Sidhom Jonah - Did I Make The Team?

- Sidhom Jonah
- Did I Make The Team?


Hi Jonah

thanks for sending us your animation test, here are few notes that we hope you will find usefull :

-Generally it has a very pose to pose feeling, you might want to loosen it up a bit, start working from the spine main control, work into the phisicality of his body, you could start with the main mass, and weight shift, than move to the legs than up to the head and arms and all the details.
- Avoid twinning, with the hands coming up at the same time, when he is going to catch the ball, you can offset a bit the timing and the posing and still keep the same feeling.
- When he catches the ball, you could add a bit of reaction going through his hands arms and body, like a little overshoot and settle down.
- Also you could push this pose a bit more (around f 78), he is quite scared by the ball beingh trown at him, you could lift some more his shoulders after the catch, and maybe keep the pose few frames longer to make it read better.
- I find it difficult to read his emotions, where/what is he looking at the beginning, he seems lost, you should clarify this with his eyes.
- When he get hit by the ball, at the end, you could add a reaction to his body, from the hit, at the moment seems to stop there, he could loose his balance a little bit more, maybe stepping to the side.
- Generally he seems "stuck" to the ground with his feets, try and add some stepping moving around, one step when he gets the first ball, and another small one maybe when he gets hit to the head.
-Also, try and add a bit more weight to the second ball, reducing the space between the head beingh hit, and where the ball is falling at, after the hit.


Keep going and good luck!

-Anim Dailies.

Lianne Cruz - Reel

-Lianne Cruz
- Reel


Hi Lianne,

Thanks for the kind words about the blog. I think you show a lot of potential and its a good sign that you're critical of your own work.

Few comments on your two dialogue tests. I really liked the subtext in your acting performances but I did find the mix of spline and stepped keys distracting.

(1) Dialogue 1:
(a) "mathletes"
This could be stronger - I would accent the dialogue by squinting the eyes on "m" and then popping them wide open. I expect to see the jaw open on "le" and close on "tes". On adding this I might rotate the head back up to support it.

(b) "queer"
I would like to see more intensity and frustration in the performace. You could try adding tension to the fingers with a stronger hand pose, and perhaps adding staggers to make her feel like she's boiling over.

(c) "I'm a pusher"
She's mimicing the girl with the intention of making her look and sound stupid, I would like to see a change in the way she moves to reflect this. I would suggest filming yourself as reference, and really play up the sarcasm. I would also go the other way with the facial expression, starting with a squint and then accenting the "p"s by widening the eyes.

(2) Dialogue 2:

Girl:
(a) I think she could be more anxious from the start - nervous finger drumming on the car door might help get this idea across, and even some eye darts towards him and then quickly looking away if there's time.
(b) As she kneels down her screen left hand needs more work - try spreading the fingers and/or adding a little push away from the door.
(c) Her expression in the last shot could be a more hopeful almost pleading one. I think there's enough time to add a little widening of the eyes and maybe a tightening of the lips as she awaits his answer with slight trepidation.

Guy:
(a) The connection of his elbow to his wrist sometimes feels too independent. I would expect to see the hand compensate for any translation in the elbow.
(b) Similarly have a look at the connection between his knee and ankle. I would expect to see the foot roll to compensate for a move in the knee.
(c) His left knee swims a little bit - it would be difficult to move when your weight is resting on it.
(d) When he looks from her back to the tyre, the timing of the chest, head and right arm needs to be broken up - they all hit the final pose at the same time.
(e) His lip synch seems underplayed - for example on "yeah yeah", I would like to see a tighter shape on "y" which broadens into "eah".

Regarding your polishing, in general, something you should concentrate a bit more is, the phyisics of your character, working more on how gravity affects his mass and the different parts of the body, also very important are the connections and the weight between those parts.
This is the main principle of "Force", why is that part stopping? How does it connects to the rest? What append to the character if this or that part is moving?

Hope you find this useful, good luck!

