body is pretty dead too. Especially yoyr screen right leg is pulled straight and stiff.

Other than those things, it's comign along really well!