by Jojishi » Fri Feb 03, 2017 7:30 pm
Welcome to TDD, DON! Firstly, I'd like to say I'm surprised and very happy you came to our forum. Secondly, when updating be sure to make a new post saying "update". New posts bump topics to the top of the section they're in and people are more likely to see you've updated. It's good you edited the title of your thread though. c:
As for the animations, I must say that I was completely blown away by that Battle of Gods animation. It's probably the best animation you've made and one of my favourites now, so I hope you keep animating it. It has nice full-bodies, amazing effects, fantastic 3D, backgrounds and even the fight choreography is done well. Even the movements look good (this held you back in the past, mostly the shakiness) since they have good poses, power, smooth spacing and flow. The movements look Inters to me, so including all the other things definitely puts you on the high end of Intermediate. Overall it's a very entertaining animation so far and I'm eager for more. :D
DBP: Episode 11 looks amazing so far as well (although a little less than BoG :p). The effects, action, full-bodies and creativity is all quite good! Movements are nice, but it's a bit hard to tell when it's so fast. The FPS seems higher than Battle of Gods, so you might have saved the fps too high. Although animating at a high FPS can make it smoother, you have to animate a lot more frames so movement is at a normal speed, so it may be easier using 18 fps (a lot of people use this). Also, the animation could have some more 3D scenes like BoG, but the animation's just started so it's understandable. :)
Tyrant tests are great, and it's absolutely fantastic you're still animating an original series. 1 has nice splash/particle effects and the light-rays add a lot to it (they even wobble with the water). 2 has nice 3D, good shading and smooth arm movements, although the head had some slight shakiness. 3 looks very anime-ish and interesting. :p
Regarding the movement tests, it's great that you're trying to improve this aspect of your animations. Jan 28 is a nice walk cycle that demonstrates flow and weight, however, the hands changed direction suddenly at each stride. Some easing would help it look more natural, but don't ease to a complete stop since you still want some flow. For example (where "-" = spacing, "|" = frame):
Total flow, hand moves right
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
Total flow, hand changes direction (goes left)
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
Easing completely to a stop, hand moves right
|-----|----|---|--|-||
Easing completely to a stop, hand changes direction (goes left)
||-|--|---|----|-----|
1st example there's 100% flow, 2nd is 100% easing. Something natural would be in-between:
Hand moves right
|-----|----|---|--|
Hand changes direction (moves left)
|--|---|----|-----|
Can you see how there are still changes in speed, but it doesn't stop completely? This is how you balance easing and flow.
Jan 31 looks good to me. There is power, nice poses and it's spaced well. Attacks look creative too.
Feb 2 (bottom) has a nice balance of easing and flow, plus it has power and weight to it. However, the arm he used to catch the rock was a little shaky at one part. When the arm goes behind him, for one frame it almost stops and bends the opposite direction it ends up bending. Other than that, everything else is fantastic.
Feb 2 (top) is nice, but the legs could look better if they didn't slide before kicking off into the handstand. Keeping the feet planted for a bit would give it more power and a less "shuffling" look".
Feb 4 is a huge improvement and possibly some of the best movements I've seen from you. The starting 3D is awesome, as well as the jump and when he falls back down (which has fantastic easing and flow). The landing looks good, however, the attacks that follow look a little shaky and this could be because you went for muscle control Firecracker's known for. It's hard to replicate this until you've got easing and flow down, so I personally wouldn't recommend it until you've got more movement tests under your belt. You don't even need muscle control to get Elite so it's not worth worrying over until you're more comfortable. The attacks at the end are amazing and demonstrate great power and smoothness. The little blurs are a nice touch.
Overall, your full-bodies, effects, 3D, action, backgrounds etc. make your entertaining animations stand out from everyone. Movements have never been a strong point for you, but you've clearly improved a lot and they're definitely High Beginner. With the recent movement tests as well as the movements in BoG, they look Inters half the time and when they are, your animations look on the high end of Intermediate (if not, Veteran) thanks to all of the other aspects you have that other Begs and Inters don't. Your movements are getting better and if you make more movement tests you'll likely work out the kinks. You're a very promising animator and I admire your work ethic with the YouTube activity, stick pack, series you keep making, tutorials and timelapses, etc.
Keep at it man and I'm looking forward to whatever else you do. I hope my advice helps, and congrats for reading this far lol. :p