-Anim Dailies

Hena Prikhodko - Wolfman

- Hena Prikhodko
- Wolfman


Hi Henady, thanks for posting, here are some ideas that you might want to consider :

Glasses man:

- You could try and characterize a bit more this character, a suggestion could be starting the shot having him adjusting his glasses to see better whats going on, try to clarify "who" he is .
- You could keep this character more subtle and stady while getting closer and closer to camera, have less of a " HIT" when is "asking the question", you really need a small gesture here, even just a small tilt of the head to the side, i think would work better.
-Is a bit difficult to understand the state of mind of this character at the moment, is he worried? is he quesitoning himself? was he just passing by and is he surprised to find this guy there? whats going on in his head?
When you have defined that, you can move into the main facial expression that will tell what the Character is thinking.
- I would try and Keep his eyebrows less snappy, at the moment they seems to go up and down a bit too fast.
-You could have him keep moving forward in a less pose to pose way, working also on the phisicality a bit more, at the moment it seems to do two prefectly equal steps , than stop and reaching with the arm, all of this seems to have the same timing.
- To build up more tension you could try and have him go closer and closer almost to touch the other guy's back.

Wolf Man :

- When is quikly turning, seems to be doing an half cartoony take, also seems to go quite down left on the frame, almost off screen, while doing that, i think you could treat him as a more realistic looking Creature.
-I would try and have him turn first with his head, followed by the chest and the body, to finish into a scream, that is going trough his all body.
-I dont know how the facial rig is, but you should try and push his face into a more scary looking, screaming face.
- you can also try to play a bit more with the camera angle, tilting down a bit more the overshoulder camera. So to have the wolfman lower in frame, maybe a bit more crouch on his knees, rises up a bit or just heavily breathe, and turning up and screaming at him .


I think you are on the right path, you should keep going and push this little excercise a little bit more.
If you havnt done any references, you should act out all the 3 shots and record yourself, it is always a good idea to do that, it keeps your immagination going and also makes you understand what your body/face does in those situation.

Good Luck!

-Anim Dailies

Soni Dhaval - Demoreel

- Soni Dhaval

- Demoreel



Hi Dhaval,

Thanks for posting your reel.

-I think you have some nice ideas here. I think the thing for you really is exactly as you say, that more time and attention needs to be spent on the animation. Its good that you recognise this. It means you can give your work that much needed attention before showing it

-It cant be said often enough that live action video reference is crucial to good animation. Filming yourself doing the action or something close to it will give the animation that edge of realismn and weight. You can really breakdown your moves, frame by frame and see whats happening with your body.

-Youre story telling skills are clear, and really like the emotions in the last shot. Everything is told with the eyes and the body language. I think you really just need to look at incorporating the correct physics into your shots. I also like the two guys at the bar, especially when one of them says "is that right". It feels like a very natural move that comes out of good observation.

-Having said all that, i love the weight of the first shot. But his spin through the air looks somewhat clicky and mechanical. I really want to feel the fluidity of that motion.

-The bird wing flaps are sticky and so are the fishing guys general movements. He feels light on his landing and somewhat unreal. I think this comment applies to the reel in general: Really look at getting fluidity and weight into your animation, make the actions feel organic. Its ok to go for a snappy style, as long as you sell the weight of the character.

Good luck

-Anim Dailies

Jen Stefanski - DemoreeReel 2011

- Jen Stefanski
- DemoreeReel 2011



Hi Jennifer

Thanks for posting your work. Im glad you like the idea for the blog

-I would first say as a general note (one that seems to come up quite a lot on the blog), is that you need to look at the physics of your shots. Look at the weight, balance and fluidity of your animation. This is best helped by filming yourself acting out the shot and then playing it back frame by frame to see what happens. You can use the exact timings and movements for your shot, and it will give it a the sense of realism youre looking for. Especially in your dialogue shot.

-In the dialogue shot i would say the biggest problem is that the guy seems ever so slightly incoherent in his actions. We want to feel that strong and steady build up from reluctant self restraint to extreme anger. Theres a real underlying tension to the shot and we need to feel it. Its really about posing out those expressions in the story, from concentrating on the task at hand, to tense irritablitiy, then anger and then extreme anger. Film yourself acting out the shot and try to make it as natural as you can.

