3D Animation 2 - Parkour Group Assignment

This was the very first assignment that we are working with a teammate and I was kind of sceptical since I prefer to work alone because if there is a mistake or something is behind schedule, I know it’s my fault, but when working with someone, sometimes you either have to wait for them or they have to wait for you. I knew it was going to be a challenge especially working with another person but all in all, this was an interesting experience.

What worked?

Me and Raja (Isk) didn’t really communicate at the beginning which I prefer, although had consequences, I thought that Isk knows what he is doing so he should be fine and we only talked when the time came or if there was an issue. For example, the girl running away, we both had completely different references and styles of animating on how someone runs.

While my animation looked like she is stomping away and having a tantrum, Isk animation look like she was jogging like nothing was chasing her. We ended up asking someone to redo our reference so we can compare our mistakes and errors. When I animate, I look at my reference and immediately exaggerate my key poses while Isk find reference, replicates it and exaggerates later.

We were able to communicate, give each other feedback and find a common ground and compared our work so we don’t go over the top with our styles, such as I tried to constraint how much I stretch my poses and arcs while Isk added more arcs and stretch to his animation. We also, divided the work load so Isk finds/models building for our layout and I texture the layout.

Chris’ feedback on the cyborg jumping down and cuts to the girl already scared and shocked helped a lot when showing the impact and cut from the girl think the cyborg is gone to her reacting when the cyborg lands. Also, his animation had some stretch which me and Isk applied to our animations.

Another thing that worked was the ending shot when to girl leaves, it is more realistic. While working on it, I didn’t really have any reference because me and Isk initially wanted an ending where to cyborg gives the wallet back.

The feedback I got for the last shot was to get reference and when recording the reference, I realised that I needed to change the anticipating pose completely since its more cartoonish and also, I used my left leg to anticipate back instead of my right leg.

What didn’t work?

Although, we resolved the issue later on, at the beginning me and Isk didn’t really communicate until later on and before had different references and styles of animating a run.
In my animation, the cyborg has more detail compared to the girl. I was more focused on the cyborg since they are on screen the most compared to the girl that I needed to fixed a lot of errors mainly on the girl. Also, the girl running does not show as much fear as I hoped, yes, she is running, but I do not see as much fear as I have hoped she would.

Timing on the reference could be better. Most of the time, I need to cut up my reference and change the speed when editing which shows that I am not really good at timing my reference to my animation.

What could be improved?

I would either add the same detail of animation to both characters or next time just stick to one character. Also, find and recorded better references on the girl showing fear and running away like a chase scene in a horror film.
Another improved I would make is better communication with my teammate but not too much communication to the point I would seem annoying. Furthermore, cut out some of the parkour out so I do not have a lot to animate and find better references to work on timing.


All in all, this has been an interesting experience working with someone completely different on the style of animating and how you approach animating a scene.

Final Playblast (My Part)