AuthorTopic: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)  (Read 8679 times)

Offline Mike

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Reason I ask for quickness(not demanding it, merely asking) is because I don't want to work on it more until I get critique.  Anyway enough of that.



a few things first

The first attack is lightning fast but I'm not sure how to slow it down and still make it look good.

Also this is mostly key frames and a few inbetweens, the times when he is not attacking are the inbetweens(I think...)

I know I still have anticipation frames, reaction frames and inbetweens left to work on but I just wanna know if I'm heading in the right direction before I continue.  Also if you have any cooler ideas for attacks let me know.

I did this real quick for fun(not entirely accurate gravity wise) it kinda looks like the enemy is dodging(i'm a failure)



« Last Edit: January 24, 2009, 02:08:00 am by Mike »

Offline ndchristie

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #1 on: January 24, 2009, 02:20:27 am
you can't be headed in the right direction without planning for anticipation and recovery.  these are not in-betweens, they are extremes in their own right and cannot be added in later.
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Offline Mike

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #2 on: January 24, 2009, 02:37:44 am
Like I said, I do not know the difference...however I do understand what you mean, and I think I am starting to understand the difference now.

Offline Mike

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #3 on: January 24, 2009, 09:33:10 pm
Update*

Can anyone help me understand how to properly turn the first attack.  I tried a different variety of ways(though I didn't post them)

The biggest gap that I am trying to solve is the gap between his leg being up right before the first attack to the time he strikes with the first attack.  It is a pretty noticeable gap, something I am not proud of.

Can anyone provide me with an edit that shows how to do this better?

Offline hotnikkelz

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #4 on: January 25, 2009, 12:42:12 am
This actually looks really good to me. If anything add another frame from the leg up to leg down situation :) but the swing is good to me

Offline Dusty

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #5 on: January 25, 2009, 12:43:09 am
I think there is being too much energy and charge put into the first swing.

Offline Terley

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #6 on: January 25, 2009, 12:57:46 am
Well it depends on how heavy the sword is I think, according to the beggining of this he's putting a lot of energy into lunging the sword forward. I think it'd be sweet if we could see this throughout the animation with maybe a heavy swipe at the end with the sword in front smashing into the ground. ?
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Offline Dusty

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #7 on: January 25, 2009, 01:10:58 am
It doesn't look like the swing you would associate with a heavy weapon, even if the charge is exaggerated. A heavy weapon would definitely take a longer charge, though mostly because of the weight of pulling it up, which the animation doesn't portray. The ending swing would also show the toll of the weight as energy is depleted and gravity overcomes the blade.

Offline Mike

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #8 on: January 25, 2009, 02:03:21 am
Yep it is definitely a light weapon, it is an baseball bat made out of super compressed ice(whether that is possible or not is still up for debate)

The main issue I was talking about for the animation is between this frame we'll call it "Frame A"


and this frame "Frame B"


With the after image it should make sense, but still it looks a bit choppy

The bats position doesn't rotate properly, but I'm not entirely sure how I can get from Frame A, to Frame B smoothly and quickly.

Offline ndchristie

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Re: I need critique on this animation stat!! (WIP 3 Attacks)

Reply #9 on: January 25, 2009, 03:05:07 am
the reason we have lingo for anticipation/setup and reaction/recovery is because they should always top your list as keyframes.  they are absolutely necessary for what we like to call locomotion - the body simply can't move in the way you're describing.  it doesn't matter that the weapon is light - the body doesn't ever skip steps - it merely learns to do them faster.

the point of a keyframe is so that you work between them, not straight through linearly as you're trying to do.  you started on the right path with keying the attack frames but then you gave up.



this sample is not my finest work - i went straight through without ever watching it so there are definitely things i would tweak.  However, it is *only* the keyframes that I would use in this animation - I haven't even started to tween them!  in a combo, recovery from one move is the anticipation of the next, so counting "idle" it's an 8-key animation to me : idle -- set1 -- attack 1 -- rec1/set2 -- attack2 -- rec2/set3 -- attack3 -- rec3 -- idle

How did i work?  i eyeballed your major attack frames and idle for the main framing.  then I added the necessary frames in the middle.  I also left a little extra on the final attack, which i felt could get some more "woah!" time after he strikes since it's a finishing move.  4 is now expanded to 8 and give us a muuuuuch better sense of how to do things.
even from here, you probably shouldn't work linearly one frame at a time.  now that you have your 8 keys, i would actually continue by division - finding midpoints between them.  these are kinda like "mini-keys" because they no longer define proper positions, but they do help clarify the movement.  Also, it's always easier to find a midpoint of an animation than it is to find the first tween of 3.
A mistake is a mistake.
The same mistake twice is a bad habit.
The same mistake three or more times is a motif.