-After he picks up the card i would look at it, then have a little movement of the eyes to the right to show that hes aware of someone, then back on the card before the first word. You could have a small nod on "told" a small shake on "never" Then look 3 quater on "interrupt", then completely around and hit on "working" . These are the accents, so use these moments for the transition to each level of anger. Try just posing out the shot on each of these accents.

-Keep the eyes and brows steady between each pose, they feel like theyre swimming (always moving). And make a strong pose in the eyes and brows for each emotion.

-I think "interrupt" needs to look more angry and then "working" needs to be full of rage. His face isnt really feeling it (perhaps because its so profile instead of three quater?) although his body pose is stronger.

-All in all i like where youre going with this dialogue shot. Its got some nice ideas. I like the fact that he destroys his own card house, but perhaps we could have a more shocked frustrated reaction to that?

-Whats with the duck? I hope you wont mind if i say ts not helping your reel
I think the duck needs to have the same level of attention paid to it as your dialogue shot. again look at the weight and balance of it. he feels too light and sticky. Make it feel like it really exists in space. Give it some duck like movements. Study a film of a real duck and incorporate this into your work.

-The dog is a fun little stylized piece of 2D, but shouldnt be the first thing on your reel. Try animating a 3D one and see how it goes.

Hope you found this helpful.

-Anim Dailies

Anuj Garg - Baton Bunny Blocking

- Anuj Garg
- Baton Bunny Blocking

Hi Anuj,

Thanks for posting your block. Im intrigued that you've decided to re-animate a classic bugs bunny scene.

I have to admit i wasn't thinking about the famous Bugs Bunny short when i first watched this and so was a little confused as to what was happening. I think its because the original has a build up to the story which makes it clear hes conducting an orchestra. Its easy to imagine that this guy might be performing a magic levitating trick of some kind.

-I would think about including the original shot just before your opening shot, where we see the orchestra ready. This sets the scene for your close up.

-I think the part where hes suspended in the air needs to include the tension that we see in the 2D version, his body vibrating with the noise.

-When you do the spline animation, I'd also look at making this version slightly more weighty so we see the physics at work. Not quite so 'held pose to held pose'. This will really sell the character in 3D space. Make it work better in physical animation terms than the Bugs Bunny original.

-The finger at the end looks to me like hes pointing at something rather than conducting those two notes. (I think the original does this too). Id have that finger swing from side to side without moving the hand much (like a conductors baton)

Thanks for revisiting this classic

-Anim Dailies

Rathod Kirti - Dialog Shot

- Rathod Kirti
- Dialog Shot

Hi Kirti

Thanks for posting your character test.

Its not bad, and i like the layout. There are a few things that could really make this work better.

- Now you've animated a version of this, Film yourself acting out this scene. Watch the film back and watch how your body moves. Look at all the little things going on in your eyes, brows, mouth and hand gestures. Look at the way your body moves with those gestures.

-The dialogue is an interesting one, because the character is criticising someone for doing something really annoying, but something which ultimately benefits that other person in a big way, and this really infuriates him. Its adding insult to injury. So we need to feel him starting out angry. Then in the long pause, the frustration that the other guy has benefited himself by doing something stupid is overwhelming and it erupts into rage.

-When the guy reaches over table on "something like this" his hand gesture feels a little confused to me. I'd try having his palm open face up and gesturing at the other guy like hes wearing something really silly stupid off camera. You could even have a little look up and down with that. So he looks disgusted. Then that disgust boils over into rage.

-The moves at the end need to be bigger. It feels like he makes minimal effort to knock that tray over. And whats on the tray? Its not clear to me. Perhaps the tray is just an object for him to knock? We need to really feel his anger. Perhaps have him raise out of the chair , smash the object aside and stand with his hands on the table?

- When he says "dumber" Id try to offset the actions slightly. It feels like everythings synchronised. Again look at some live action reference of yourself acting the scene.

I like where its going, but try to shoot that video reference. It will help you a lot.

