character animation 02

[hairy_llama]

Hi all.
I've done quite a bit more on my little animation, its now 18 seconds long.
Let me know any comments you have.
18 sec 1.5 meg anim clip (http://www.dv3productions.com/pub/zoidy-4-low.mov)

[Axis3d]

Really nice work. Great character animation.

[lardbros]

:eek: IM IN LOVE WITH THIS GUY!!! He's brilliant, and can't wait to see the rest of waht you do with him!!

The animation, in my eyes, is flawless! Nice and sharp, and the character is superb, really nice and has inspired me to carry on with my little animations.

[andy gee]

Hi

got to say very impressive work keep it up, couple of things shadows cant see

them that well..

and possibly as a thought maybe re created this animation as a blooper anmiation

ie.. him sliding doing a flip then falling flat on his face ?? just an idea because this

character looks brilliant.

could you explain the flip in a bit of detail... how did you manage it ? i tried a

similar thing once and i found that the master null etc.. was a pain to position !

keep it up

Andy Gee

[lardbros]

..... and another thing... it looks to me like you've got some squash and stretch going on with the arms or is it my imagination?? Looks ace but i would LOVE to know your rigging techniques. I've got a rig that is very average, and want to know the downsides of other peoples rigs. Everyone always talks of a rig thats good for whatever but never the minus points!

Your rig looks very flexible, and easy to use... i've been wondering whether to scrap IK completely and just animate (especially arms) using FK!

What are your thoughts?

[mjroddy]

Great, great work.
That character is totally alive.
I have a couple other questions. If you please, jot me a note privately at mj@matthewroddy.com. Thank you.

[hairy_llama]

Wow, thanks for all the positive feedback!



"got to say very impressive work keep it up, couple of things shadows cant see
them that well..
and possibly as a thought maybe re created this animation as a blooper anmiation
ie.. him sliding doing a flip then falling flat on his face ??"

andy gee:
The lighting will for sure be changed in the final render.
Yes, I plan on having it fall on its face a little later in the animation ;)
I have a mover null for the body only and then seperate rotation bones.

lardbros:
no squash and stretch on the arms... I only made a squash rig for the body... i'm to lazy to do it for anything else, lol.
Pretty basic rig. One null to control spine rotation with expressions. Standard IK leg and arm setup. IK arm with match goal on hand. Head is match goal so it stays rotated however i set it. Everything has nested controls to fix gimbal lock.
the worst thing about this rig is controlling the knees rotation... I need to add some knee ik goals, pretty easy. As far as IK/verses FK... I think it really just depends on what works for you... You really have to watch your arcs if you are using IK. Its mostly just having an eye for the "correct" movement/timeing...

Its pretty amazing what you can do with such a simple character... This only took like an hour or two to model, yet with the animation it is possible to create so much "life" into it.

I have a high res version I can upload if anyone wants to see it...