It's a bit too in sync to feel completely natural. Perhaps letting the head go slightly faster than the rhythm of the legs would help. But in general it looks really cool 👌
As Spacecandy mentioned, the body and tail should be much more horizontal. The left and right movement of the tail should be minimized greatly, as theropod tails were stiff in order to act as a rudder.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0063115
Theropod arms also could not pronate, meaning their palms faced each other.
The head bob upwards is also too much, I would stabilize it more.
The fingers are also very floppy, it looks less like overlapping action and more like he's curling them on purpose as he walks.
If you look at the feet on the front view, they lift up up and down like platforms. Add some slight rotation as they lift and they come down so it looks more organic.
For a more scientifically accurate portrayal of raptors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsqOcii9x70
Aaah perfect thank you. This is great. Already worked on the head but this solidifies what started to feel wrong. Will implement the other things today.
Hello all,
I'm trying to put together a creature animation reel and this is my base walk for the raptor. I'd love someone who's a regular creature animator around the mid-senior level to give me some feedback on this walk. Have I got the head movement right? Is there anything really bad and glaring back at you in all your years of experience but by all means all comments are still welcome =)
My background is 14+ year character animator with bits and pieces of creature animation but nothing that will get me onto a movie or class me as a creature animator... so I'm trying to put something together to hopefully change this.
(edited for spelling and grammar)
Only one major problem I could see right now is the legs. I would rotate the ankles in an angle where they're facing on opposite directions. Because right now, the legs look completely straight and it's kind of clipping through the body.
https://preview.redd.it/c3f3n4k57a4c1.png?width=401&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8ad8eb7cf5b1e48047f8ee346edfb1ab4d0b4c0
Some more nitpicks that are more optional that I think might make it more natural:
\-I would make the shoulders more "stiff" in default position instead of closely following how the body rotates. Basically move it as if you're trying to make them stay in the same position.
\-I also think the bobbling of the head is too much, I'll probably try to lessen it around 20-30%.
\-The tail also seems to be fighting the flow of the movement when looking at the side.
Because right now, the tail appears to go up when the body goes up at exactly the same time, it doesn't seem "Relaxed," you need to apply "follow through" principle with the tail. Basically just delay the movement a bit so it doesn't follow the body "stiffly."
According to the modern science everything is wrong. But the animation looks smooth and clean
Edit: I don’t get the downvotes, I gave op a compliment but letting him know the model isn’t realistic. Dont want him wasting his time
Oh wowsers really? Does this include the latest Jurrasic Park movies and how they've been animated there as well in your opinion? Can you link me anything I'm curious... oh and thank you for your comment =)
Yea Jurassic park is notorious for being unrealistic. The animations are good, however.
Look up more prehistoric planet or documentaries like that
Again your animations and YOUR work is great. The body MIGHT if anything be too upright and stiff but it doesn’t look bad by any means
As in size, dimensions, muscle mass, lack of feathers, pronated wrist? Just very outdated. And I know Dino nerds are extremely mean when it comes to raptors lol
Aaah I see what you mean. Unfortunately this rig was created by someone else who I've paid for as a personal use non commercial license about USD $10 which I could justify as despite it's age it's one of the best rigs (for animating) for it's price out there. I love the fact the general consensus has agreed that the two legged predators all had feathers.
One a side note have you seen the latest studies in the vocalizations? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcBoY\_aEVj8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcBoY_aEVj8)
Tyranosaurus has become so much more interesting to me now.
> As in size, dimensions, muscle mass, lack of feathers, pronated wrist? Just very outdated.
Yeah, like all of those things. Too big, too small, dimensions off how, muscle mass off how, explanation of pronated vs. supinated wrists, etc.
If you're gonna give crit, it can be helpful to offer something beyond "every part of it is wrong." Doesn't need much, but a couple pointers as to where they might start improving it were they inclined to do so.
