It always comes back to planning!

Here it is:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/uploads//2008/09/heavyobject_3112lg.mov 640 480]

Here’s the results:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/uploads//2008/09/heavyobject_2102lg.mov 640 480]

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/uploads//2008/08/heavyobject_291lg.mov 640 480]

My mentor’s major crit was to spice it up by adding more movement to the piece. Previously, he was trying to move the TV from the same side, just changing his hand positions. Now, he starts from one side of the TV and works his way around. I didn’t have time to add the jump to the back (try to wedge between the wall and the TV). Err, time as in “Frames”. I definitely like the roll in better now. It’s a lot sharper and quicker.

I also stretched him out in a couple poses to really push him far out there. I could should push it more, I think.

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/uploads//2008/08/thelift_01_640.mov 640 480]

And here are the sketches:

So, this entire last week, I’ve been trying to come up with a more interesting scene. I needed a schtick. A thing. Because the more we get into the lessons (and I’m talking about the practical application in the workplace), we learn that our work should always carry personality and appeal. It must be at least somewhat interesing. So, screw the “pick up the box and put it on the shelf”. We want something at least halfway decent.

Enter the TV-Thief. This is the schtick, “Guy tries to steal a TV that’s too heavy for him”. Lol! It’s that easy!

This idea and execution is fueled by imagination more than reference (I’m not going to pull over a bigscreen tv). So the reference is super, super basic. But it gives me the essentials. Form, weight, nuances of movement, direction of hips, etc… All the poses are pushed/exaggerated in the sketching and even further in the blocking.

Here’s the simple reference:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/uploads//2008/08/thelift_02.mov 480 360]

And here are the [hastily done, over simplified] sketches:

And here is the first blocking pass:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/uploads//2008/08/heavyobject_281_lg.mov 640 480]

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/uploads//2008/08/180turn_251_r40.mov 640 480]

There are already things wrong with it that I can tell. There’s no anticipation to the movements. At least not enough.

. . .

The second playblast of this assignment. I’m taking it out of blocking after addressing all of Steve’s comments (which I will post here when I’m not falling asleep). Spent 3 hours just on the first 80 frames. Whew. So yeah, this is only the first part.

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/turn_blocking_003.mov 480 360]

The first playblast of the first blocking pass for the [post="145" text="Better 180º Turn"].

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/turn_blocking_002.mov 480 360]

As you can see, I had to exaggerate every pose, every keyframe, every breakdown to keep a solid, appealing animation throughout. All animation is a characature of real life. There is no “copying it frame by frame”. If you do that, it will always look horrible on screen. Therefore, we enhance reality.

This is my video reference:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/180turn_am.mov 480 360]

I still have a quirk with the knees, but not in the forward movement. Check out frames 5-8. The knee actually moves backward for a frame. The only things I can think of to prevent that is either cheat and stretch the leg, or not have him dip down so much on the extreme down. In my reference footage, I notice that my knees bend very little when they aren’t off the ground.

My second pass. Still working out the kinks in the knees.

My first fluid pass of the walk cycle. It sucks, yes, I know.

This week’s lesson is all about timing. Timing can dictate pretty much anything in animation. Most commonly: gravity. By adjusting how many frames it takes a ball to bounce, per se, we can adjust its weight. A bowling ball will obviously fall faster and bounce a LOT less than, say, a ping pong ball.

To illustrate animate the difference, this week’s assignment is to bounce in 2 balls of opposite weights. Ie, ping pong and a bowling ball, or a cannon ball and a beach ball, etc…

This is my assignment:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/0104_heavyandlight_004.mov http://animation.redforty.com/am/clicktoplay.png 480 360]