Animation WIP
Added 2020-03-17 22:03:05 +0000 UTCA little thing I've been working on! Something very different from my usual fare...
When I upload this to FA I plan to add in some context, but I'm curious as to how it holds up without that, so lemme know what you think! Mainly of the overall content of the animation. Amusing at all, or just dumb?
There's lots of tidying up work to do, most of the dragon's animation still needs doing, and stuff like finishing up the BG, tweaking lighting, cloth animation so they don't just stick out stiffly, etc. But it's at a point where I think I can share it and at least get opinions. :P
Animation is attached! Lemme know what you think.
Comments
haha ya
Ztpia
2020-03-18 04:58:02 +0000 UTCThanks man! Yeah, modelling and animating is pretty much what I do these days. I don't have updates super often because this stuff takes a long time, but I basically wake up every day, start doing something 3D-related, work until bedtime, then start all over again the next day. And that's been my life for like the last year and a half. So yeah, been putting in some time. :P
Ruaidri
2020-03-18 04:57:50 +0000 UTCHah, thanks! This is definitely much different from my usual animations, it's been taking a very long time but has been a good learning experience! Not sure what you mean by 'nomz' content though... vore, if I were to hazard a guess?
Ruaidri
2020-03-18 04:56:00 +0000 UTCThat is pretty well made. You have to be spending hella time doing this to be getting better and better as you do with everyone you put out getting better and better.
Chastity Coyote
2020-03-18 03:16:17 +0000 UTC1) Loved the humor :D 2) It was awesome to see you have the chance to really animate a character through a space. It looks great! The haphazard placing down of the sword was a great touch. 3) This got me thinking that if you ever make some nomz content you'd have even more of my $$ :P
Ztpia
2020-03-18 00:12:35 +0000 UTCNot this one- this WIP has all the content of the animation, just gotta be polished up still. But I wouldn't mind paring these guys in something a bit raunchier down the road, either, if it's something people wanna see!
Ruaidri
2020-03-17 23:03:57 +0000 UTCHoly balls dude. You really went all out on this one! There's a lot in there, I'll have to keep this open as I'm tweaking the animation to keep track of it all, hah. For all the lighting stuff, lighting is definitely in a WIP stage, and I haven't fully decided what my plans are for it. Mainly I wanted to make sure that the lantern/sword are appropriately drawing the eye, but I haven't gone much beyond that yet. You've given me some stuff to think about, and I'll try and get it to a good place down the road. You nailed the third 'hidden' light, kinda impressed there. As a quick 'viewport' render, soft shadows aren't enabled yet as those add quite a bit of render time, but that should be quite smoothed out in the final version so it's a lot less noticeable, and should mostly just add to the blue glowyness of the scene. Reading over it, it seems like like the entire lower half of this wall of text is basically praise for me, so I guess I can't think of much to say other than, of course, thanks. You really went above and beyond on this one! :P I wouldn't expect the final animations to be too much beyond what we see now, mostly just adding in breathing and foot shuffling and stuff like that, so don't get too carried away, but I hope it'll still be a nice looking little thing once it's done!
Ruaidri
2020-03-17 23:03:14 +0000 UTCIs it going to be a NSFW animation?