-Anim Dailies

Matt Mitchell - Break Dance Dobby

-Matt Mitchell
-Dobby Dance

Hi Matt, this is a very nice test!!

I think that generally phisics are not OFF as you say, but "stylized" instead, i think that the timing is very nice, the way he jumps off and land is very cool.

Few things that you could maybe work a little bit more are :

- Try and add a little bit more weight generally, i think that you can achieve that by "keeping" the same snappy feeling but, carefully working on the Spacing a little bit more.

- The stepping needs more work, in some parts feels like you have took the timing correct from some sort of video reference, and applied that to the character. You have to be carefull with that(if you did that ), since the proportions are different, the feelings are going to be different as well, in this case, you will need another pass of polish for the spacing, where you will have to make it phisically more correct for the character proportions (hes got really skinny legs and big feets, short upper body and belly!).

-When he first gets up, the first step with his left foot, is a bit too quick going forward, the same with the second kick, the space between some of the frames(there is no frame counter unfortunately) is a bit too far apart, it catches my attention.

-When he is DanceStepping around, you could had a little bit more of an impact of the feet with the ground, also some of the legs movements feels light because is moving quickly from one side to the other and sometimes the push feels not enough, try giving it more frames on the push off.

- I really like what is going on with the arms.


Generally, Weight is expressed by Timing, Spacing, and Posing, thats why is the trickiest bit to get correct .
I think HERE there is a nice explanation, which could be useful to anyone reading this post.

Keep going, is really nice , and thank for posting it!

-AnimDailies

Rogers Nichola - Showreel

2011 Showreel from nichola rogers on Vimeo.

-RogersNichola
-Animation Showreel

Hi Nichola,
Thanks for posting your work

-I know that you've not been able to devote your full time to the animation, so taking this into account, i would say generally, before you get into the detail of this animation it would be a great idea shoot live action reference of yourself acting out each move. This will give you a precise idea of the physics and weight involved in achieving those poses. Then there's less danger of you ending up with something snappy and light.

- The eyes of the boy need to be animated, so they dont look so wild and staring. The extreme eye shapes for each surprising wide -eyed statement the boy makes, will sell much better if they relax somewhat in between. And use the blinks carefully. Again, look at your film reference.

-Take a look at using a better rig. There are a few good free biped rigs going around like the Morpheus rig, or you could use an automatic rigging software like Set Up machine2 to rig your character a bit better.

-when the character falls down at the start of your reel either have his head properly hit the ground where you see the impact and then him shaking to recover, or make sure it doesn't hit, but feel the weight of the impact in the arms and shoulders together with a head overlap. Make sure we register the weight and drama of that fall.

- For the character pulling the invisible object, i would make the object visible and also place a point of reference on the ground behind so we can see when he's being dragged along. At the moment its a little ambiguous as to which point hes being dragged or just stationary with the object.

-The running guy has a somewhat jerky feel to his run. Like he speeds up and slows down with every step. Try to look at making his run more uniform in its forward speed.

- For the walk we need to feel the hips pushed up by the leg thats supporting the weight so we get a rocking motion in the hips which is then counter weighted by the angle of the shoulders. Try to make it fluid, organic and without any snappy movements.

Really looking forward to seeing a later version of the story animation

Thanks

-Anim Dailies

Omar Elhindi - Sophistication

-Omar Elhindi
-Sophistication

Hi Omar,
is a nice test, i think you've got already a pretty good animation.

Few notes on something that you could work a little bit more :

-The lipsync, feels a little bit off sync (1 or two frames) i dont know if is because of the streaming video, or not, but its worth a try, offsetting it of 1 or 2 frames, and see if it is working better.
-After he says, "..family does", the overall mouth animation, is more rough than at the beginning, i feel that from this point on, you should focus and work a little bit more on that(mouth shapes and more inbetweens), it feels "less animated".
-After bringing the overall animation at the same level, you could go into it again ,adding another pass of polishing, starting from the head motion to the eyes and eyebrows, than the mouth, think about how the muscle of the face works, you may want to achieve an organic like, fleshy feeling to it.

I really like it, it shows potential!.
Good Luck.

-AnimDailies.