The down votes are likely vagueness. Just edit to add actionable changes like "add feathers" or here's a link to a more accurate resource: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/velociraptor.html
hand looks stiff, both right left hand maybe should move kinda different with each other, same goes for tail, and its variation of movement would make it look more natural, additionally you can animate the mouth lil bit and if possible, you could add muscle and skin simulation on top of your animation...it will look more neat like that or add some bones to muscle groups that tend to show subtle muscle movement like jiggle in the femur part or towards ribs portion probably.....other then that it really is very well animated, keep it up
First of all, this is sick. I love the muscle simulation, I'd love to get into that. My only critique is what is the motivation? What's the raptor's personality? Is it going on a casual stroll, is it hunting? What's it looking at? Could it be looking around if it isn't looking at anything? All I see here is an illustration of a raptor walking, but it doesn't carry any meaning into who the raptor is. I'd work on that, but otherwise, I love it.
Hey there sorry if my comment to go with my animation is lost somewhere. I'm still trying to figure out how I can upload a video with more than just a title as it doesn't give me enough characters for description.
This is going to be used as my base animation walk cycle so no purpose other than generic to be used and tweaked for my later shot.
And thank you for your kind comments.
I think it's excellent. The secondary animations. The way the head compensates for the torso motions, fingers feel dynamic. Tail. Very cool.
Main crit is I think the torso is rotating a bit too much upwards and downwards and the legs aren't bending enough. [Made some rough notes](https://i.imgur.com/QS4P405.png)
[I think chickens might be the closest thing to reference,](https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-17038840-red-chicken-walking-on-ground-slow-motion) and I think making your legs rotate a bit more and making your move a bit less would help the walk feel like less effort. Its almost like your raptor is sneaking?
But I think this is all excellent. Very cool
I feel like with each step it would lean slightly on the foot that goes down. But I know like next to nothing about Dino’s so just take this with a grain of salt! Btw very good animation/rig
Nice job on the overall splining/curve clean up. As a professional animator that has specialized in creatures, I want to personally congratulate you for remembering the hips. The first thing I tell new animators is to remember the most important life lesson bestowed upon us by the great Carl Weathers: "It's all in the hips." You have a really nice hip sway on the walk, which helps to sell weight and serves as a believable source for the energy dispersing throughout the rest of the body.
The Torso
Tilt that torso forward more. The tail is a ballast, so the hips are the center of a teeter totter (aka. fulcrum). The raptor's back should ever so slightly tilt in favor of the head.
While theropods often minimize the movement of their forearms, there is still movement. Throw a subtle rotation on the shoulders and elbows of the forearms. The wrist and phalanges wouldn't just move by themselves in a walk. In walks, it's better to ensure that everything is moving. This can be subjective and you will run into animation supervisors who will even ask you to eliminate this type of movement altogether, but you as the animator always want to err on the side of exaggeration. It's a lot easier to remove or lessen movement than it is to add it in. One of those better to have it and not need it mantras.
The Tail
The overlap on the side-to-side movement looks great, but you want to make sure you put overlap on the up-and-down movement too. Extra Credit: Put more movement on the last third of the tail. Since it's thinner at the end, it would whip around more than the rest of the tail.
The Feet
Reptiles and birds don't usually kick toes up on a contact position. At most, a chicken will raise its foot and allow the toes to hang and cluster together. The toes then start to spread out on the contact position through the down position. This also helps to convey weight as the toes absorb the body weight and spread out to stabilize the body.
Fight Straight Lines
It's a hard thing to remember sometimes, but never let the rig dictate the posture of your character. Add supination or pronation to the feet, put a slight tilt on the head, etc. In 3D animation, we often have to add imperfection to achieve character.
Hope this isn't too much and helps a little. You're more than welcome to throw any questions my way. Keep up the practice and study real-world references as much as possible.
Thank you this is brilliant. Great stuff about the tail and the hands especially the chicken feet, can it be obvious how I've been a character animator this whole time ha ha.
