Work comparison...

[ddrake]

From when I first started:


Today:

[Danimal]

The walk cycle looks good and has only a minor amount of the dreaded "slide" that every animation I've ever made has in abundance. I've actually decided to only do stories about people on ice rinks.

The head turn is really quite good. Whatever you're doing, it's definitely a notch above and actually comes across as realistic looking.

[AmigaMan]

The acting in the second clip is so good. it's clear exactly what's happening. It would be nice to see how you're walk cycle technique has developed.

[ddrake]

I've actually decided to only do stories about people on ice rinks.

Haha, Danimal! I actually was working on one of my character rigs last week and decided to forgo a hasty sliding walk cycle test and just had her push off into sort of a "skating cycle." Set everything on Ice! Best tip I've read regarding the slide.

The head turn is really quite good. Whatever you're doing, it's definitely a notch above and actually comes across as realistic looking.

I've got a "HeadBone" rig made entirely of smartbones, that controls all the facial movements and then 2 smart bones control the turn movement. The lateral move is the more intensive one, but simplified a bit by not breaking the profile plane. (I'm satisfied for now not having full profile or further turn, and basically just positioned my points to match positions I'd already done for headturn switchlayer positions.

The second smart bone simply pulls certain feature's points up and down. Right now it's only a single frame smartbone action Frame 0 - 1 in the timeline. I wanted to keep those point motions simple so as to not interfere with the more necessarily-detailed "right to left" motion.

As of right now, with a slow turn using both bones you can see sort of a "stair-stepping" action that I'm not pleased with (it's minor, but noticeable to me.) I'm not sure if it occurs because the Vertical turn bone has just the two extreme point positions. I may try tonight pulling the keyframes over on the 2nd bone to match the length of the R to L action. (or maybe make both of them longer) Though it may just be that they are both competing to tell a point where to be and the calculation will always produce a tiny "UP, Then Over, Up, Then over" kind of effect. Not noticeable with a quick turn though.

Overall pretty happy with it. When combining the two motions of head turns and then another added control of the main body rig that contains a bone for head tilt, I've wound up with a pretty comprehensive range of motion.

The acting in the second clip is so good. it's clear exactly what's happening. It would be nice to see how you're walk cycle technique has developed.

Thank you AmigaMan.

Probably going to work on polishing the rest of the body work this evening. Maybe I'll post a walk cycle result when it's finished.

[sargumphigaus]

The walk cycle looks good and has only a minor amount of the dreaded "slide" that every animation I've ever made has in abundance. I've actually decided to only do stories about people on ice rinks.

One of the solutions I used was something I got from Selgins tutorials way back when. When you rig your character, at the feet level, add an extra bone just below. When your character takes a step, lock the bone beneath the foot that carries the weight, and lo and behold, no more slide. You even get a sense of body weight. The only down side is that your character "chickenlegs" from time to time. It's a little frustrating, but it can be fixed.

[Danimal]

The only down side is that your character "chickenlegs" from time to time. It's a little frustrating, but it can be fixed.

Using seglin's walk ruler and onion skin trick has really done wonders for my walk cycles as well. Dare I say, they're almost fun to do now!

[sargumphigaus]

Using seglin's walk ruler and onion skin trick has really done wonders for my walk cycles as well. Dare I say, they're almost fun to do now!

Probably a lot funner than the way I do it.