MBR Bulba vs SunGod

"My Animation"

[MEDIA=youtube]v89wJcMHATA[/MEDIA]

"SunGod's animation"

[MEDIA=youtube]vCdPIjtrfns[/MEDIA]

"My MBR Profile"

http://maplemation.com/threads/bulbawhat98s-mbr-profile.35362/

"SunGod's MBR Profile"

http://maplemation.com/threads/sungods-mbr-profile.33120/

Theme: Freestyle

Timelimit: 30 secs-1 min and 30 secs

Welcome to my first ever MBR. This MBR was against SunGod. It was fun to finally participate in an MBR. I'm sorry that it kept getting delayed.

My Reason: "While it was fun to participate in an MBR, I did have some motivation loss. I didn't want the MBR to keep getting delayed, so I decided to do the minimum amount of time. I also sort of rushed the ending. I'm sorry about that."

SunGod's Reason: "I was sadly not able to finish the rest of the animation because serious family shit came up."

I hope you guys enjoy the MBR either way *Prepares for massive Cnc*

I personally voted for SunGod. I'll state what I thought of each animation.

BulbaWhat98

Nice job on your first MBR. Sure, you may not have won my vote, but it's good to see you still trying. It's a process of getting yourself out there to learn your mistakes, then improve to become a better animator.

Points I want to bring up
1. 60 FPS. Some people are fine with 60 FPS animations, but personally for me, I feel like it takes away some of the emphasis on quicker, harder movements since it looks almost too smooth. In the end, it's up to you and it is a stylistic choice.

2. One thing you could work on is implementing more slow ins and outs, and just overall more anticipation. A lot of your movements appear stiff and unnatural. I would recommend watching AlanBeckerTutorials' 12 Principles of Animation video, especially on slow in and slow outs, and anticipation.

One example I would like to bring up is 0:14-0:17, where Bulba is getting hit by random explosions. To the viewers, it's pretty unclear where the explosions appear, and in general, the whole thing appears too fast. I would at least show an animation of SunGod's character doing some kind of movement to let the viewers know he's creating those explosions, and perhaps even have the explosions start slowly appearing. Just make it as clear as possible so the viewers will have a better idea of what's going on.

3. When it comes to timing hits, you want to distinguish your strong hits from your weak hits not just through sounds and knockback, but through the animation, Vcam shake, and VFX. Like for example, at 0:13, SunGod's character shouldn't be just quickly kicking upwards. He should take some time in a crouch position to build up momentum, then increase speed as he extends his leg upwards. Have a little bit of hitstun for the viewer to see it better, add a much more dramatic hit FX, and shake the Vcam more violently and have the Vcam shake last longer to really show that it's a strong hit.

4. It would be nice if you implemented more rigging. There's only so much you can do with basic poses, and implementing rigging will help smoothen out certain movements.


SunGod

Nice stuff, SunGod. It would have been nice if you actually finished your MBR, but oh well. Turned out real nice in my eyes. I personally don't have much to say other than cleaning up the combat at 0:05. Just in general though, it's hard for me to critique unfinished stuff, so hopefully the next MBR you participate in will have an actual finished product.


Nice job to both of you once again! Wish you guys luck on your future MBRs.

Bulba was so brave to accept an mbr against motherfreakin' Sungod. His animation was very solid for someone that's only beginning on doing fight animations. However... My vote goes to Sungod this time... He's animation was just too good.

Critiques for each animation:

Bulbawhat: It was quite apparent that there was a lack of fundamentals and basics going into this animation. Everything was kind of janky, hard to follow, way too sudden and so forth. Here are some things you should keep in mind when animating\\\\\\

• Physics | There were several instances where the characters would just jump in a triangular fashion, or a linear one. Nested tweens in flash are a great way to avoid doing jumps like these. Shulkle has a good tutorial on how to cover it. Another thing I noticed is you don't use easing very much. Ease 100/-100 is a good way to control how fast or slow character movements are. Easing a tween by 100 lets you move a symbol from fast to slow, and easing a tween by -100 lets you move a symbol from slow to fast. Utilize this a lot in your animations! Resizing is also very useful for characters landing or moving. You have tools at your disposal, make sure to use them.
  Spoiler

  [MEDIA=youtube]O-J2Surkb6I[/MEDIA]
  
  
• Pacing | Most of the animation was going way too fast for the viewers to register what's going on. You need to make sure there is ample time in between attacks and transitions so the audience can comprehend what's actually happening. As the animator, you're constantly replaying your animation over and over while animating, so you have to get used to thinking about the eyes of an outside viewer and how easily they'll be able to register your animation.
  
• Sound Design | While I had no main qualms with the actual sound design of the animation, I didn't like how loud the sound effects were in comparison to the background song. It was very hard to hear the bg music whenever there was an attack/fight. I suggest either lowering the sfx (you can do it flash) or raising the music. Keep in mind audio levels whenever animating.
  

Good job regardless, improvement is a linear scale. You'll improve just as much effort you put into it. Check out the Animation Team's VOD Review thread if you want your FLA reviewed and fixed up. (Y)

SunGod: Albeit I don't have much to say about your part except that it's unfinished. I had some minor grievances with your part I'll list it out.

• Text | The font you used was pretty cool, but using white font without any sort of drop shadow on it or any outline was an omegalul. Could barely read anything on first sight. There was literally a part where there was the white text over that first black guy's white shirt. This doesn't really compliment your style anyway, since everything you animation is super up-close and fast paced. Avoid doing that so the audience can easily read your dialogue next time.
  
• Pacing | The transitions and character movements are so fast that it's hard to keep up sometimes. Sure, it's animated fine, but the lack of time in between shots makes your animation just one big roller coaster from start to finish. The actual fight between Bulba and your OC was pretty dope though (especially that first air kick combo to Bulba). Just keep viewer registration in mind.
  

gonna hold my vote, neither parts really particularly stood out to me. egg

Wasn't there some sort of rule about finished parts winning by default over unfinished parts?

Whatever, I vote for Sungod on account that his fundamentals of animation are much good and I'm glad he actually had a bit of pre-fight dialogue that didn't feel hamfisted or rushed, but please at least give a black glow with 2 or 3 on both X and Y and 300% concentration, that text is almost completely illegible.

Bulba, I won't pan you if for some ungodly reason you prefer 60fps, but if you don't and you just thought you'd try to work with it to help your animation look smoother then... please go back to 30 or 24, it's such a pointless thing to put up with animating in 60fps, unless you're trying to recreate the feel of a game.
I appreciate that your part is finished entirely, so good job on that.
Anything else I could say is just repeating what the others are saying: continue working on your fundamentals, experiment, have fun.

Good job you two!

Congrats on your win SunGod.
I'll update your profile soon.