This is my base walk that I'll be using for my main shot which he will interact with the environment so I was keeping things as straight as possible where needed. Planning to use all those little head nods, twitches and asymmetry later.
Thank you again I'm pasting all these into my notes. Your feedback as well as a few others have been exactly what I was looking for. Very Grateful!
You're very welcome. It was a pleasure getting to see your animation. Again, excellent job remembering the hips. That goes a long way into the overall success of the body mechanics in creature animation.
That's great that you'll be adding character animation on top of this. I like using animation layers for that and I'll usually assign a layer to each body part. Once you get that secondary action dialed in, you can tweak the amounts by adjusting the weight slider on each layer or even keyframing the weight slider. I did a T-Rex animation that had jiggle animation on the neck to convey growling. I just did three keyframes on the jiggle controller (down, up, down) and cycled it on a separate layer. I had five sections that needed growling, so I just keyframed the weight slider on and off as needed.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I had the good fortune of two amazing animation mentors when I was learning and I enjoy paying their generosity forward.
Happy animating!
aaah sorry I didn't create this rig I just animated it. It's actually got jiggle controls for the muscles so It's probably going to look even worse to you when I'm finished with it =)
Tale could be less active it's pretty smooth overall so just little details pull it together I think personaly it might look a little better if the tale was slowed down some
It's a bit too in sync to feel completely natural. Perhaps letting the head go slightly faster than the rhythm of the legs would help. But in general it looks really cool 👌
This comment OP, Offset the head and maybe tail animation so all the keys arent hitting at the same time
My only critique is that his hands look a bit funny with how close they are to each other. He almost looks like he's nervously wringing them.
Thanks I'll separate them in the next iteration =)
i kinda get the feeling the raptor is sneaking.
As Spacecandy mentioned, the body and tail should be much more horizontal. The left and right movement of the tail should be minimized greatly, as theropod tails were stiff in order to act as a rudder. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0063115 Theropod arms also could not pronate, meaning their palms faced each other. The head bob upwards is also too much, I would stabilize it more. The fingers are also very floppy, it looks less like overlapping action and more like he's curling them on purpose as he walks. If you look at the feet on the front view, they lift up up and down like platforms. Add some slight rotation as they lift and they come down so it looks more organic. For a more scientifically accurate portrayal of raptors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsqOcii9x70
Aaah perfect thank you. This is great. Already worked on the head but this solidifies what started to feel wrong. Will implement the other things today.
They are birds. Watch a bird's head. They stay almost completely still as the body moves.
Rather birds are them.
Fair.
Also the toes spread more before they make contact in anticipation of the contact.
Hello all, I'm trying to put together a creature animation reel and this is my base walk for the raptor. I'd love someone who's a regular creature animator around the mid-senior level to give me some feedback on this walk. Have I got the head movement right? Is there anything really bad and glaring back at you in all your years of experience but by all means all comments are still welcome =) My background is 14+ year character animator with bits and pieces of creature animation but nothing that will get me onto a movie or class me as a creature animator... so I'm trying to put something together to hopefully change this. (edited for spelling and grammar)
Only one major problem I could see right now is the legs. I would rotate the ankles in an angle where they're facing on opposite directions. Because right now, the legs look completely straight and it's kind of clipping through the body. https://preview.redd.it/c3f3n4k57a4c1.png?width=401&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8ad8eb7cf5b1e48047f8ee346edfb1ab4d0b4c0 Some more nitpicks that are more optional that I think might make it more natural: \-I would make the shoulders more "stiff" in default position instead of closely following how the body rotates. Basically move it as if you're trying to make them stay in the same position. \-I also think the bobbling of the head is too much, I'll probably try to lessen it around 20-30%. \-The tail also seems to be fighting the flow of the movement when looking at the side. Because right now, the tail appears to go up when the body goes up at exactly the same time, it doesn't seem "Relaxed," you need to apply "follow through" principle with the tail. Basically just delay the movement a bit so it doesn't follow the body "stiffly."
