Animation 102: General Polishing Notes..

     So here is an email of a critique I wrote out. I thought it had some useful elements  to it and decided to share! Context: They is about to wrap up on this and has a little less than a week to finish. So I pointed out the major things that catch my eye and overlook the little things so they can make the best use of their time... enjoy

Hi _______,

     Lets get down to business shall we? I'll try not to be that harsh :)

     So, contrast... everything needs some sort of contrast, it just makes things look texturally more interesting, agree? So your animation is great, but as bad ass as it is, in the beginning it's still sort of, smushy, water smooth... (and I understand he's sneaking) but none the less the characters movement is a bit swimmy.

     The Culprit: The FLASH LIGHT. The flash light moves way too much and at the same pace and style as the body, if you would just view the flash light and hide the body, it will look like the hand of someone high, or drunk, or just someone waaay too relaxed. It has tooo much over-lap (up and down), the head and the body go up and down already, no need to go overkill and do the flash light as well, it's like you want me to watch your assignment while nodding my head up and down the whole time. if you're more a percentage kind of girl, I would tell you to take it 80% down...

     Solution: Hold it reletively still in the direction it is in now, towards the opposite wall where he is heading towards. and if you are feeling daring even put a lil frequency vibration in it to show shaking, but DONT MAKE IT look like he has tremors! This will contrast the slow cat like movement of the body. make it look like he's holding the Flash light with a purpose and not hold it as if it was a prop.

     POSES: On frame X78 is very natural and realistic. Not bad, but tell me one thing...  which one is better.... im just asking.. you know... just take a look and let me know...

        You see? Just always push things a little more and make sure you are selling the pose. Never forget to check if your silhouette value is the best and clearest it can be. Is it telling the whole story? is it appealing? What might it be mistaken as? how do i make it fool proof? And don't start saying that it's not physically possible with the model. "but Dannny, it wont let me, It doesn't want to bend that way, it's too hard..."  FORCE IT. Do not compromise with the computer, do not meet it half way, don't let it decide how far you can push your art. It does what you tell it to do, don't pitty it. The moment you start to let it tell you who's boss, that's when we all lose and then movies like Terminator 2 and the Matrix become reality. Always keep the computer in check. :) It's just waiting for you to let down your guard..... haha

Frame X78- X104
       After you hit that pose you start to turn, BUT EVERYTHING TURNS WITH EACH OTHER FAIRLY AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!! You do have a teeny weenie bit of an off set, but that's only because I had to look for it. How about you hold the head staring towards Screen Left for a while longer and hold the flash light there too. Make the body turn first then around X92 start the head turn, try that out see if it feels right and adjust accordingly. Break it up, make it feel natural.

       Ok this next one is a big one, you might hate me but i can afford you to hate me, what you CANNOT afford is sub par problem solving skills!
-Flip through Frames X105 to X110.. then continue flipping to X115. Doesn't it look like he's bouncing off those boxes? Like in a bad action film sort of way? X110, that character definitely broke it's back on those boxes.. I drew something that might help you out:

 

      So you see what I did, I also moved your last pose a little screen left. This way not only is it a reaction, but VISUALLY he is moving away from the ghost as well. It makes the head ARC less spontaneous and it's easier to follow along with the eyes. But that means reworking the animation before and after it and making it work, re-look at the physics my pose change demands and make it work. it's going to be tough but try it out. It will definitely be challenging.

     Your ending, I'm going to acknowledge it's subjective. Because I too watched cartoons when I was younger I could recognize what you were doing (scared stiff and the fainting) but if I was living in a cave my whole life or from Antarctica, I would have no freaking idea what the hell was going on, "he stopped, then moves again and stops again... then he MOVES again to fall down... and then the ghost looks at me??" WTF is going ON!!!!!!????? lol. your animation is nice. I'm just letting you know you are relying on the audiences background knowledge of cartoons to sell your idea.

      So I hoped this helped you out, Let me know how it goes, your animation is very nice and it doesn't look messy at all. Good job staying organized. Notice how most of my notes were on choices and not fundamentals. That's perfect since you are in the polish stage. If you would like me to check it out again let me know and I'll gladly do it. Touch on these notes then I can look deeper into your timing and spacing after there is nothing to distract my eye. Keep on going!

