The puppet tool worked out decently at best. Although I can see the benefit to working with the tool, especially for small movements, overall the user has a lot less freedom to animate how one sees fit. It takes a lot more tweaking to get the specific movements needed, and there is the risk of pinching the figure animated, as my character's leg has been. I could use it to some effectiveness, especially since I usually work with solid figures. However, I would rather have total control of my figure and create a complex hierarchy of layers. The puppet tool creates too much sliding, and I dislike having every object on my character move in response to posing one limb.
In other words, the tool is decent, but I would rather animate by other means.
At the fear of being redundant on every post, it looks like we all are not in favor of the puppet tool. It seems like you had better luck just doing the movements with the position tool versus the puppet tool. Your animation was crisp and life-like before but now it looks like he's sliding but you have already stated that you are well aware of that. I definitely would like to see something happen other than him walking but it looks like this is just a step towards a longer project.
ReplyDeleteI am really drawn to the moodiness of this one. I really like the warm glow of the backlight. Im assuming those are buildings, but to me they look like elegant Japanese lamps/screens. I like the sense of depth you create by layering them in z-space. I would agree that this is a decent display of puppet tool. It seems as though the tool is just not meant for fairly realistic movement for a human figure, but I feel like you used it to the best of your ability
ReplyDeleteYeah I think there might be a sparse number of occasions where the puppet tool would lend itself to animating some object in your stories, but for the most part layers and the positioning really give it that crisp animation that your pieces are so strong in.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that one leg is smaller than the other and I feel that stands out. The movement you got from the puppet tool is great and your overall sense of depth is great. Maybe in another comp you can do the same scene but make it more disney-esque by having the items in his hands pop up and down more along with his hat.
ReplyDeleteThe leg movements are really great in this. you used the tool very well for your walk. I wish something else would happen to him, maybe something like a box falls off from the pile and you zoom out to show that he is way up in the air.
ReplyDeleteI like the motion and I feel like with a bit more play you could make the puppet tool look amazing and save yourself a lot of time. I did notice the pinch in the leg and if you segmented the legs at the hip and parented them to the body, that would have solved the pinching issue. And with a few more keyframes you could have picked up his feet and broken up the sliding. Great job as always.
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