animation question...

# 1 06-04-2007 , 11:58 AM

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I've got a character standing waiting in a lift. Is there an expression I can use on his translates/rotate of his limbs to give them impresssions that he's not entirly static?

James.

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# 2 07-04-2007 , 01:59 AM

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You should rig him if you want to make him feel more alive, there should be alot of tutorials on how to do it.

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# 3 07-04-2007 , 02:44 AM

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er...he is rigged....i'm animating him, it's just when he has to stand still he looks lifeless...

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# 4 07-04-2007 , 02:52 AM

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Try standing still in a elevator and you will see that you get restless, starts moving your arms a and move your feet a litte.

And people react different when in different moods, if he is calm he can rest against a wall, if he is stressed he can move alot etc.

Just study a human riding a elevator darnit. user added image

Edit: Dont forget eye and head movements.

Last edited by Weyu; 07-04-2007 at 02:55 AM.

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# 5 07-04-2007 , 03:03 AM

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I know all this..

This isn't even my question...

I know alot about eye movements etc. I'im asking is there an expression to make the translates/rotates a bit random.

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# 6 07-04-2007 , 03:11 AM

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Aah i guess i read your question wrong. user added image

I havent heard of random movemenets, and I think it would look weird... I recomend that you create a short animation scheme that reapets if you're to lazy to animate it completely. user added image

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# 7 07-04-2007 , 07:50 AM

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Originally posted by Weyu
Try standing still in a elevator and you will see that you get restless, starts moving your arms a and move your feet a litte.

And people react different when in different moods, if he is calm he can rest against a wall, if he is stressed he can move alot etc.

Just study a human riding a elevator darnit.

Edit: Dont forget eye and head movements.

Originally Posted by

Amen to that! Try to give him a sort of a "breathing" posture; make his shoulders move up and down when he's "simply standing". Like Weyu said, just do the little things such as weight transfer, shifting the eyes, arm-sway...

Sparticus

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# 8 07-04-2007 , 08:13 AM

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Originally posted by JamesP
I know all this..

This isn't even my question...

I know alot about eye movements etc. I'im asking is there an expression to make the translates/rotates a bit random.

Originally Posted by

Expressions may be a bit tricky to set up, and may even be unnecessarally worth the time it takes to create it for the sake of your animation.

Making very slight, subtle changes over time to create a feeling of unease/waiting (via keyframing) in an elevator is probably preferable.

Expressions are generally more for:

1) Controlling things that cannot be easily controlled through default attributes that are given to you , and creating a customized effect (particle effects).

2) Having a script "take over" and do things that are done dozens of times over; things that would be a nuisance to manually do (keyframe) over and over.

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# 9 07-04-2007 , 02:06 PM

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dont borther with scripts.
Humans never do nothing, we scratch our body hair, rub our hands, yawn, twitch, stretch our limbs, look around. A number of things.

Is it important that you show the character idling in a lift, unless its for dramatic affect or to show subtext then do not bother?

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# 10 07-04-2007 , 04:39 PM

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yea your best bet is to just animate a few frames of joints moving back and forth... like a character shifting from one leg to another while standing, or scratching an itch, or even looking from one character in the elevator to another or even watching them all leave. such will add to the animacity of your character without you having to think too hard as to what he/she's doing.

Accept no substitutions.

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# 11 09-04-2007 , 06:18 PM

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what about any kind of noise modifier applied to the joints/control_objects..?

everything starts and ends in the right place at the right time.

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# 12 09-04-2007 , 06:41 PM

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THis is very much secondary animation. If you have blend weights set up on your characters head then why not just use those to create facail expressions like:

Bordum:

Blowuing upwards from his bottom lip
Playing/Moving the corners of his mouth
Biting his lips

This coupled along with the secondary animation like a slight bob on his stance to try to show upward or downward movement. Eys and Head movement would make for a good animation.

Why not film yourself pretending to be in an elevator and standthere acting bored. This will give ou a great frame of reference.

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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