Rouzbeh Ghasemi - Vacuum - Critique

​The arms look a lot better! Overall the clip is really strong! It's a sweet demo reel piece!

Here a few tweaks I would look into:

- his right elbow pops to the right from x223 to 225, looking like the arm is overextending. You can bring down the shoulder to smooth that out

- look at the right wrist and vacuum from x229 to 230, flip back and forth and you'll see how it's pivoting off the grey little thingie underneath the vacuum; then from x230 to 231 it all pops screen right; what you can do is this: track that grey thingie from x226 to 227, it's starting a screen right move, but then goes straight down on x228, keep it going to the right a little bit, same onto 229 and 230, so that by 230 it won't have to go as far to the right onto 231, which will reduce the pop

- his right wrist pops up over two frames from x246 to to 248

- the hip/root feels like it's drifting screen right from x222 to 235; it's just even in timing, so I would slow it down more at the beginning; I like the ambient move, but just tie it more to the rest of the body action, so it doesn't feel like a separate drift

- the thumb could need one more inbetween when it's pushing the button (x63, 110, 113, 134, 136). Big moves like that over one frame feel too poppy

That would be my priority and if you have time left, you could do one more pass on the his right arm about the IK. It's definitely better and it doesn't look IK anymore, it just feels like it (and only from the beginning to x152). I know that sounds silly but there is a difference.

Hope that helps!
JD

Alon Helman - Jump - Critique

Nice update! I really like the settle after the landing!

​My thoughts (using quicktime frame counter starting at x0)

- I would give the squash pose one more frame (or two). So when he goes down, you'd have a bit more of an ease in and out before the push off; right now he goes down at x14 to 15, and then immediately up on x16, so a one frame direction change is a bit abrupt; also, track the spacing from x15 to 16 and you will see that x16 to 17 is much smaller (and so are the following ones), which means that you have almost a pop as a jump over one frame and then an immediate slow down, which all in all looks a bit off in real time

- watch out for the screen left leg (persp view), it pops from bent x16 to straight x17.

- you can start pulling in the screen left knee at x18, so that the knee cap is not pointing to the left but to the right

- on x26, you could have one foot tilted sideways and out in Y, so they're not so twinned and parallel; one foot could also land a frame later, just so it's not all so mirrored

Hope that helps!

JD

Franck Tingue - Balls - Feedback

The smaller (heavy) ball still feels a bit light. Think bowling ball. It will hit hard, bounce up once, not even as a high as what you have at x17, then one more little tiny bounce and that's it and not move so far screen right.

The light ball is a bit all over the place. Even without the maya file, you can see that there are just too many keys in there. It's too poppy and the overall feel is just off. If you compare the Y curve of your scene to the typical bouncing ball curve, you can clearly see the difference. The Y curve should look like any of those bouncing ball drawings in animation books, at least path wise. Spacing wise it will be almost the same, but over more seconds. Compress a beach ball anim and speed it up, it will look like a regular bouncing ball. So try that. Do a regular bouncing ball with a couple bounces, then scale the keys so it takes longer and slow it down.

Alon Helman - Jump - Critique

Very cool, I like how you have him swing his arms sideways and land crouched. That gives a nice contrast in terms of body shapes across the shot. Good thinking!

You mentioned that the keys are aligned, so for your next pass look out for offsets in your movements, so that different body parts start and stop at different times.

My only comments would be about the weight distribution at the beginning. He leans to the left (I'm looking through the persp camera), but the screen right leg gets off the ground a bit early. So on x7, I would have his left leg still on the ground so that the root is a bit more leaning over his right leg, then lift his left leg, but push the weight shift more. So on x9, it doesn't look like he's over his right leg enough (it looks better in the front view camera clip, but the persp is more interesting so I would base your anim on that view and push it so that it works towards that camera).
ON x18 you seem to overstretch his legs, with the IK controllers being still on the ground. I would bring up the legs, and I would also rotate down his left foot, so it doesn't get off the ground horizontally.
As you spline out the keys, it will help the arc of the head, but just in case, make sure that when he goes down and up around x14, that there isn't a direction change over one frame like now. You can drag the head a bit as the body goes up for that.
Watch out for his right arm once he jumps. It swings to the right, then left, then back to right and finally left until he lands. I think you can simplify this a bit more, so it's not so frenetic.
The head could also have a visible impact once he lands on x27 and on, just a little down/up move so it's not so stiff.

Great first pass! You mentioned that you needed to go back to basics, but you're kicking butt, I don't see you struggling at all!

