Idle Movements (Comp #12)

[BiG ToE-3DT]

_Idle Movements_


The idea,
Ok, Ok, I know it sounds like an oxi moron, “Idle Movement”, but this one can be fun. What I want to see is 3 ideal movements, (think video game character waiting for you to move) try to link them together, so it would be one right after another. If you can, try making it so it loops. Lets be as creative as we can with this one. Make this as original as you can. Use props if you need/want to. If you want, to add music. Have fun with it. If you don’t have a character to animate, you can find one on the net(let us know you didn’t model it).

_Rules_


- The due date is August 19th, (two weeks from now) a Saturday 11pm(GMT). Voting will be on that Sunday. Post your final entry’s in the Final Entry Thread.

- Minimum animation: your animation needs to be at least 6 seconds.

- Recommended screen resolution in 320x240 (you can do 640x480 if you want, but why would you).

- You can post W.I.P.s but you are only allowed one complete entry. That link is also final. You can and should post your wip’s to get help.

- Websites where you post your finals is up to you.

- Remember, it's about animation, use your time for animation, not to get the best render possible, unless you can afford it.

- Use of plug-ins not allowed. Must be key framed (hand animated)

- Try to use Quicktime or Divx if possible.

- You must post a render of some sort with your final entry post; also include a screen grab with key frames. No CHEATING.

- Voting will be as follows -

Pick your favorite animation. You will get to pick your favorite. At the end of the polling, whoever gets the most votes wins. Add any crits of final entry’s in the final entry thread.


Good luck!
BiG ToE

[anem8or]

wow I really like this comp. looking forward to some crazy ideas.

[Diabolos]

Ok, cool - three movements (looped) - I'm in - I am starting tonight after work. Now be prepared to be bugged by me, as I am starting to gather some questions...........

D,

[XenoAcid]

...Don't you mean..."Idle"

[martimus]

hmm, this is getting complicated! Whatever happened to jack in the box? lol

Perhaps, alternating between character and object animations would give us a breather?

never mind!

Hmm, so, 3 movements could be, spot enemy, fire gun, reload, then loop

is that the kind of thing you mean?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Diabolos: ask away.

XenoAcid: yes, tes I did.

martimus: no, picture this, your playing your favorite game when, oh no you gotta pee, you jump up leaving the game in mid play, not pressing pause. You go do your thing, then you come back to see your character standing there, idle, but he still has some basic movement going on. That's the idea.

[martimus]

aaah, idle movement, makes so much sense now lol

I get ya! ;)

Cool challenge. I was actually just playing Zelda recently and I was just sat watching link's idle movements for ages.

I remember mario falling asleep in mario64. 'mmm pizza.....lasagne...' lol

Good stuff!

btw you might want to change the thread title as well

[BiG ToE-3DT]

yeah I blew it on the spelling. All my fault

[Diabolos]

so something like sctratches head, yawns, then looks around........

D,

[BiG ToE-3DT]

yeah, something like that.

[hammering3D]

hahaha lol ... that is really funny ... I now flash back in my head sounds and movement from games I play along years :D ... I remeber WORMS :D that was funny ... more talking then gestures but funny :D..."now come on" animate..."what are U waiting for, Christmas ? " ... :D

[BiG ToE-3DT]

I got 3 great ideas they are so good that I can't say them in here cause they may blow your minds. You will just have to wait for an update.

[mon_stdnt]

can we use the same character as in " Fall & Get Up" challenge?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

No

[BiG ToE-3DT]

just kidding, sure you can. You can use whatever you want. But the idea is, use these small animations for your demo reel. If your applying for an animation job they want to see run, walk, jump, fall type stuff, the long animated movies bores them.

[Diabolos]

No

HAHA - you prankster!

I am having skinning problems, I will be ready to post some test movements tonight and maybe you guys can help to solve my major mesh deformations - <whisper> but I am at work right now...........oh the overseer is coming............

[hammering3D]

me to having skining problem :dunno:

[mon_stdnt]

Originally Posted by BiG ToE-3DT
no
You almost got me, good think I saw the other message. And frankly I do this as a hobby, cause I really one to be a graphic designer. But yes, the small animations will be on my online porfolio, when I get it up and running, just to show them that I could do others stuff. :smug:

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Earthworm Jim had my favorite idle movements.