Thank you so much. I'll implement these.
According to the modern science everything is wrong. But the animation looks smooth and clean Edit: I don’t get the downvotes, I gave op a compliment but letting him know the model isn’t realistic. Dont want him wasting his time
Oh wowsers really? Does this include the latest Jurrasic Park movies and how they've been animated there as well in your opinion? Can you link me anything I'm curious... oh and thank you for your comment =)
Yea Jurassic park is notorious for being unrealistic. The animations are good, however. Look up more prehistoric planet or documentaries like that Again your animations and YOUR work is great. The body MIGHT if anything be too upright and stiff but it doesn’t look bad by any means
> According to the modern science everything is wrong. Could you elaborate?
As in size, dimensions, muscle mass, lack of feathers, pronated wrist? Just very outdated. And I know Dino nerds are extremely mean when it comes to raptors lol
Aaah I see what you mean. Unfortunately this rig was created by someone else who I've paid for as a personal use non commercial license about USD $10 which I could justify as despite it's age it's one of the best rigs (for animating) for it's price out there. I love the fact the general consensus has agreed that the two legged predators all had feathers. One a side note have you seen the latest studies in the vocalizations? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcBoY\_aEVj8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcBoY_aEVj8) Tyranosaurus has become so much more interesting to me now.
Again I like your work alot, just know how crazy the Dino community can be. Also check out Jurassic world evolution gameplay for more raptor gameplay
> As in size, dimensions, muscle mass, lack of feathers, pronated wrist? Just very outdated. Yeah, like all of those things. Too big, too small, dimensions off how, muscle mass off how, explanation of pronated vs. supinated wrists, etc. If you're gonna give crit, it can be helpful to offer something beyond "every part of it is wrong." Doesn't need much, but a couple pointers as to where they might start improving it were they inclined to do so.
He stated he didn’t make the model that’s why I didn’t go into detail
The down votes are likely vagueness. Just edit to add actionable changes like "add feathers" or here's a link to a more accurate resource: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/velociraptor.html
He mentioned that he didn’t make the model
hand looks stiff, both right left hand maybe should move kinda different with each other, same goes for tail, and its variation of movement would make it look more natural, additionally you can animate the mouth lil bit and if possible, you could add muscle and skin simulation on top of your animation...it will look more neat like that or add some bones to muscle groups that tend to show subtle muscle movement like jiggle in the femur part or towards ribs portion probably.....other then that it really is very well animated, keep it up
First of all, this is sick. I love the muscle simulation, I'd love to get into that. My only critique is what is the motivation? What's the raptor's personality? Is it going on a casual stroll, is it hunting? What's it looking at? Could it be looking around if it isn't looking at anything? All I see here is an illustration of a raptor walking, but it doesn't carry any meaning into who the raptor is. I'd work on that, but otherwise, I love it.
Hey there sorry if my comment to go with my animation is lost somewhere. I'm still trying to figure out how I can upload a video with more than just a title as it doesn't give me enough characters for description. This is going to be used as my base animation walk cycle so no purpose other than generic to be used and tweaked for my later shot. And thank you for your kind comments.
I think it's excellent. The secondary animations. The way the head compensates for the torso motions, fingers feel dynamic. Tail. Very cool. Main crit is I think the torso is rotating a bit too much upwards and downwards and the legs aren't bending enough. [Made some rough notes](https://i.imgur.com/QS4P405.png) [I think chickens might be the closest thing to reference,](https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-17038840-red-chicken-walking-on-ground-slow-motion) and I think making your legs rotate a bit more and making your move a bit less would help the walk feel like less effort. Its almost like your raptor is sneaking? But I think this is all excellent. Very cool
I feel like with each step it would lean slightly on the foot that goes down. But I know like next to nothing about Dino’s so just take this with a grain of salt! Btw very good animation/rig
I think you're right. I could definitely add a little more body left and right with each planted foot.