JellyDonut
2020-03-17 22:52:33 +0000 UTC*Rubs hands together* My time to shine! So, immediately what stands out is the lighting. Love all of it, except for one point--when the kobold first comes into view, it's almost like he has a huge high temperature spotlight on him. What I mean by high temperature is that the light is very, very white. If he's coming in from a cave entrance, would that light source be considered sunlight? If so, what does the render look like with a slightly lower color temp source, to bring out a bit more yellow? Also, while I know it would shroud a few more details, maybe toning down the main source would provide interesting results? Bathing the foreground in powerful light does remove some of the contrast and definition you'd find in a character's model from the small shadows and highlights. This would also maybe allow the blue 'glow' to be more pronounced, and give more of a 'deep dark' cave feel. However, I also feel that while this lower intensity source would be good for our kobold character, it wouldn't do very well with the dragon, who is already pretty dark as it is. Maybe extending the source to cover more vertical area, thereby helping light the dragon's face as he stands up fully, would allow you to drop the intensity of the main source without taking too much light away from him? Because as it stands now, his face is well lit as he comes into the scene, but then steps out of the light as he stands up fully, and we lose a lot of detail that will later be used for important expressions. Additionally, shadows. It looks to me like the main source is on our left, but with a second source on our right, which causes double shadows going to the scene's back left and back right corners. While the blue source on the right of the scene is wonderful and I love the ambiance it gives, it doesn't seem to be the source of the second set of shadows. Do you have a source set up on the right side of the viewport that should be casting these shadows? I love the glint of the gold in the light, the blue ambiance, the dragon's green glowing eyes and how they start off in the distance, unfocused, and slowly close in, and especially how their light reflects off the surfaces in the distance. The setting and background are also great. I love how each object behaves differently and in its own way with the light sources, and you have a blending of gold glittering and blue reflecting on some of the coins towards the middle. Nothing much more to say about a glimmering room full of gold other than it looks great! Absolutely amazing work! Now for rigs and animation. Truth be told this is better animation work than I've ever seen elsewhere for a 'rough WIP'. Nothing you do or say can convince me otherwise, so you had better just accept the mountain of praise and enjoy it :) From facial expressions to body movement, eye movements, objects and everything beyond, it looks amazing. I especially love the kobold's tail animations, and how they work in tandem with his facial expressions to really sell his emotions. While his facial expressions are everything but lacking, sometimes a non-human face can be difficult to convey emotions through and more importantly, we as the viewers aren't always in the best position to see those expressions, so having another stage through which to both express and fortify his expressions and emotions is a great addition. While the dragon's animations aren't quite as smooth, you also said they weren't done yet, so I'll hold off on any major critique there. But from what I've seen so far you have a great starting point for his positions and movements! The best animation of his so far has been the eyes highlighted in the background, you really nailed the kind of 'unknown in the darkness' lurking movement as he comes into the light! Those first three seconds of his animation--between his eyes opening and coming full-bore into the scene's lighting, are definitely worthy of high praise. It's smooth and natural, and honestly, reminds me of something I'd see in a How To Train Your Dragon movie. Absolutely nailed it! The kobold's main movement animations are also amazing, though there's always room for improvement! I audibly said 'whoa' when he started swinging the sword, and that scene is definitely an attention-grabber. Out of all of his animations in here I think that sequence looks the best! One thing I'd say is to remember to try and impart a feeling of 'weight and momentum' to the sword as he swings. It's not something you can stop on a dime and there should be a good bit of deceleration and acceleration time to the swings and movements, though honestly that's something so nitpicky it's like finding one dull needle in a box of a thousand--just because one of them isn't quite a sharp doesn't mean it was a bad box, or that it won't do its job, only that there is still room for improvement! I don't know what plans you have for the dragon's expressions, but I can't wait to see more work done with them. His face is really front and center with perfect lighting and angles for us to really see it, and I think the expressions and transitions used for him will set the tone for the animation as a whole. Now, what about the animation itself? I laughed from it, so thank you for that! I thought it was great! Eerie with a promise of mystery at first, then scary, then lighthearted and silly. I can't wait to hear the description for it, and see where you take this! (Also wow what a wall of text, sorry! I hope some of it is useful...)
Bloudin Ruo
2020-03-17 22:35:18 +0000 UTCAs far as animation goes, I'm still very much a novice, and everything else I've done has been smut which is actually pretty simple as far as movements go, heh. Some of that falls under 'clean up' stuff that I knew I still needed to do anyway, but I wouldn't expect this to turn out perfect in any case.... I'll do my best to tweak things though! As for the eye colour thing, I was kind of aiming for it to be a bit like how cats eyes reflect light, where the colour usually has little to do with their eye colour... but maybe it would just be better to make it match. I'll toy with it.
Ruaidri
2020-03-17 22:20:07 +0000 UTCOkay, lots of things to comment on this go around - please don't take it as hostile! The kobold's animation seems a little wooden, still. Something's missing there. At about 10 seconds in she turns around in a really weird way and I don't think it works, sorry. What I think is happening is that you're not giving the torso as much love as you seem to have given the limbs, so the movements don't have the right energy. They seem to just be arm and leg movements, not coming out of the core like you would expect. There are also moments where she's absolutely still and not breathing. The dragon has green glowing eyes in the distance, but when he approaches, they're actually a fiery red. I think it'd be best to pick a colour and stick to it.
Shira Wolven
2020-03-17 22:11:30 +0000 UTC
