Moho Forum

Hello, could anyone tell me the best way to annimate a crowd of people ,i want each of the crowd (about 15 people) to move ,each one with different moves,would it be best to animate one person ,bones ect ,then use actions, copy each one ,and change moves on each one ,think it would be quicker than annimating 15 times !
thanks
mick

You could try using a particle layer for this.

You can have multiple different "layers" (people) in a particle each with a different or "offset" action. This would create an illusion of a crowd of different people and wouldn't require a ton of hand animation.

I know a forum member here D.K. has stuff on content paradise like this. A "turkey" particle emitter that creates a bunch of... well.. turkeys that run across the screen, or birds flying to create a flock of moving birds.

I used a particle effect to create the illusion of a whole host of animated ninjas. It worked like a charm, though they all kind of did the same thing, it wasn't noticeable because mostly they just walked back and forth on the background.

Search your library folder for 'gente feliz'... a cute crowd scene waving lighters at a stage.

The path is LIBRARY/Effects folder/Effects (not 'my effects')/Particle Effects/Partners/Victor Paredes/gente feliz

When I make animations of a crowd in front of a stage for a band I use particles.

Thank you all ,for your replys!
Can i explain a bit more about what i am trying to do, i have a man giving lecture in hall, at a certain point he says somthing that shocks the audience ,they are shocked! throw arms up,fall backwards ect, some are behind seats , would the particle effect work ?i want the audience to be fairly still ,until they are shocked ,to make the scene work.
thanks
mick

I believe that it could work. I am basing this on memory of something I did a while back.

The key would be offsetting the actions of the particle (person). If you put all of the different actions in one loooong action and then changed the timing of the particles you could have different actions happen at different times.

This is just a theory. I may actually test this out. It bugs me if I don't know.

I wouldn't bother with particles here. I'd do two or three different rigs, fill them with artwork, do the main animation, like putting up hands, multiply them, change colours of the duplicates, and place them neatly. Then I'd shift the keys a bit to add variety.

For one crowd reaction, slowtiger's suggestion will work better. Particles would make it more difficult to set up. They would work better for just have the crowd sort of move or occasionally cough or something like that, not for one big movement en masse.

slowtiger wrote:I wouldn't bother with particles here. I'd do two or three different rigs, fill them with artwork, do the main animation, like putting up hands, multiply them, change colours of the duplicates, and place them neatly. Then I'd shift the keys a bit to add variety.

I agree, if they are only 15 there's no need for particles.
Particles are cool, but harder to control than just positioning the characters by hand.


PD: I have a tip (maybe not for this case, but it can be useful in the future): You can change the proportions of a character by using smart bones.
So, for example, if you have a character with a walk cycle, you can create a new smart bone which scales up the legs and arms bones. The cool part is that your walk animation still working with the new proportions, so you can create several characters of different sizes by animating only one and duplicating it. You also can move them a little in the sequencer.

heyvern wrote:I know a forum member here D.K. has stuff on content paradise like this. A "turkey" particle emitter that creates a bunch of... well.. turkeys that run across the screen, or birds flying to create a flock of moving birds.

I just PM'd DK about this.... His Turkey particles were on TV here in the US. I was watching "Mike & Mike In The Morning", on ESPN. They were making their predictions for the games on Thanksgiving Day and suddenly a bunch of turkeys came running across the screen! It was hilarious!

Well you guys are correct.

The best I came up with goofing around for a little bit, is a crowd of Zombie federation redshirts at a rock concert that jump and wave occasionally.

Sometimes putting in the hard work is the best way.

Thank you for your help,will let you know how i get on ,may take a while,not very quick yet!
mick