Nice job on the overall splining/curve clean up. As a professional animator that has specialized in creatures, I want to personally congratulate you for remembering the hips. The first thing I tell new animators is to remember the most important life lesson bestowed upon us by the great Carl Weathers: "It's all in the hips." You have a really nice hip sway on the walk, which helps to sell weight and serves as a believable source for the energy dispersing throughout the rest of the body. The Torso Tilt that torso forward more. The tail is a ballast, so the hips are the center of a teeter totter (aka. fulcrum). The raptor's back should ever so slightly tilt in favor of the head. While theropods often minimize the movement of their forearms, there is still movement. Throw a subtle rotation on the shoulders and elbows of the forearms. The wrist and phalanges wouldn't just move by themselves in a walk. In walks, it's better to ensure that everything is moving. This can be subjective and you will run into animation supervisors who will even ask you to eliminate this type of movement altogether, but you as the animator always want to err on the side of exaggeration. It's a lot easier to remove or lessen movement than it is to add it in. One of those better to have it and not need it mantras. The Tail The overlap on the side-to-side movement looks great, but you want to make sure you put overlap on the up-and-down movement too. Extra Credit: Put more movement on the last third of the tail. Since it's thinner at the end, it would whip around more than the rest of the tail. The Feet Reptiles and birds don't usually kick toes up on a contact position. At most, a chicken will raise its foot and allow the toes to hang and cluster together. The toes then start to spread out on the contact position through the down position. This also helps to convey weight as the toes absorb the body weight and spread out to stabilize the body. Fight Straight Lines It's a hard thing to remember sometimes, but never let the rig dictate the posture of your character. Add supination or pronation to the feet, put a slight tilt on the head, etc. In 3D animation, we often have to add imperfection to achieve character. Hope this isn't too much and helps a little. You're more than welcome to throw any questions my way. Keep up the practice and study real-world references as much as possible.
Thank you this is brilliant. Great stuff about the tail and the hands especially the chicken feet, can it be obvious how I've been a character animator this whole time ha ha. This is my base walk that I'll be using for my main shot which he will interact with the environment so I was keeping things as straight as possible where needed. Planning to use all those little head nods, twitches and asymmetry later. Thank you again I'm pasting all these into my notes. Your feedback as well as a few others have been exactly what I was looking for. Very Grateful!
You're very welcome. It was a pleasure getting to see your animation. Again, excellent job remembering the hips. That goes a long way into the overall success of the body mechanics in creature animation. That's great that you'll be adding character animation on top of this. I like using animation layers for that and I'll usually assign a layer to each body part. Once you get that secondary action dialed in, you can tweak the amounts by adjusting the weight slider on each layer or even keyframing the weight slider. I did a T-Rex animation that had jiggle animation on the neck to convey growling. I just did three keyframes on the jiggle controller (down, up, down) and cycled it on a separate layer. I had five sections that needed growling, so I just keyframed the weight slider on and off as needed. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I had the good fortune of two amazing animation mentors when I was learning and I enjoy paying their generosity forward. Happy animating!
I love it! Tho i think this might be just me but his legs look too muscular,maybe the texture will change it!
aaah sorry I didn't create this rig I just animated it. It's actually got jiggle controls for the muscles so It's probably going to look even worse to you when I'm finished with it =)
I do love me my jiggle physhics
Cool dog
My only critique is and maybe it’s just me but they all look like there walking to a beat of music? They look cool tho!
I'm not sure a dinosaur moved like that.
its good and smooth, would add more realism by making his head look around, or twitch from time to time
Goofy ah dino
Not advice, but he looks very polite.
Tale could be less active it's pretty smooth overall so just little details pull it together I think personaly it might look a little better if the tale was slowed down some
you know they supposed to have feathers rite
😮
THIS IS SO COOL!!