This week I have concentrated on adjusting some key poses from my blocking of the body mechanics animation.
The screenshots below point out the direction of the weight shift at the beginning of the animation:
Overall, the movement of the animating rig should follow like a bouncing ball with an invisible curve, and it should always carry on moving forward by relating back to the reference video.
Also, by exaggerating the movement of each key pose, it’s easier to see the upper body of the rig is behaving similar to the pendulum animation, where the hip is mainly dragging the upper part to complete this jump.
After the highest point of the jump, I keep the hip in the middle to keep the animation simple and keep the dummy has a stable landing on the ground.
I was trying to play the timing of key frames to build up a pendulum feeling of the rig’s upper body:
When the body quickly landing the ground, I stretched the length of it by following the bouncing ball:
When the body fully reached the ground, I squashed its middle length by following the bouncing ball:
Here is my polishing animation from this week with its side view:
Here is my polishing animation from this week with its three-quarter view: