SKYLAB CHAT

[skylab]

Slon was galloping around while I was napping Now that the rider and horse can stay reasonably together, this opens up a lot of possibilities....with different characters and scenes.

 

[Miss B]

Nicely done Sky.

 

[skylab]

Hey Miss B With all the galloping going on, this has been a good place to get trampled here lately...haha.

Someone had a question about the Mil Cat, so here's my most laid back Mil Cat animation

 

[Miss B]

Nicely done on the tail.

 

[skylab]

That's the friendly tail swish....when it gets more rapid with a thumping sound, look out....haha

 

[Miss B]

 

[skylab]

I thought it might help to share how I do basic animations...so I chose a simple one to illustrate...the Hivewire Big Cat roar.

When I start a project, I make a decision where it is going, where's the most extreme movement, so that I can plan how to get back to where it started, in order to create a smooth loop. With the lion roar, it is easy to see that the actual roar with mouth wide open is the extreme point...so we choose somewhere near the middle frame to do this. In this case I chose frame 12 in order to allow plenty of time for the lion's head to return to normal. For simple looping animations, always return all posing in the last frame (in this case frame 30) back to what it was in frame 1. If things don't line back up in frame 30, it will result in a "hiccup"....or a skip in the animation that will not be smooth.

The rest is in the screen captures. So if you've ever wanted to try Poser animation, go for it, give it a try.

 

[skylab]

End result should be something like this

 

[skylab]

I forgot to mention some movement of the neck in the lion roar demonstration...but the same thing applies...whatever settings you use in frame 12, make sure you return everything, no matter what it is, back to what it was in frame 1 at the last frame.

If you don't have the Hivewire Big Cat, use any figure, a house cat, one of the Poser or DAZ animals...and Charles, you could use Emotiguy since the DAZ Studio animation timeline is very similar You could do a human figure, looking out of a window....any type of action that can be returned to the source frame smoothly, for learning purposes. Have fun

And now, with this information, Janet will know how I do animations also...the extent of what I know, and the giant fall off point of what I don't know...so that we can better communicate about animations

 

[skylab]

Nursoda fans, there are free animations on Janet's site...including Bong and Malik, as well as other characters

ANNIE-MATION FREEBIES

 

[skylab]

Songbird Remix Sparrow....as the crow flies

 

[skylab]

...and the Songbird Remix Robin...with the crow animation

 

[skylab]

...and I think this is the more correct body type for the robin...still flying like a crow

 

[Miss B]

Nice Sky. Now all you need is a soundtrack of flapping wings to go with it.

 

[skylab]

Thanks Miss B Now birds are everywhere in this thread
Finally we have a Remix cardinal...who starts out a crested cardinal, but loses the crest in this exaggerated demo when he attempts to fly like a crow.

 

[Janet]

They do work! Very cool!

 

[skylab]

Hey Janet Yeah, I think they work pretty good, especially for distance shots. The head shape seems to be the most affected by the crow fly pose. I've been testing Janet's Fly for Songbird Remix American Crow to see if it would work with the original Songbird Remix

 

[skylab]

And you call this baby steps...haha...my first attempt at a walk animation. This is rather humbling in front of the Master Animator...but how else does one learn

 

[skylab]

I was trying to get a little side to side neck and chest action going on...it started in that direction, but seemed to fizzle on the return. And I didn't know how to deal with the feet going under the ground plane during the foot behind part of the cycle, so I just stuck with flat-patting on the ground...haha This is using the Remix Penguin from back in the DAZ days.

 

[Janet]

Looks good. Yah I have a penguin walk done. It's hard to do much with those short little legs.