Jumping

[teotoon]

I am working on a scene of a jumping man. First I try to analyse the movement correctly. Here, I use simple dummy models to learn the movement. Then I animate the real characters.

http://www.geocities.com/teotoon/Moho/jump.gif

[jorgy]

Hmm. To me, it looks like maybe he's floating a bit up before he extends his legs in the jump? I do like the way you are using the rest of the body, especially the arms, to "get ready" for the jump.

[thies]

it is all a bit floaty, witch is a typical problem when animating in the computer. everything is moving at the same speed and that makes it look like its all under water or on the moon.
i know the graph editor in moho is a bit hard to handle, maybe you could just put in a few extra keys to make it work.
there are a lot of good books about this, and websites too probably.
personaly i love 'the animators survival kit' from richard williams.(it may look like its for drawn animation but it helps any animator, in my opinion)
and about your posing; it looks much better when its not all symetric.

I hope this helps you,

[thies]

that sounded all a bit negative, sorry;
I love the way the head turns, it makes it look very 3 dimensional!

[Rasheed]

witch is a typical problem when animating in the computer. everything is moving at the same speed and that makes it look like its all under water or on the moon.

Interpolate Ease out for going up and Ease in for going down and your problems are over.