Choreography???

[kellz5460]

that's the problem with not planning - you create one set up and push it for longer than you probably should when you should maybe cut to different angles to make the scene more dynamic...

this scene is just one of a couple that'll be strung together in a fight scene- I storyboarded the shots- just not this actual fight scene

I *fixed* a frame that I think was playing too quickly that you guys didnt even see it and added a hand

yup the roll does defy gravity but i think it flows maybe better than it did?



This is kinda hard even to watch because even on my end I get video lag- It hangs in the playback here when it doesn't hang if I play it on my computer

[Maestral]

After reading posts at the beginning of the thread, I had on my mind both examples that were mentioned, but your scene also lacks for some sword fight logic (since you mentioned iaido).

It is so unusual just to lean back during the attack ,) and not to use the sword for blocking, as happened later on.

I`m quite sure that workflow among animators differ, but it`s almost common thing to make key positions, extremes and then fill it with inbetweens. In this case, after you staged the fight maybe you should now add/insert few shots of anticipation, decorate it with follow trough or just employ motion blur for swords.

It looks to me like you are avoiding to slow things down, afraid that you might loose the tension of the sword fight. Flashing movements do bring tension, but of other nature and mostly that one is unwanted. Like fast switching tv channels. You have developed and rigged characters, so you are ready now to tell us what a hell happened in this fight... who pulled what and what was the other fighter`s response to that.

[Maestral]

... and just one more thing.

It seems like parts of your characters move at the same speed, the same timing. There is too many body movements, not so common in Japanese sword fight. Usually they slide over the ground and swiftly blow attacks by hands or weapons. Perhaps if you change timings for different parts of the characters this fight would be more convincing.

[kellz5460]

After reading posts at the beginning of the thread, I had on my mind both examples that were mentioned, but your scene also lacks for some sword fight logic (since you mentioned iaido).

It is so unusual just to lean back during the attack ,) and not to use the sword for blocking, as happened later on.

I`m quite sure that workflow among animators differ, but it`s almost common thing to make key positions, extremes and then fill it with inbetweens. In this case, after you staged the fight maybe you should now add/insert few shots of anticipation, decorate it with follow trough or just employ motion blur for swords.

It looks to me like you are avoiding to slow things down, afraid that you might loose the tension of the sword fight. Flashing movements do bring tension, but of other nature and mostly that one is unwanted. Like fast switching tv channels. You have developed and rigged characters, so you are ready now to tell us what a hell happened in this fight... who pulled what and what was the other fighter`s response to that.

That lean back is the waki gamae stance just more exagerrated since he's avoiding her nukitsuke- I should add, this is but one scene in an overall fight that has several different shots and I purposely wanted them not to bang swords in this scene- just swipes and dodges

Preceeding this the female character is running toward the guy about to attack (anticipation- hence the jump into the fight) This scene is the tension which is continued into the next scenes before the fight ends

Btw- characters are not rigged- no bones about it It's all FBF switch layers

maybe when everything is put together then it will be easier to see why this scene is supposed to be hectic frenzied anime type fight

[funksmaname]

Hey,
the pause just before the roll makes it look like the swords clash - thats the only possible reason for a pause in the middle of the motion, so I really think you should look at keeping the flow going.

As a viewer who knows nothing about swordfighting, I mostly watch the swords and I think you can get away with quite a lot with the people, but if you want the animation to flow, especially if no contact is made, the swords should be constantly moving in archs and figures of 8 kinda thing. You might find it easier to just animate the swords so they flow just like you want, and only then add the charactes who you can pose however you need to to make it look like they are holding the sword. It would give you a good guide to the ongoing flow of motion in the scene. It feels like you're trying to do too much in one pass which ends up looking more like a bunch of good ideas cudely stuck together.

*I really don't mean this to sound harsh, its already a better sword fight than I could do! I'm just trying to offer alternative ways of thinking...

[kellz5460]

Hey,
the pause just before the roll makes it look like the swords clash - thats the only possible reason for a pause in the middle of the motion, so I really think you should look at keeping the flow going.

As a viewer who knows nothing about swordfighting, I mostly watch the swords and I think you can get away with quite a lot with the people, but if you want the animation to flow, especially if no contact is made, the swords should be constantly moving in archs and figures of 8 kinda thing. You might find it easier to just animate the swords so they flow just like you want, and only then add the charactes who you can pose however you need to to make it look like they are holding the sword. It would give you a good guide to the ongoing flow of motion in the scene. It feels like you're trying to do too much in one pass which ends up looking more like a bunch of good ideas cudely stuck together.

*I really don't mean this to sound harsh, its already a better sword fight than I could do! I'm just trying to offer alternative ways of thinking...

I was actually considering that- swords first then add the characters- I also thought about doing the characters one at a time rather than at the same time

though since I've got no rush I'll just continue with experimenting

[funksmaname]

yeah, if you get the swords working without the people you can work on the people one at a time - less confusing maybe use a stickman rig first too to get your rough down without too much work so you can tweak positions easily.