Critique ball with tail in spline & planning the weight shift exercise.
The Center of Gravity COG
For Humans:
The centre of gravity (COG) for humans is typically located around the hips or pelvis. This is where the main control resides in character rigs, serving as the foundation for natural movement.
For Hero Characters:
For hero characters, the COG shifts to the chest, reflecting their predominant movements, such as flying or leaping through the air. This adjustment enhances the believability of their superhuman abilities.
Maintaining Balance:
To ensure proper balance in animation, it’s essential to apply correct weight distribution within the positive space of the character’s body mass. This helps achieve a sense of realism and stability in movement.
COG exercise
The following images present the outcome of the exercise, practicing the COG by aligning the bony rig with poses corresponding to the reference images. Where the red marking is Gerorge’s feedback.
Forward jump
Posing with the use of the live-action snapshot reference, is to ensure the accuracy of the physical logic, and distribution of the weight in consideration of the COG, however, the animator role is to go one step beyond, to make it visually appealing with use of exaggeration and assymetry.
Kneeling jump
Kneeling jump breakdown of action, video source: 3 Exercises To INCREASE YOUR VERTICAL Pt.2 | JUMP HIGHER | The Lost Breed used as the reference. Breakdown including the anticipation: hand movement that implies the preparation for the jump, stretch and squash of the spine, marked with the ball reference under each pose, pendulum consideration where the hands follow the chest and pelvis moving up front.
This example was broken down correctly; however, it is visually uninteresting because the posing throughout the action is symmetrical. Animation should aim for asymmetrical posing, as this allows for more variation in the line of action, making the movement appear more dynamic. Animation has the advantage over real-life action in that movements can be exaggerated. Considering this, the current example is far too dull to justify the time spent animating it.
A ball with tail spline animation feedback
- Managed to make progress, and achieve fluid motion of the tail.
- Need to pay more attention to the timing and spacing. The allocation of frames is incorrect, which results it the undesired movement. More specifically, instead of jumping to falling, jumping to flying and coming down was delivered. Rule of the thumb is that more frames are allocated for the ease in and ease out, as the character accelerates upward or downwards, to show the gradual movement.
Body weight shift planning > blocking > spline exercise
Instructions & Guidance (notes from in-class talk)
1. Setting Up the Basics
1.0 Change Default Tangents to Stepped
Switch the default tangent to “stepped” mode to make it easier to block out key poses and focus on timing.
1.1 Create a Default Pose
Start with a neutral default pose. Use both the front and left views to ensure accuracy and alignment.
1.2 Set Up a Quick Selection Tool
Create a quick selection tool for all the controllers, excluding the root controller. This will streamline the animation process and save time during adjustments.
2. Anticipation: Adding Realism to Movement
2.1 Offset for Anticipation
Introduce anticipation by slightly offsetting the pose in the opposite direction of the intended movement. This creates a sense of tension and preparation before the action begins.
2.2 Incremental Adjustments
Use the “+” or “−” keys to control the gizmo for incremental adjustments. Remember:
- A larger gizmo results in smaller, more precise movements.
- Set the foot roll to 100 and adjust it in the graph editor across the entire animation timeline for consistency.
2.3 Create Multiple Anticipation Poses
Develop around 4 anticipation poses to build a dynamic and fluid movement.
3. Weight Shift: Crafting the Contact Pose
3.1 Clean Up Between Poses
Reset all values to 0 before moving on to the next pose. This ensures clarity and reduces errors.
3.2 Define the Contact Pose
The contact pose is critical for establishing the weight shift. When the hips take the weight, the body naturally leans toward the supporting side. Add subtle rotation in the direction of the hip movement to enhance realism.
Shooting reference
Creating a video reference in front and side views for the body weight shift involved ensuring the camera was stable. Both perspectives needed to match precisely in timing, as two different cameras were used to capture the reference. The footage was then aligned in Premiere Pro, and consecutive frames were screenshotted for breakdown purposes, making it clear how to perform blocking for the action.
The image below shows the collection of screenshots, presenting consecutive frames of the action, which served as a reference for my blocking process.
Body weight shift study: breaking down in class demo
The image below shows my investigation of the class demo on the body weight shift, as explained to us with consideration of both the front and side views.
Observations/Notes:
- The body moves slightly in the opposite direction before the action is undertaken, providing a visual clue for anticipation.
- This is followed by a significant movement toward the intended direction to build up anticipation.
- It is crucial to consider the COG (centre of gravity) as a reference point when performing blocking to ensure that the poses in the blocking are accurate and physically make sense.
- As the weight of the body shifts, the COG shifts, requiring adjustments to the character’s poses.
- The feet move in such a way that, in the side view, the trajectory forms an arc, ensuring organic movement.
- The step to the side starts from the heel unless the animation is intentionally depicting a tiptoeing character (like a Pink Panther, for example).
- The passing pose is an approximation of symmetry, with the centre of gravity positioned in the middle due to even weight distribution across both legs.
- The contact pose, following the passing pose, involves dragging the foot. By analogy to the pendulum exercise, as the body shifts to the side after the step, the other foot follows by being dragged. This must be accentuated in the animation.
- As the foot is dragged, it moves upwards with the heel, while the toes remain in contact with the ground. This creates a distinction between local dragging (toes) and global dragging (leg). Both must be carefully implemented to ensure accurate movement.
My submission on SyncSketch: Body weight shift -> front_weight shift_01