Cheers
JD

Richard Clark - Drunk - Critique

Love love love how he pushes the guy over with his foot after x1513 and the pause after he closes the door and the sigh. That part is just gold, LOVE IT! Nicely done!

I agree with your notes and I would tweak just a few little sections:

- I would push the clear silhouette and separation of the characters after x1075, when the blue guy stumbles to the left. He kinda leans back and just lifts his left foot up and then puts it back down. You could bring that foot a bit more screen left on the down so by the time we hit x1095, the key is not in front of the red guy's chest but visually in front of the car, separated from the red guy (kinda where he's at x1099).
- the first lift still feels a bit abrupt when it stops. So when he starts around x1277 and stops around x1248, I would ease more into that stop
- watch out for the blue guy's right hand after x1300 to 1320. There are still a few intersecting moments between the hand and the red guy
- looking at the 2nd shot, you could have the blue guy's legs a bit more vertical. At x1434 for instance, the don't look like they're just dangling, they're angle down to the right
- you can push the sideways tilt of the feet when they take steps; so on the red guy for instance, from x1052, when the right foot takes a step it just goes up and down and to the right. But two frames before it gets off the ground, the foot can tilt sideways first. Feet also don't have to plant horizontally, they can be tilted as well. It just eliminates default rotations at 0. So comb through the clip and push it a bit more. It also counts for foot rolls. Like on x1485, when the right foot of the red guy is almost off the ground, you see how the leg is leaning to the left, you can continue that line and tilt the foot to the left a bit, so you can feel how the weight shift affects the feet/ankles as well.
- last thing, I would loosen up the blue guy's head from x1296 to 1302. It looks like he's awake again and looking up. If that's the intention, then ok, but I thought at that point he's passed out. So around x1299 I would tilt the head to his left down and keep it dangling and not so straight up

Really enjoy seeing how far those shots have come along! Great job!

Cheers
JD

Mike Wilson - Espresso - Critique

Ah okay, no worries about the character then. It is a funny contrast. :)

The shot looks really good! You're making my job hard here. I really don't have that much to say, sorry!! :)

I would love to see this now in spline mode.

I wonder how far you can push the stretchiness, given that his actions have a lot of bounce to it (which looks nice). So from x149 to 150 as he goes down, you could translate up the head or stretch it a tiny bit (less stretch than translation), then when going back up on x154 you could bring the head down (translated) a bit more. It might get too squash and stretch, but try it.

When he says "wait" the head is fairly locked. This might not read as well because he's coming down after the first hop right before he says it, but it would be good to get a head accent for "wait", so it's not just the jaw that will say the word, but so that you will feel how the head is involved in that yell as well.

Around x195, I'd think that the screen right hip side would be up, since the weight is on the screen right leg, but you don't see the clear steps. But judging from the rhythm you have, he lands on his right leg around x169, so around x186 his left leg takes a step, then all the weight is on it around x192 on (so yeah, bring that side of the hip up), then around x216 the other leg is finishing the steps. So from x218 to 252, as he leans from side to side, you can involve the hips a bit more so that you can see the weight shifts. Nothing crazy, but I think you can push it a bit more.

Looking great, keep going!
JD

Ji-Hong Kim - Wife - Critique

Pretty much done, but there are still some same areas that need pushing, don't be too timid! :)

Shot1:
- the end seems different (sorry if not), but the glass going up at the end stops a bit too fast at x57, so don't flatten the Y up curve too fast, you can do a looser moving hold. When I first watched it, it felt like the hand pretty much stopped moving right before the cut

Shot2:
- again, sorry if I didn't see that before, it's just standing out now: her screen right elbow, track it as it goes down and you'll see how from x24 to 25 it almost stops and from x25 to 26 it goes up a little bit; so just like the glass holding hand in shot 1, ease more into that, don't stop that downward move (visually of the elbow) so quickly

Shot3:
- picky detail: after the captain elbows the guy and the arm goes back, you start the wrist rotation about x83 and end it around 87. I would have it start around 86, so it's more of a wrist adjustment after his arm is on the counter. Otherwise it feels like you're going from pose A to B and then back to A. You want it to be more like A to B to C. Andy you could relax the fingers at the end a bit more, for the same reasons, so it doesn't feel like you're going back to the same pose
- the "hahaha" of the left guy could be exaggerated 20% more and the "maa-a-an" 40% (rought numbers). It's getting there, but push it, you want to really see and feel how those two moments come out of his chest and head

That's it! Almost there!! Picky to the very end!!!! :)

But I have to say, nice fixes on all the other stuff, you're really rounding this clip out to be a great piece!! Nice work!

JD