[hammering3D]

Guy BlueSummers - hehe yes :) he swing his gun...i think he make lasso of the worm :D he look at watch if i remeber right :D

[BiG ToE-3DT]

I'll go ahead and use this guy, my secret weapon.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/009.jpg

[martimus]

cool model big toe.

Im not sure yet if I have the time or energy to use a different character. I cant face the prospect of having to make another rig.

Hmm i guess its practise..

[BiG ToE-3DT]

well my problem is, lately, ever character I model gets rigged, skinned, posed. Sometimes a few morphs are tossed on.

But my riggs aren't anything special. Just whats needed to move the toes, knees, elbows type of thing.

[martimus]

So your using the time to practice rigging as well, good job!

Myself, I hate rigging almost as much as I hate texturing!

Tho I must admit, when you have a rig finished there is a degree of satisfaction much akin to finishing a lego model. Its just cool when it 'works', know what I mean?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

I have a standard rigg that I use, I just make a few adjustments per model, but I do know what you mean.

[mon_stdnt]

can you just make a rig and imported it to a character? so you save time on the process.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

well you can in max. If you have a rigg you like alot. You make merge the bone objects into whatever scene you want. But you might have to make a few changes to the rigg to fit the model.

[mon_stdnt]

true that.

Here's a rough-render for the challenge. tell me what you think. I build an enviroment, couple of blocks, no big deal.
http://www.4shared.com/file/2971379/a53f5489/rough-render.html

BTW: Big Toe your character is going to look good cause it actually looks like a game character.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

it better look good, I haven't won a challenge yet. think I might have the low poly guys come over and vote for me.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

testing, testing, this is just a test.

screw that test, site sucks, nothing but trouble.

[hammering3D]

It's not working for me it's write like this:

You have the following file available for download:

(0.00 KBytes)

and when i push to download file after that timer end it give me this:

Not Found
The requested URL /d//1155199668/ was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[martimus]

ditto

[mon_stdnt]

same here

[BiG ToE-3DT]

damn, damn, damn. I need a new upload site. I shall see what I can do.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

new link, second try.
http://media.putfile.com/idle-001-93

[martimus]

nice, liking the still movent. Ive been thinking about this alot lately, and trying to figure out the best way of having still movement and transitioning into other stuff.

Hmm. Not sure what to do yet

[BiG ToE-3DT]

you still got a weekend/week and a half to figure it out.

Try, heavy breathing, tapping of the foot. Or better yet. Stand up, look at yourself, the way your standing. Start watching TV ehile standing. Have someone else write down what you do. Your movements. Then copy.

[martimus]

hmm good advice big toe.

I was thinking of something like stretch, look at watch maybe even sit down.

This will be fun to animate

[Diabolos]

and now back to animating - hey guys, I have some ideas and I will be animating over the weekend, I just wanted to finish up a hobby project first. (You can check it out in the finished 3d art forum - if you wish).

D,

[BiG ToE-3DT]

is there a link, man. Or do I have to look for it.

[Diabolos]

sorry, looking is part of the fun - it must still be on the main thread - what can I say, I was on my way out the door..........

D;

http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=44748

[jimbojones133]

Alright, I know I said I was gonna enter the lip synch one, but I never got around to it. So I'm making it up with this comp cause I had a couple days to animate and I've already got it pretty much done. I am leaving for the weekend, but i'll have a render done and up late next week. Here are is a picture of the keys... By the way I used the popular generi rig for maya.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c9/jimbojones133/keys.jpg

[Diabolos]

Ok, I'll be using the HyperRealistic series to practice on - model is supplied (control rig as well, but I made my own following the directions) - now I just have to figure out how to connect them. Here is a screenshot..

D,

But first time to install maya 8 - lets see how many scripts I lose........

[mon_stdnt]

looking good, can way.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Got mine all done and everything, but I'm not sure if I should show it off yet, don't want to scre the children.

