Learning how to animate props interaction & To Much Fun

Characters and their props


So originally decided to take the opportunity to learn how to get a character to interact with props properly. It was something we had covered in class last year. However my attempts to use it for my submission did not work out as hoped. Over the weekend I looked back into this using a free video from Digital-Tutors (Though the more advanced methods do cost money.) ---- Digital-Tutors Course ---

I also used How to cheat in may for its section on Constraints which in some way resulted in one of my own props being a pencil.  This was going to be a quick test which involved the character just picking up objects. However  as I began animating the scene I kept adding more and more animation in order to make the scene come to life. As I had already began more actions and reactions into the animation I used the opportunity to practice animation principles.  I focused on Arcs, Slow in/Out, Eye blinks,  Anticipation and follow-through sadly that has far as I can recall.

 

"ElevenRig from 11second Club"

Above is a play-blast of the test, In this test I paid special attention towards having the Eyes lead the head, and also having the head arc downwards while looking to the side. Weight for when they shuffle himself forward (Despite the girl hair style). As I continued animate I wanted the character to become more lifelike as time went on and wanted to remove as much static holds as possible leading to at least two body parts moving at any given time. Though there are still dry areas as the test has not been refined to a production level. As  most of my test so far a maximum of two days is spent  at a time on a single project. Some areas I can instantly pick apart of this test is the static torso, The shape of the hands while pressed on the floor which could also have been animated to show weight in the palms. The Animation of the ball as it is thrown along with its movement and bounce. However I did take advantage of the ghosting feature to help animate the balls Arc and then began using the same feature in animating the hands.

One Issue I have noticed with all my animation and which has been pointed out by a friend is that my character animation has continuous movement which I believe is linked to the timing of my the movements.  My own evaluation of it is the character seems like they always know exactly what they are going to do and how making it feel somewhat unnatural.

Sadly this test wasn't planned out in my sketchbook and more or less came together on the go. I had planned on doing as much detail for this test I would have taken the time to plan out each action. the lack of planning is show in my own opinion when Russell reaches for the box first yet interacts with the ball instead.

On Another note

As I am still planning the the two other test's which is aimed toward testing out personality and acting theory's those will be slightly done later in the week. However i am also aware i have yet to post up the previous animation test regarding Power centers but this test has been evaluated with Lynn so i would like to take the opportunity to refine the animation more before posting. The areas that will be added to will be follow through in the shoulders and bounce in the arms as they were static at the time which lead to both of us using my sketch book as if it was a shotgun and then seeing how our arms moved as we walked.(Curse that person in white-space solutions for laughing at us!)