[Newbie] Block jumping

[RASH]

I can get things to move better and better but it is still very hard to create only a few frames of descent animation.

Click here to watch the animation (264 kbytes) and here are the source files.

Wow, all this stuff is mind boggling. How on earth do you guys succeed in making your animations longer than the few seconds I'm just struggling to get done? Experience, talent?

This animation took me a lot of hours to create (probably because it's all new to me). I started with a bunch of little sketches on paper, to picture what was going to look like, and what was possible in 2D and what not, and -- most important -- what the keyframes where going to look like. I entered these rough sketches in Moho by hand drawing the shapes in the keyframes. Most of the time was spent on fine tuning and testing.

I will now take my time for a more complicated and longer animation, preferably with a (simple) storyline.

[rylleman]

I can get things to move better and better but it is still very hard to create only a few frames of descent animation.

Yep, animation is a timeconsuming craft...
For a first try at it it wasn't that bad. You started at the right end of it all, we all have struggled with the old bouncing ball (your cube is a variation of this).
You need to get a grasp of the principles of motion, acceleration, retardation and such (slow in/out). It looks like some invisible hand has grabbed your block and moves it up and down.
I reccomend you to get hold of some book on the subject, the Animators survival kit, the Animators Workbook or something like that.

Wow, all this stuff is mind boggling. How on earth do you guys succeed in making your animations longer than the few seconds I'm just struggling to get done? Experience, talent?

Education, practice, practice and experience, talent comes with practice.

This animation took me a lot of hours to create (probably because it's all new to me).

Thats animation for you...

I started with a bunch of little sketches on paper, to picture what was going to look like.

That's a good way to work, it gives you control over your work.

[Toontoonz]

Here´s my attempt - it is kind of wierd:
http://img249.echo.cx/my.php?image=toonz2mj.swf

8 kilobyte.

[typo]

Here´s my attempt - it is kind of wierd:
http://img249.echo.cx/my.php?image=toonz2mj.swf

8 kilobyte.

All you needed was to keep the 'volume' of the cube when it squished down, then it'd be perfect.

[Toontoonz]

Now with more volume at the bottom:

http://img225.echo.cx/my.php?image=toonz27vp.swf

[RASH]

You need to get a grasp of the principles of motion, acceleration, retardation and such (slow in/out). It looks like some invisible hand has grabbed your block and moves it up and down.

Is this any better?

[Toontoonz]

How about trying your box dropping from the sky and then bouncing up?

I have some problems at the first of your animation with the box bending or squishing- looks like an accordion - not sure what it is doing.

[rylleman]

Is this any better?

I think so, the movement off the ground is much better.
It bend down to build up force, good. Then it unleashes this force accellerating all the way off ground, the last frame on the ground somewhat puts an halt to the movement, skip this frame and you'll get much more force.
Immediately off the ground the driving force is gone and it should slow down all the way to the top where gravity starts pulling it down again, as you have done.
I think the bend of the box is better in the first try, use that.
On the way down it should accelerate all the way till ground collision, same thing here, skip the contact frame and go straight to a bent one for more force.
Next thing you could do is to add some squash and stretch to it.
I apologise if my critique seems somewhat harsh.

[RASH]

How about trying your box dropping from the sky and then bouncing up?

Or fall over and lie down after a small hop if it is a brick

I have some problems at the first of your animation with the box bending or squishing- looks like an accordion - not sure what it is doing.

It is now clear to me that the animation failed. It should have been a jumping block, not an accordion. Perhaps next time I should enact the scene with my own body before starting to draw.

[RASH]

I apologise if my critique seems somewhat harsh.

It wasn't harsh at all.

I don't know about you, but sometimes its hard to judge your own work, especially if you've put so much time and effort in it.

BTW I made an animation with sound (downloaded from the web) and a better floor color. The orangey color of the original gave too much interference in the QT movie. I used Apple's iMovie HD, which seems good enough for adding sound effects.

[rylleman]

I don't know about you, but sometimes its hard to judge your own work, especially if you've put so much time and effort in it.

Yes it is.
One way to get some perspective of your work is to take a few steps away from the screen while watching it (I'm not kidding, you do notice other things when you do that).
Another thing I try to do whenever deadlines permits it is to tuck away scenen that I'm finished with for a few days and then open them again, I then see things in need of more work that I didn't see when I made them.
In more complex scenes, with character animation and such, flip the whole scene horisontally when watching it and you'll immediately spot things that don't work.
Keep on playing with animation, you constantly learn new things and get better for every thing you do. And it's fun too.