[mon_stdnt]

give us a tease. :smug:

[BiG ToE-3DT]

taste it.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g129/DJBiGToE/001.jpg

[hammering3D]

Come on I am 6 years old now I am a big boy I can taste more than that ;P

[BiG ToE-3DT]

well for some reason, my quick renders end up a large file size than my full renders. But the full render takes a whole lot longer to make.

[de4dy]

Q:must the camera be from behind like in games of can it get closer and around ...?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

its up to you. Whatever shows off your animation, is the best choice.

[anem8or]

Here's a Sneek Peek at what's to come.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

from that picture, your guy looks off balanced. Unless he is in the middle of changing positions, you might want to take a look at that.

[martimus]

I agree with big toe, go try that position, you wont be able to hold it.

Swap the knee that is knelt down

[anem8or]

Thanks for the suggestions but, the picture is not part of an animation. I haven't started on the animation yet It is just a picture to show the theme of my idle animations. I will try switching the legs to see if it looks better.

Thanks.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

before you do that, have you tried getting in that pose yet. Try it, see how you handle the movement.

The back looks a bit stiff too. But then its a still image, it can look looser when moving.

[Diabolos]

This is my lame@$$ attempt at idle movement - movements are seperated by frames: 2-175 | 276 - 350 | 351 - 525

I can't even get the out mesh to skin properly so you'll have to settle for my low poly rig.........I may try again, but I think I need to stick to the drawing board and maybe get some more books....

D,

http://www.mysharefile.com/v/8347795/idleBeast.mov.html

[BiG ToE-3DT]

Wow Diabolos, WOW.

[martimus]

Hey diablos, good start, tho I dont think the movement is very realistic, the sliding makes the animation a little weird,

One thing that strikes me in each animation, I have no idea what it actually is that he's doing.

After your first place with the walk cycle, Im sure you can do better!

Keep at it

[Diabolos]

Wow Diabolos, WOW.

You are being sarcastic.......... :cry:

Martimus - thanks, for the support. I was thinking on the way home in the car and I think I just realized what I may be doing wrong so look for an update. You are very correct about the sliding, but I just couldn't figure out how to get his feet to stick.

Movement 1: Looks around scratches leg/butt
Movement 2: Farts and rubs belly
Movement 3: Looks around (back to player) and shrugs shoulders

I am playing xbox tonight so no update until after tomorrow.............i need a break.

D,

martimus - your polite description of not knowing what the movements were gave me a chuckle. I don't have Hammertime, but I have a little Mr. Roboto and Lord of the Dance - I need new ideas------------I was hoping to copy BiGToe :crazy:

[BiG ToE-3DT]

go ahead, copy away. The idea is to animate. So I wont be mad. No one will vote for me anyways.

[Diabolos]

nahhh - there is no fun in that. I finally found a game I have with idle motion - TitanQuest. So I am going to try his moves - I should be able to get it done on time.

D,

[Diabolos]

and now for something totally different. i decided not to use TQ as a reference, but back to my own ideas. i feel much better with this one, but your tips to get it better would be appreciated..........this is motion 1 of 3 I am working on 2 right now (tonight).

http://www.mysharefile.com/v/6888091/motion01.mov.html



D,

[martimus]

No one will vote for me anyways.

aww bless ya big toe!

Perhaps we should be able to vote for 2nd and 3rd as well?

The poll is good, but it doesnt provide many options for the voter. You only get one preference

[martimus]

Diablos, that is much better than your revious attempt!

Some tips,

All movement comes from the hips, your hips are not moving at all, get them moving! To twist like that, your character needs to change his centre of gravity.

We move in arcs, at the moment your character has no up or down movement when he looks around, just a twist left and right. Some vertical movement in the form of an arc when he moves will liven it up

[Diabolos]

Hi Martimus - I was able to make some quick changes.....one of my problems seem to be my joint skeleton. The way I made did not give me very much control for the hip area - I am really not sure how I can fix this - I may have to try a full body IK, but my joint names are off.....anyway...

no fancy render on this one

http://www.mysharefile.com/v/9616923/motion01a.mov.html

D,

[martimus]

Much better! Perhaps make the lift up at the end of each twist a little more subtle.

What software are you using?

Its true a good rig makes it easy to animate

[Diabolos]

Much better! Perhaps make the lift up at the end of each twist a little more subtle.

What software are you using?

