Bike cycle

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:40 pm

Hi, I'm animating some characters made by a friend. I just finished this one, it's cycle based on this xilography

You can see the video here
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/54411/videos/bici%2010.mov

PD: The construction is very conventional, at exception of the leg border. If you see well, it's not a simple border, it cuts the bike and make the background visible. I wanted to maintaing the xilography style as much as possible, so I thought awhile how to get that kind of border. Finally, to get that effect I duplicated the leg on a new layer, but only the stroke (no fill) visible, then I masked the bike layer with the leg stroke (-subtract from mask).

PD2: My friend asked me an animated gif, so here is it too
(fixed thanks to DK and jahnocli)

DK · Post by DK » Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:10 am

Hi Selgin.

I love it. My only critic is the right foot on the pedal. The pedal seems to drift around especially towards the top of the pedal cycle and my eye is constantly drawn to it.

Otherwise fantastic work as per usual!

Cheers
D.K

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:01 pm

Ha ha! You said 'bike cycle', but I think you got away with it. I agree about the pedal. For me, it wouldn't be a problem if it was just a solid block. Would certainly make life a littel easier, animation-wise. I like the uneven wheels, too -- gives a real sense of moving along that you sometimes miss if the wheels are regular. Great stuff as always...

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 4:58 pm

Thank very much you guys. I was animating this bike and get an idea I can't tell now, but it can be very very good. I'll postulate to government arts funding here in Chile, so I have to keep the project in total secret. I hope to give you good news soon.

I fixed the foot, thanks for tell me that, I didn't notice it before. Now I decided to bind each foot to the bone of the pedal, so the feet now are independent to the legs (which now are animated to follow the feet). If you see anything wrong, please tell me.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/54411/videos/bici%2010.mov

PD: I love word games, but it's hard to me to make them in English. I was afraid of the "bike cycle" joke, actually. I have not idea how to make word games in other language than spanish.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:48 pm

I like this very much! If you have any idea using this style, you should definitely do it!

Reminded me of my own cyclists: http://www.enigmation.de/qt/biker_24_2.mov. I rigged it starting from the pedal wheel, up to feet and legs. Because the thighs are black it was easy to align that loose end to the body.

The style immediately reminds me of the work of illustrator Herbert Holzing, who is a staple in german children's literature. Unfortunately there's not much of his work online, but I always thought it must be great to animate in that style.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:54 am

Hey selgin, it is lovely!
I have a question though:
I guess that the plants dynamic is based on bone dynamics. How did you do to make it match the cycle end with the start? It is just luck or did you do something to match the start and end of the cycle form the point of view of the bone dynamics?
-G

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:19 pm

Thank you Slowtiger, I really appreciate you like it. I checked Herbert Holzing on google, it has some very nice illustrations, thank you for sharing it.
You rigged your cyclists in a smart way. I decided not to think too much on it, I thought I wouldn't have problems with the pedals and feet, Thought wrong, obviously.
About the project, it will cover several styles, included similar to this one.

Genete, thanks! about the plants, it's all animated by hand, because dynamics doesn't work well with cycles (it has no way of knowing that there is a cycle). All leaves and plants have a simple relative 3 keyframes cycle (left-right-left movement), I moved each leaf cycle on time to get the cycle moving at different times. I had some problems making the overall loop, the animation contains several different cycles of different frame rates. I tried to calculate the least common multiple, but I get missed in all the numbers

. Fortunately, the cycles' jumps fit with the animation and doesn't look too bad, only as if the bike stepped on a stone on the road.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:22 pm

I made another animation for this project. This one is less interesting, but I hope you like it.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/54411/videos/po ... 0chica.mov

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:06 pm

Really nice. I'm sure your friend who made the print really likes it too.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:35 pm

Thanks. I'm at fluorfilms and a nice friend helped me to improve the cycle animation, just for fun.
It's fantastic what AS and After Effect can do together

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/54411/videos/bi ... sktop2.mov

PD: if you put "father and daughter" short behind it, the music fits perfect

neuromester · Post by **neuromester** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 12:48 am

This looks great. Really nice work.

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 1:27 pm

Nice, Sielgin, love the whimsical nature or your work here.

KOMBATMATTT · Post by **KOMBATMATTT** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 5:33 pm

smooth animations

chrischristie · Post by **chrischristie** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:49 pm

I like how the bicycle seems to be in forward motion and not just stationary with moving parts

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:29 pm

Whoah. This is nearly perfect already. May I ask how you did that nice flickering effect? In AFX?

The other scene with the tree is equally nice. This style of animation (and these graphics) could be used for some philosophical story, something with lots of emotions. With the right music and sound this could be an instant festival winner. It has a kind of sensibility which you rarely see, especially not with that smooth execution.