What worked?
What worked while animating a heavy lift, was how I exaggerated the anticipation when the character is about to lift the object. In my reference, the anticipation is very subtle, so I added my own exaggeration from my reference to my animation.
Another thing that worked out was my camera movement. The feedback from my first camera movement was that it was too fast, so I slowed down the camera so the viewer barely notices the movement.
Anticipation
Upper Lift
What didn’t work?
What didn’t work however, was when the character carries the bucket, the arms either snap of move in random directions. I was able to fix most of the snapping issues, but I felt like the arm does not match how I lifted the bucket in my reference.
Also, when the character steps back to look at the other buckets, the overlapping I felt was either too fast or too slow around the left arm and the hips.
Carrying Bucket
Stepping Back
What lesson did you learned and what could be improved?
What I learned and I would improve on is there is subtle movement even when someone is standing still and bends down to put a heavy object and also, it is better to parent constraint on an object without problems when animating to a control that is barely moving or noticeable such as the tip of a pinky finger. work more on the arms and clean up on the overlapping when the character turns.
To improve, I would add more swaying to the bucket as the character carries it.
Final Playblast