Its true a good rig makes it easy to animate

Maya 8

Which lift up do you mean martimus - the legs or the upper torso?

Thanks,

D,

[Diabolos]

go ahead, copy away. The idea is to animate. So I wont be mad. No one will vote for me anyways.

BTW - you are the mod so you win every competition anyway (or else you wouldn't be the mod). I guess I am used to SMC's where the mods get the ball rolling, keep the kids in line, and watch from the sidelines............

D,

Hammering3d - I see you - where is your material?

[mon_stdnt]

Diabolos is looking good, try making the opposite leg of the turn, turn inward. I do believe that doing the motion twice seems to much, never really played TQ, but is they do it their is fine, but switch it up, make it so its different.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

BTW - you are the mod so you win every competition anyway (or else you wouldn't be the mod).

The truth is, they made me mod, not because I have great skill, but because I stick around. They needed someone who knew something and I did. But I will try to win this one.

Martimus: I can change the poll so everyone can vote for 3 people, but then we could end up with a 3 way tie.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

http://www.bobotheseal.com/

this is just for you Diabolos. It's my boy, he worked on that game TQ.

[Diabolos]

i am having problems with the lower torso, but I will try. I thought about that, but thought maybe I could get by without.

Double movement - the clip is looped so the full movement is 00:00 to 06:00 sec. Is that what you mean or did you mean within the first 6 seconds? In TQ he does kind of the same more like "what was that" and I was trying to get "look left, right, and growl"

Thanks,

D,

[Diabolos]

http://www.bobotheseal.com/

this is just for you Diabolos. It's my boy, he worked on that game TQ.

Oh man! all the more scrutiny<sp> from you, I guess..........

I thought the poll was cool, but martimus has a point about 1st, 2nd , 3rd.

BTW: Where are the trophy files so I can put it on my DWI animation..

Ya, you are a good mod <no brown-nosing here just my opinion>

D,

[BiG ToE-3DT]

I have the trophies and everything, I just thought I wasn't right, using thier work without giving them something in return.

[mon_stdnt]

here is what I have right now, I'll be working on the last one tonight.
http://www.4shared.com/file/3061783/79637a48/rough-render2.html

[martimus]

the return they get is there work is shown around

diablos, i mean at the ver apex of the turn, when he is just about to change direction the lifting up is a little too sharp imo, like it pops slightly

[BiG ToE-3DT]

mon_stdnt: on the butt scratch, his left arm is doing some crazy stuff. It's just the elbow, no big deal. But I do wish I could do that. The things I would do...

[hammering3D]

Hammering3d - I see you - where is your material?


Well ... I'm in preaty bad shape right now...my bone system make me problem's...and I mean my real bone's system :D ... I have heavy back pain and can't stay to much at PC...so I just come peek an eye from the shadow then go away :)...but hope I will have something till the deadline ...

U do an nice job ... hope U will finis it ... c ya

[BiG ToE-3DT]

pop some advil, take a nap. Watch some TV, hope you feel better.

Last but not least, Vote For Me.

[Diabolos]

ok, I have an arm snap to fix near the end of the cycle, but other than that what do you think?

Thanks,

D,


http://www.mysharefile.com/v/3053870/motion02.mov.html

[BiG ToE-3DT]

this one does have a better feel to it. Question: is the arm popping like that because you are looping it. Just copy the start keyfram of the arm, to the end. But you know that.

[Diabolos]

this one does have a better feel to it. Question: is the arm popping like that because you are looping it. Just copy the start keyfram of the arm, to the end. But you know that.

thank you

yes, I just forgot to return the arm bone to its original setting (was the last movement I made)- it's fixed though and the final motion is done as well (best for last) I'll keep it surprise for the final thread :) I am fine tuning a dynamics effect and then it'll go into final render tonight.

I wanna see yours, please. Or are you waiting as well. I am done so I won't copy........

QUESTION: Do you want the motions looped after each other or after the 3 sequences (i.e. motion01, motion01, motion02, motion 02, etc - or - motion01, 02, 03, 01, 02, 03)?



