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The Animator’s Challenge - Round 1 (DING!)

EDIT***: Before anyone starts claiming I'm just trying to get somebody to animate my model for me: I HAVE ALREADY ANIMATED IT WITH MORE ANIMATIONS THAN THOSE LISTED BELOW. AND THIS MODEL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY REDWALL PROJECT, JUST LOOK AT IT! 300 polys is nothing near the 3500-4000 that I'm using in the Redwall Game. AND my Redwall Models use roughly 40 bones, so there's no way that I could use any submitteed data with them. And I would not stoop so low as to created this thread in hopes that there could be a place where people could have each other's work posted to compare and discuss in a civilized manner. I consider myself a half decent animator, but I've observed that there isn't a lot of good tutorial material, and even then, you can't ask for clarification from a tutorial. And I think it would be a lot easier for people to develop solid animating skills if they had somewhere that they could learn and even contribute.

NO ORIGINAL MODELS POSTED HERE WILL BE DECLARED ROYALTY FREE UNLESS DECLARED SO BY THE BUILDER (OR IN THE CASE OF ANIMATED ONES, THE ANIMATOR ASWELL MUST CONSENT TO IT.) In the case of Round 1, I do not want my model distributed outside of this thread. So please don't use it in any of your projects. I might release it in the future, and I might not, that's up to me.
*** END EDIT

Ok! My challenge is relatively simple and should allow any animators to show off their skills.

Attached is a .zip file containing a pre-rigged (meaning it has a skeleton) model of a mouse warrior, as well as a (.x) and (.3ds) static versions without bones. It’s just a few hundred polygons and his 3D Canvas skeleton consists of 18 bones. If you want to re-rig it (build a new skeleton) you can do so, and would probably have to do so if you’re not using 3DC (I don’t use anything else, so I can’t provide compatible versions with the same skeleton, but I have included pictures of the skeletal structure and the layout of his bone-hierarchy)

>>> DO NOT USE MORE THAN 18 BONES AS THE POINT OF THIS CHALLENGE IS TO DO IT USING MINIMAL BONES!!! <<< (The mouse's body and sword do not count as bones, for any noobs out there. )

Anyhoo, this is fairly simple and will hopefully be fun practice for some of you. Just load the model into 3D Canvas 6+ (or the .x/.3ds files into another program for re-rigging) and animate him based on the animation/frame list below. The descriptions are very simple and creativity is encouraged, the point of this is to practice creating unique and lively looking animations to express who the character is. Interpret his character however you want and run with it! You must animate him with all the animations listed below, don’t worry about it looking terrible if you’ve never done one of them before. Just do you best!

Each Animation is limited to 20 frames, you can use less, but I would recommend using them all as it will give you more room to make it better.

Animation projects must be submitted in 3D Canvas (.3dc), 3D Studio (.3ds), or DirectX (.x) format, Other formats may not play properly in Dark Basic, or may be incompatible with 3D Canvas and will therefore not be judged. >> Just upload the file(s) and attache them to a post on this thread. << You can submit either one single file, or a .zip containing multiple files, but be sure to include all of the animations on the list otherwise points will be deducted proportionally to the number of frames missing!

The scoring system is as follows:

Each animation will be scored upto 15 points for it's smoothness and realism, and upto an additional 10 points for creativity, for a total of 150 points. (6 Anims*(15pts + 10pts)=150pts)

<<BEGIN ANIMATION LIST>>

1.) Walk – Keep it smooth and even paced.

2.) Run – Again, smoothness and keeping his body balanced are important.

3.) Jump – Actually move him in the animation accordingly, as I will not be putting these in a game to view them.

4.) Attack 1 – Keep this one simple, as it will lead into a combo with the others

5.) Attack 2 – Chained from Attack 1, make it more powerful looking, but save some “uber-ness” for the third one!

6.) Attack 3 – Chained from Attack 2, he’s already pulled a difficult double attack so make this one look like it’s worth the trouble!

<<END ANIMATIONS LIST>>


This Challenge will be judged by me, and the winner will provide a model and animation list (no more than 6) and judging, much like in “The Artist Challenge” Thread.

Contact me via E-mail regarding any requests to use the model. If you have any questions about this challenge, I’ll happily address them here!

Did I miss something or did you list a deadline for when you expected these to be submitted?

IMO it would be better not to provide a rigged model at all. (I have 3DC, but I don't use it for animating.) Also, cash prizes would be great too.

LB

Nice...very subtle, instead of asking for someone to animate your model, you've made it into a competetion, asking people to spend their time and effort animating your model for what...a pat on the back?

Yea, I thought of that but figured he is from 2003 im 2007 so...

Hey Benjy, most people will have made the connection between this and your Redwall work, so it does sound like you're just asking for an animated model. I don't have such a problem with that, but some here might.

Maybe an animating compo without the mouse model?

Greenlig

Well its not too bad an idea cause then the winner gets to have one of their own models animated for free. Competition just makes it more fun.

haha its funny how you have a scoring system and everything setup.


but this does kinda sound like an attempt to get someone to animate your model.

i think this right here makes you look guilty of it. but it doesnt bother me any just an observation



this sounds like fun but i have sh*t for animation skills.

Actually this is completely unrelated to Redwall. If you'd download the model and look at it you'd easily realize that. Also, there are some screenshots of it enclosed in the ZIP, and you can see that I've already animated it.

I couldn't give any cash or software prizes because I'm broke until Student Aid kicks in. This is seriously just a post for people to show off their animating skills. I requested that the models be mailed to me so that other people wouldn't just download your uploads and then make little modifications to submit them as thier own. Once the challenge is over (I did forget a deadline didn't I?) I would request them to be uploaded on posts, but then again they can't really steal animations from .x or .3ds models could they?

It took me ages to become the half decent animator I consider myself to be. With a place where people can discuss the flaws in each others animations, and people can learn how good they are from the polite persons that we are and thus improve themselves. We will also hopefully be able to see some creative animations that could give the other animators ideas.

EDIT: Original Post has been Edited.