Motions are not Fluent // Characters act boring

Question

Hey, i did my first project overall in character animator.

You can see the result here.

That's the way I went about it.

I recorded the arm movements and lip synchronization in Character Animator, exported them as MOV with Alphachannel and edited them in Premiere. There I think the other animations are easier to make and you can work with keyframes.

Is there an easier way, how do you proceed with your projects?

Now to the video itself.

What I don't like is that the arm movements are so slowmotion. (I recorded in 0.75)

also the characters I think react a little emotionless.

Which technique would you use to build in more emotions? Should the characters also be shown from other perspectives? I'm unsure here because they talk to each other all the time.

I am grateful for every tip. You are always so helpful. There it makes so fun to learn new things.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

alank99101739 · Answer

Very cool! I love the video! ;-)Regarding keyframe animations in CH vs PremPro, what you have done certainly works. I personally do it all in CH to avoid jumping tools. Episode 9 of project wookie shows “linear blends” which I use as a poor man’s version of keyframing. It is not as good, but lets you stay in CH.If you record in slow motion, it should be faster at playback time. So if you record at 0.25, it should play back 4 times faster. There is also the “FPS” (frames per second) setting for the scene you can fiddle with.Techniques for adding emotion:First understand your audience - kids like more extreme crazy stuff, humor, etc. That is a matter of artistic opinion of course!The voice acting makes a big difference. You can add a lot of expression through voice. A flat voice can kill a great video.A simple thing is to add some dangles to the hair - e.g. pony tail. Then when walking you get a bit more subtle movement into it - it helps. Consider for the fringe at the front as well.For the standing pose, do you have the Head and Neck etc tags? Using the webcam to move the head around a bit (from side to side) and add a bit more dynamic feel - or just use a dragger. Don’t over do it, but it adds a bit more life and each movement causes the hair dangle and bounce as well. Oh, and dangles on the ears for Money the dog as well. E.g. if talking for more then 4 seconds, move the head slightly to a new resting position.A big one for me is to use swapsets for eyes to get more expression into the eyes - https://extra-ordinary.tv/2018/04/21/debugging-character-animator-eyess/ has a bit on how I set up the swap sets (happy, thoughtful, angry, wide-eyed, etc)I have started to use swapsets also for the mouth, at least for happy and sad - using the Arch deformation tool to bend the mouth a bit up or down to add a bit more expressionSwapsets for hands can help too (but you do that already)Exagerated movements can help - e.g. wave arms around In the air if you want more extreme reactions (e.g. Money might be the “straight guy” and the girl more expressive) — but that is artistic opinion too!Cut scenes to zoom in on characters you do already (nice!)But its a pretty Good video already!

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