Domarius Patrol animation

[Domarius]

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/Do...atrol1_pers.avi

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/Do...trol1_front.avi

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/Do...atrol1_side.avi

 

As usual, you need to play in Windows Media Player and press CTRL+T to enable looping, so that it loops forever.

[Dram]

Very nice

 

The only thing I can see wrong is that he kicks his feet forward a bit too far and perhaps too quickly?

 

Otherwise those feet are gigantic, but that's model related so never mind that.

[greebo]

Yes, very nice. I'd love to see them live in the game. Can you push them in?

[Domarius]

Very nice

 

The only thing I can see wrong is that he kicks his feet forward a bit too far and perhaps too quickly?

Thanks Yeah I think so. I should probably try it out in the game anyway and see what it looks like.

[oDDity]

There's quite a few problems with it. Walks are hard, perhaps the hardest animation we have to do.

It's generally too mechanical.

The timing in the legs is off. When he lifts the back foot, it springs forward way too fast, the action should be much smoother throughout.

Same wiht the arms, there are fast secitons and slow sections, they spring back and then stop moving.

The actions of both should be smoother.

Also, the up and down is wrong. The lowest point should be just after the front leg contacts the floor, but you have the lowest point in the split position, and he actually starts to raise up after the front foot contact.

Also, there's a little sharp nod in the head halfway through the animation.

I still haven't done a walk I'm really happy with either.

[Domarius]

I'll try and address those things too.

 

BTW The hands crumpled up like newspaper when I bent the fingers. I guess the only good way to animate low poly hands is with morph targets. Can we do this?

[Domarius]

Also, the up and down is wrong. The lowest point should be just after the front leg contacts the floor, but you have the lowest point in the split position, and he actually starts to raise up after the front foot contact.

How do you mean? In the reference vid, my brother falls onto his heel after sticking his foot out, so the body is at its lowest point. Then it starts to raise up after his foot makes contact, it makes sense cause the leg is sticking out the front and then goes under so the body goes up.

 

The timing in the legs is off. When he lifts the back foot, it springs forward way too fast, the action should be much smoother throughout.

Well I tried to copy the motion from the vid. The foot swings forward very quickly after leaving the ground.

 

Same wiht the arms, there are fast secitons and slow sections, they spring back and then stop moving.

The actions of both should be smoother.

I can see a bit of funny movement there that I can fix.

 

Also, there's a little sharp nod in the head halfway through the animation.

Well there's some head bobbing, is it really that sharp though? It bobs with each step, not just halfway through.

 

The reference vids;

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/an...erate_front.avi

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/an...gerate_pers.avi

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/an...gerate_side.avi

[oDDity]

The highest head position should be just before you drop to the front leg, and lowest as you put all your weight on that leg.

One of the things the old animators noticed when they tried to copy walks from movie footage, is that they didn't work as animations, they floated, and the timing looked bad, so don't try to copy the video too much, combine it with some basic walk animation principals as well.

The leg spacing is definitely a lot smoother in the reference vid, you have left too little time for the foot-in-air phase.

That nod is going to look very pronoucned when you see in in the actual walk. No one nods their head like that, it's actually more of a flick then a nod.

[Baddcog]

I agree about the boots, is that gonna change?

 

Front of the boot caves in a bit too. That might be solved by turning an edge, I'd have to see the polys though.

I think the hips had a couple edges around the trim that could be turned too, there is some flickering going on.

[Domarius]

The highest head position should be just before you drop to the front leg, and lowest as you put all your weight on that leg.

One of the things the old animators noticed when they tried to copy walks from movie footage, is that they didn't work as animations, they floated, and the timing looked bad, so don't try to copy the video too much, combine it with some basic walk animation principals as well.

Ah I see what you're saying. Yeah I did read about the "weight" sinking after the foot hitting the ground, and I also know you have to exagerate some things in animation for it to begin to feel right.

 

However if he moves downward with his leg already planted in the ground, it's going to bend his knee. Surely this is going to pop the knee out and look stupid?

 

I'm going to experiment with the other points you made.