D,

[jimbojones133]

Alright, here is my finished idle animation for everyone to look at... of course, comments and critiques are welcome.. I guess I'll just post this again for the final entry thread as well.. gl to everyone

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c9/jimbojones133/idle.jpg


http://www.mysharefile.com/v/2176303/idle.mov.html

[mon_stdnt]

that was awesome, very clean. the animation is so clean that you could "hear" audio. well done.

[Diabolos]

that was good, my only comment would be that I think some of the movements are too quick; the foot tap should be more heel on ground and toes tap, tap, tap IMO; when the arm raises to wave.

D,

[jimbojones133]

thanks for the compliment mon_stdnt...

yeah, I completely agree diabolos.. The first two movements.. the watch look and the foot tapping, there some movements that are very quick and then when he gets into the the wave he slows down.. I should go and even the timing out a bit, but I'm not sure if I'll get around to it..

thanks though, when you work on this stuff you look at it so much that you don't know what looks right anymore, heh..

[mon_stdnt]

I think the wave is fine, it adds character to the figure.

[Diabolos]

thanks though, when you work on this stuff you look at it so much that you don't know what looks right anymore, heh..

I totally agreeeeeeee.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

you guys want to final thread up now. Or is everyone still working and have no plans of submitting to defeat just yet.

Either way, I should have the final thread up and running by Thursday, at some vert in time.

[Diabolos]

sure, mine'll be ready on Friday.........i just had a question though post#83

[BiG ToE-3DT]

QUESTION: Do you want the motions looped after each other or after the 3 sequences (i.e. motion01, motion01, motion02, motion 02, etc - or - motion01, 02, 03, 01, 02, 03)?



D,

Thats up to you. For mine I did each motion about three times before I moved on to anoter one.

[Diabolos]

ok - i'll have to see what looks the best..........for me.

[ItsaMystery]

Sweet looking entries so far everyone. I can't wait to get back into the comps once I'm back from this Maya camp at the end of this week (it's freakin' awesome here though, too. I'll probably show some stuff in the WIP thread when I'm back :P) :haha:

[Diabolos]

BiGToE - that was cool! Good job..........

my $0.02 though, about our poll. I really think one vote is enough, because now technically the three of us should be in a three way tie - if there were 6 entries then at least 3 of them would be in a first place tie and the other three in a tie for second place, after nine entries there would only be the true results don't you think........

It doesn't really matter, because it's for fun, but I just wanted to shout out my thoughts.

D,

[martimus]

if there were 6 entries then at least 3 of them would be in a first place tie and the other three in a tie for second place, after nine entries there would only be the true results don't you think........



Only if everyone voted for different people, its likely the better will have more votes anyway

Er, looks like Im out of this comp guys, my Max has f*cked up, and I wont have net until I get some new ISP sorted as of tomorrow, so good luck all!

Ill try to get to a cafe or something to vote, but dont hold your breath!

[ItsaMystery]

Back from my camp, just in time to vote :)

Ah bummer, martimus! Hope everything gets sorted out soon!

[BiG ToE-3DT]

soon people, very soon. The voting will start. Get your hand held input clicking devices oiled up and ready.

[Diabolos]

anem8tor - that's cool. I like the attention to detail with the robotic eye and sensor - my only crit is that the right arm seems to pop/snap once and the cubes, which makes up the arms, seem to get a little over twisted.

D,

[Diabolos]

Back from my camp, just in time to vote :)

Ah bummer, martimus! Hope everything gets sorted out soon!

show us what you learned over there.........

[anem8or]

Diabolos thanks for the crit - at what part do you think the right arm pop/snaps?

The cubes that make up the arms are scripted to do a percentage of the twist of the wrist. I've tried it on a human looking arm and it turns out good, but because the cubes are the same size on all sides, It makes it hard to tell they are really just moving a little bit. The block closest to the elbow is twisting only .05% then the next block is .25%, .5%, .75%, then the last cube closest to the wrist is rotating .9% of the wrist's rotation.

I've tried to change the percentage of rotation but then the rest of the animation for the arm looks really stiff.

[Diabolos]

Diabolos thanks for the crit - at what part do you think the right arm pop/snaps?

Oh its no big deal, I was watching your clip and not the time slider. It's actually only when the clip ends/starts - the end start position of the arm is not the same...