Attached Link: http://www.users.fast.net/~yayo/

But...where's the Bones?

The candle and orange are manipulated by bones.

Particularly, the candle nor the orange use constraints. I do it in the candle's case solely by rotations, and plain positioning in the orange's case.

i really like the orange jumping around on the black background. the animation has very nice rhythm. i think the candle with arms is a little strange, though. still, i can't wait to see more.

Hey, pixel. By strange do you mean the sadistic attitude of the candle towards the orange? That I meant, or is it something other than that? As you had mentioned the rhythm of the orange's fleeing. CC

I know I sound a little harsh, but hear me out. Lumierre (sp?) in Beauty and the Beast worked well because he had a more dynamic structure than your candle.

Your guy is basically a straight candle with really skinny straight arms.

Lumierre was a candle stuck into a candlestick holder. So there was visually more mass at his base, and his lower lip was created by the lip of the opening the candle (his head) was jammed into.

Then there was differing thickness on the candlestick holder. This all makes for a more dynamic character.

You have some good movement in the "body" when he does his chopping motion, but just the overall shape of him seems like a stick figure. I kind of wish he was more exciting looking. I know you don't want to copy Lumierre's design, and I'm not sure how to improve your character without doing so. I think that after Beauty and the Beast, anthropomorphic candles may be type cast.

I really hate to say this at the end of my rambling critique, but I would just find a different object to use. One that was a more dynamic looking character. I'm sorry for such dismal suggestions.

-pix

All may not be lost! First of all, take what I say with a grain of salt, as I have not seen the animation (can't get Quick Time to work on my computer). That said-- I think it is possible to get a good character without going the Disney route. You can get a lot of character just by using body posture. One of my favorite examples of "inanimate" characters is the moon machine in Nick Park's "A Grand Day Out". Most of that character's expression is done through the positioning of the arms and hands, with a little from the position of the main body. Watching the film, you have a really good idea of what is going on with this character, even though he has no dialogue and not even a face! So... stick figures, I think, can be dynamic, but it takes some thought. Think of details and gestures. Heck, even experiment with shoulder placement Details.. how about dripping wax for interest? Perhaps the candle can even splatter wax around at times (extreme agitation?). Or maybe if he stands around too long, the wax pools at his feet and he has to tear himself away. The flame: Is it just there, is it like hair, is it his head, is it his hat? And so on. Does he have a reason for cutting up the orange? Or is he a homicidal maniac? The answers to these questions may reveal what sort of stances and postures this character will make. Hmmm... this suggestions an interesting challenge. Can one express mood using a simple primitive?

Attached Link: http://www.clubi.ie/lestat/graphics/machine.jpg

The Disney panache that went into Lumiere is outside the scope of my own preference. Granted, the candle needs added snap to its actions; particularly, the lunge just isn't swift enough. Its pulling free from the wax is hilarious, but I decided to forego any wax drippings or flame sputters until I can get things nailed down. You both have shown an appreciative tactfulness. CC

Heck! I'm still trying to get Quicktime to work. Not that having no idea of what I'm talking about has ever stopped me before (as the folks on this forum know all to well). It's just that I've been thinking a lot about how much expression/information you can pack using minimal lines, and so I've actually been thinking about stick figures a lot, too. Thinking about things tends to make me ramble a lot on web forums.

Yay! I got to see it! And you know what? I think you're candle dude has quite a bit of character already. You've got a good handle on the gestures and postures. And I love the line art look. Very cool. In fact, the only thing I noticed was being distracted by the "staticness" of the base of the candle. The base of the candle seems kind of nailed on. Not just that the bottom is firmly attached to the surface, but that the bottom part of the candle is glued on to the "page". I've noticed this sort of thing in my own animation attempts. You know that look cheaply made American cartoons from the 70s have when they saved on animation costs using still shots of the head, and animating the eyes and mouth over them? Sometimes my 3D stuff has that sort of look. I think its because a 3D object that doesn't move renders exactly the same every frame, and that can result in distracting "stiffness" in parts of the image. I haven't really come up with one good way to deal with that. Lots of little tricks, though -- anything that will add some variance between one frame and the next will loosen up the static piece, and make it as dynamic as the rest. Please understand: I'm NOT saying that your animation looks like a cheap 70's cartoon; that's just the best way I know how to illustrate the static problem. And in your animation, it's actually pretty minor. I really like your style of animation, and look forward to seeing more of your stuff (now that I finally got Quicktime to work!).

Oh no, the reference to the 70's style was taken as meant. I had, honestly, thought of hopping it at the end of the lunge, but time had pushed it off to the sidelines. I hadn't looked at the candle for more than a week and, playing it today, the whole of it, up to the last whack, is swimming through a velvet molasses. It can be better in ways you've both expressed, and it will receive further attention. Cc

Coolness. I think you've got something there. How did you get the line art effect, anyhow?

Scene/filters The object edge was set to 1, Toon and line effect left at the 100% default, and everything else lowered to 0.

It looks really cool. And, yes, I'd agree that you've gotten quite a bit of character out of this candle. Large amount of articulation isn't necessary for character: have you seen that very cute commercial with little whitening gum chicklets? They have so much character, even though all they do is bounce around. No bend or squish even -- just clever movement....

Animation has an undeniable charm.