Animation Strategies Run & Jump

 

*click on images to play gif*

 

 

 

 

I used the Richard Williams example in class for the jump however it was missing a couple key poses so I decided to avoid using it as a reference as I felt it would confuse me a bit especially knowing I already struggle with placing and spacing keyframes in the right place.

 

 

I found a good reference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI-CEQZ6jtE 0:03). However, the complexity of the angle was still quite challenging, especially since it doesn’t really show the key poses well, like the down pose right before the jump. Looking back, I should’ve tried another angle or created an additional animation showing it from the side so that those poses are clearer. Despite not showing the poses clearly I do think I still captured the general motion of the jump quite well.

 

 

I received a lot of feedback on this animation, which really helped me polish the movement. The main issues were:

• feet sliding
• More follow through at the end
• The arm bending when it shouldn’t ruining the natural arc

 

 

Following Aodhan’s advice I changed the wall to a hole so that the anticipation poses were visible. I had to create the poses myself, as it wasn’t visible in the reference. I mostly just acted these out and searched other references to get an understanding of the weight distribution right before the jump.

I also attempted to add more follow through and some smear frames as I haven’t done that before, though my struggle with speed and spacing made the smear frames less effective and the follow through at the end could’ve been pushed further or had the figure brought back to resting position however the lack of time was really getting to me at this point.

I changed the sword in the reference to a hammer, as I didn’t have a lot of time to add clothing and secondary actions. I wanted to use a weapon that I could  bend to create more extreme poses. In this regard, I believe I was quite successful, as the hammer does convey a sense of weight. However, I feel I should have pushed this concept even further and worked with the angle to make it more visually interesting.

Although the perspective was the primary focus, I still wish I could have incorporated more secondary actions and refined the line work further. Given another chance, I would adopt a more stylised approach, as I don’t personally don’t like the appearance of realistic figures in animation.