Old man escalator loop

[ombrebueno]

Hi everyone, i want to introduce you my new work in progress.
The aim of this small animation loop is to play around with straight ahead and pose to pose animation methods. Here is the resulting work so far.

[Danimal]

Interesting cartoon. I liked when he stumbled, but really the whole thing looked very good.

[Víctor Paredes]

Very good! thanks for sharing.
I just don't like the escalator rhythm. It seems to be a very irregular movement and should be linear, at constant speed. I think that single problem breaks the entire animation for me, because it feels as if the escalator would be weirdly trying to follow the character's movement, instead of guiding it.

[ombrebueno]

Thanks for the advice Selgin, i will try to improve the escalator loop into something more fluid.
By the way, thanks for your tutorial videos online, love them.

[Víctor Paredes]

You are welcome
I'm glad you like my tutorials.
About the escalator, have you thought in exporting it as a gif? that would work great in that old fantastic format.

PD: In my last video I had to make something very similar with an escalator and a character transforming while walking. It's not as cool as yours, but the principle is the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9JOIndoFbI
Check minute 0:34. The escalator moves in a linear loop of 16 frames (and it's on twos, so it's actually 8 frames moving). The character walkcycle is 32 frames long (16 frames each step, the same as the escalator).
Now, about cycles, take in count that if you want a 16 frames cycle, you need to create the first key on 1 and the last one on frame 17. Then the cycle will go back to frame 2 (not 1, because frame 1 and 17 are visually the same).

[ombrebueno]

Thanks again Selgin!
the thing about the exported format is because i'm planning the final composition in AE.
Regarding cycle, i'm following the same tip as you suggest me, the thing here is that i have to control every single step shape by adding keyframes to avoid unexpected distortions. In any case i'm gonna try to simplify the range of frames (now i have 50 fps), that way hope it simplify the whole process.

[Víctor Paredes]

I see.
About the cycle and distortions, I'm just moving "one" stair during the cycle. I mean, I'm transforming each step on the next one, using onionskin as guide. That "single" movement is linear and feels continuous. So I put some extra steps at beginning and end, to have enough material to complete the entire escalator.
It's hard to explain, but I take a screenshot from your video and create this wireframe escalator cycle:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/544 ... no_v9.anme
It's not totally perfect and there are distortions, but I think it's so simple it deserves a look

[ombrebueno]

Thanks again for your dedication Seldin, im gonna try your "trick" and i let you know how it works.
(i can't see anything from the dropbox link )
can you email me the file?