-Daniel Gonzales

Critique: Animation in Dancing

 (This was an email to a friend critiquing and trying to solve the problems in their animation assignment, enjoy and I hope it gives insight for those of you who seek it)

Hey, 

 

       So first I'll tell you how bad it is.. Then I'll tell you how bad it is specifically. all the while showing solutions and the thinking behind my decisions. Bc no body wants to read about someone JUST talking shit... ppl want their intellect stimulated.. along with a side of shit talking. haha

      Your animation is 75% there. But 25% kills the whole piece because I can see and feel some parts where it does not move physically realistic. But 75 percent of it does move right and that's not a bad thing :) Some parts are actually very nice.. and I could definitely see that some parts you either haven't touched or you do not know what decision to make and your just moving stuff for the sake of moving it...  

      Biggest flaw in your animation is: You move in diagonals and not arcs most of the time...

      -So about animation. Ima tear apart your root (which is the bottom of the torso, around the hips).

-From frames X13-X18  (X means frame in our lil animation world) 

      Your body is lifted in a way where it is not realistically possible. No way your toes can lift a body up. You must try to get the body over the LEG so that the balls of the feet and the body are more lined up. YOU get to chose whether thats the right foot you want to favor or the left. Your Frame X10 works just fine. but it's when you raise your body up you get unbalanced.. such as frame X14. So these drawings show one solution: stay over the screen right leg.

      The other solution would be to go immediately over the screen Left leg and then raise up. You would have to dip the body and already start moving to the Left around X11 so that at least by X15 you are above your Screen Left leg and are just raising straight up bc your weight is centred and the other leg is there helping as well. This might all be sounding confusing but all I am doing is describing arcs. Simple :)

-Frames X83-X87 

      looks like he's doing some chris angel magician floating shit. haha Maybe it's like that in your reference but this doesn't cut it visually here on a 2D screen with CG characters. In the next drawing is a solution.

-Frames X106-X110  

      You are fine... but then your root (body) slows down magically in mid air by X114 and then the next two frames after X114 you speed up again to land. no no no..  like a bouncing ball your spacing must reflect the physics of the movement. A ball does not slow down as it is past it's apex. If your slow down was meant to be 'hang time' well it comes too late. :P

( For those who do not know what the 'Bouncing Ball" reference is: it's all the tiny baby poo fundamentals of animation in one assignment called the "bouncing ball". always to be referenced for animation 101)

    Your other jumps that come after kind of do the same as they land the spacing gets a lil muddy just like the first. Remember the spacing is greatest before it lands. Just like a bouncing ball and we are just talking about your root. If this root's spacing and arcs is off, forget about getting good spacing/arcs on shoulders, head, arms, knees, you might be able to fake it and force good spacing on the rest of these body parts, but like i said, you would be forcing... and not letting it happen on it's own. Think of it like sex :)

-Frame X160-X163 

      You go straight up... then from frame X163 to X170 you do some levitation wizard shit. DIAGONALLY. so you go straight up with a diagonal, you know what your are giving me a triangle... no bueno.. gimmie some sort of sexy arc here. Here is a aLL in one example. Look at my arc of the line I drew. see how my root and head roughly follow it? and I even saw that you tried to do some overshoot at the end. Very nice, but it doesn't work because the movement before does not flow into it. Movement especially dance is like water, every arc and graceful movement must flow into the next, just a bunch of smooth slow in and ease outs with some sexy arcs slapped on for structure.

_______________________________________________________

    -Next I will only talk about your head. it just needs to either lead or overlap correctly. always having some sort of arc.. Once your arcs on your root are set then you will be fine bc your head will be riding off those arcs. I'm only going to give you one example and I hope it is clear enough were you can apply it to the rest of the piece. Lets use the last Frames X160 to X17Oish... I will just draw it...

     This will never work with the root you have now. but it will work once you fix it. you see how the head is dragging as it comes up and as it goes down? and them comes up at the end? 

frames X90 -X99 

     Also is a place where your head kills me :(  I bet you graph editor has two knots. One around 90 and one around X99 and it is pretty linear diagonal. that will explain the evenness in it's movement (mechanical) pull out some handles to get me an ease in or an ease out. USE THOSE HANDLES WOMAN :) add some texture to that head move. Maybe starts fast and ends slow or vice versa! or something! Throw a dog a bone here. haha

     I hope this helps a little. Remember these are not the only way to do things and this is HOW I would try to fix them. There are other ways. My way is by no means the best way or the only way. 

     When you first come out of your blocking the root and the head should be your first priority. And it might not be enough to just get it smooth. SMOOTH from now on does not exist in your vocabulary. Smooth is replaced with arcs and ease ins and ease outs. :) all this info should be nothing new and be stuff you already know but are learning how to apply

     Best of luck and do share this with ------ and the others. they might really benefit from it. bc you guys should be really trying to help each other. It's WAAY easier to solve other peoples work than your own. 

-Daniel Gonzales