[oDDity]

I've already fixed the boots on the city watch, and I'll be doing this one as well. I originally made the boots oversized to offset the perspective distortion in doom, but in most situations you don't get that so they look too big.

 

Moving the whole body downward after the front foot is planted is the thing that gives the character weight. Remember the whole 200+ pounds of him is hitting that knee, and you do have to exaggerate things slighting in animation, but the up and down movement in real people is usually quite little.

Ideally you want a dead straight front leg just before he plants it, and then the bend right after, giving the maximum contrast.

IK popping is the bane of this process so you just kind of have to work around it, even if it means slight adjustments on each frame.

 

This is the more casual walk I'm working on and you can see the leg is thrown forward to a straight position, and the the sight dip and bend as it plants.

http://www.pixelwerks.be/pictures/walkt.avi

[Domarius]

I had another go and took into consideration all the points you mentioned.

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/Do...ol2_pers_x3.avi

Is this an improvement?

[Dram]

Much, much better. I think it is pretty perfect for a trained guard patrol walk

 

We will need to make some lazier walks though, for the lazy bastard guards that oDDity likes to refer to as "slouching fuckers"

[squill]

I had another go and took into consideration all the points you mentioned.

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/Do...ol2_pers_x3.avi

Is this an improvement?

 

When his foot is in the contact position it's taking too long before it's flat on the ground. I usually take at least 2 frames to make the rotation. I would rotate the feet some more right after they take of the ground. I think this will give you the right speed of the feet moving forward. Check the move transformation curve (Z-axis ??) of the feet. When it first contacts the ground untill the point it lifts off it should be a straight line.

[Domarius]

Thanks, I will take a look at that. Do you think it's an improvement over the previous one?

 

@Dram - thanks, it's reassuring to have confirmations from a variety of people. The goal is to please most people most of the time.

 

 

I think it's good if we all do a walk cycle and bounce feedback off each other, no matter if they're all used or not. I think walk cycles are to animation as nude figures are to illustration.

[squill]

Thanks, I will take a look at that. Do you think it's an improvement over the previous one?

 

yeah it looks better.. it still looks like he's floating but your getting closer

Once you know how a body moves and how to add weight to your movements it will definitly improve your view and skills on animation.

 

Are you creating a set of animations for his character? I am, because i think in the end we have more to choose from for our characters.

[Domarius]

Ah so you think he's floating too much, I'll focus on that.

 

I don't know what will happen and don't really care for now - I'm using this as an exercise.

 

We will have more to choose from if they are different enough. But if one is just "better" than the others, people will keep choosing that, and I'm prepared for it to not be mine, that's why I just see it as an exercise.

 

Ideally after this I'll be able to do useful ones.

[Domarius]

An animator at work said the reason he looks like he's floating is because the front foot isn't reacting with the back foot properly.

 

The angle of the foot is correct in mid air at one point, but as it approaches the ground, even though the front heel hits the ground at the right time, the toes need to be closer to the ground at that point, so that its almost instantly landing flat but not quite.

 

And then by the time the back foot is on its toes, the front foot is definetly flat by then.

[squill]

yes that's right. It looks like he's walking on his heels instead of using his whole foot at the contact pose to push forward. In the image below from The Animators survival kit you see a complete walkcycle which shows below a bit exaggerated hip movement going up and down but this shows the poses and inbetweens pretty clear.

 

what i miss in your current cycle is the feeling of snapping his foot on the ground right after the contact pose. I may have said it earlier but right after the contact pose you can take 2 frames before he rotates his whole foot flat on the ground. Even if that looks slow you can try 1 frame.

[ascottk]

I don't know how many times this has been mentioned but we're using the regular citywatch for the animation base, not the elite. Another issue is that your animations face the z axis when they need to face the x axis. Thus your animations are rotated to the right 90 degrees.

[Domarius]

You mean the X axis in Motion Builder?

[ascottk]

You mean the X axis in Motion Builder?

Both MB & Maya. I thought the -rotate option in the def file wouldn't affect anything. But the visual cone is affected as seen by the thief.

[Domarius]

Ah I see. MB defaults to Z But I also see the new rigs I just downloaded from model_src are already facing X, so this shouldn't be a problem with future animations.