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Paddle/pedal question

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johnar:
Just to be a little argumentive, there's defineately always more than one way to skin a cat. I respect the idea of keeping the oar seperate. But in saying that, i've done a quick sequence with oar in hand, and would just like to point out some advantages in having the oar attached. The example below is just a quicky, and took about half an hour to get the sequence this far. (the sequence is played twice in scene mode) It could be improved plenty with a bit more time.
  Now that the sequence is made it can be added as many times as you like, and it can be saved for possible future use. Animations in scene mode are not so easily saved. It only took half an hour to make the sequence. He could paddle for 20 strokes in scene mode by simply adding the sequence 20 times. The oar will always stay in hand.Having the oar attached also allows the upper body movement, which i think could be quite tricky if the oar was a seperate object.
 There are tricks to having him put the oar down, usually involving a sneaky figure change.
 Part of the beauty of anim8or is the workarounds that we find. At the end of the day, its whatever works best for you.  :)

EDIT> Changed video for gif image
 

ENSONIQ5:
Totally agree Johnar, there certainly are many ways to achieve the end result in Anim8or.  You're spot on about using sequences and including the paddle in the figure, it does indeed allow quicker and more accurate control over the motion and in most cases is probably the best way to tackle this sort of thing.  My method, which is admittedly far more tedious, was intended to allow the paddle to be treated as a separate element in Scene mode, but I do like your idea of sneaky figure swapping to achieve this.  The other thing I was going for was the idea of animating the paddle on it's own, concentrating on getting its motion nice and fluid without being too concerned with the dynamics of the figure, but your animation definitely shows it can be done.

As you say, it's probably one of those things that every animator does a bit differently according to their preference.  I admit that I don't use Anim8or much for animating these days (sadly, I love the Object - Figure - Sequence - Scene structure) and have got into the habit of doing everything in a single Scene.

johnar:
Cheers ENSONIQ5. I know we've spoken about this type of thing before, and that you are also a fan of the Object - Figure - Sequence - Scene structure in Anim8or..
  In regards to 'sneaky figure swap', i think in the case of a paddle, as in jwalts case, i would finish the scene as far as possible while holding the oar, then just delete it, (the oar),  from figure mode and replace with a seperate oar object in scene mode. (place oar in scene b4 deleting from fig mode, so the new oar can be positioned in exactly the same place as the original oar). Then the oar becomes a seperate object and can be animated as such
 I know you are aware of what i'm saying here, ENSONIQ5, so this is mostly for jwalt and anyone else that might be interested.
 In regards to 'figure swaps',  i will often export the figure with the prop for future use.  EG: If you remember the stick figure juggling on the uni cycle. He spends some time pedaling around on his cycle before he jumps off. Thats 2 rigs/figures. "stickman.an8' and 'stickman on uni.an8'. Proper positioning at swap time and no-one sees the change.
 The one thing i do after exporting a 'proped' figure is to rename everything in the newly created an8 file. Rename all the objects and the figure. Even renaming materials doesn't hurt.  This way i never have any problems with importing a 'proped figure' into a file containing the same figure without the prop(s).
  Good luck jwalt.  Looking good.

jwalt:
Lot of helpful, interesting comments there, thanks! I did this one, below, using a bone off of the paddler's right hand. It seemed to make animating the free hand merely a matter of moving the shoulder, but that might just have been dumb luck in this case. And the paddle is simpler.



I guess I need to look at my weight painting, since I am flattening out the paddler's left shoulder, badly.

Got a request for flowers in the scene, so I made one. Not happly with the lilly pads; they look more like green oil slicks, but it's a start.

johnar:

--- Quote ---they look more like green oil slicks, but it's a start.
--- End quote ---
Lol.
 Maybe using a leaf texture will help make a difference? they do look a bit unfinished, but don't really look that bad. (imho)
 Re cow paddling. Just a couple of things. Hope i'm not just being picky.
 Perhaps rotating his head to keep him looking straight while he paddles. It would be fine to give him a moment to look around as he's paddling, but looking straight ahead, for the most of it, would give him the appearance of having a place to go. (the other side of the river).
 Something else, that you may decide not to bother with, but am sure will be picked up by some people. is the fact that he's only paddling on one side of the canoe. Sorry to bring it up, but you know that in reality 'paddling' like that would send them around in circles. It might be more work than you want to put in to this 'short?' river crossing, which is you're choice of course, and not a huge problem really.
 But I do think that some 'head control' would make a noticeable difference.
 Lookn good jwalt.
 

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