Breakfast Topic: Roto-scoping is not animation

by Kelly Aarons May 12th 2010 at 8:00AM

For those who don't know, I'm an animator in my IRL career. I've studied it, I've gone to school for it, I do it myself. I scrutinize it, critique it and think about it every moment I get. It should go without saying that I am fairly picky when it comes to animations.

Enter the drakonid.

What's a drakonid? See the header image. They're the bipedal draconic warriors that are native to each main Dragonflight. Now, if you aggro them, you'll notice that they run at you, lances swirling away. I. Hate. That. Animation. It drives me crazy. My guild leader affectionately calls it my Kryptonite, as I freak out whenever I see them do it. It's just so terrible! It looks like some horrific motion capture session gone wrong; then a blind chimpanzee with a tablet in its mouth added some keyframes. Yes, I realize that it's supposed to spoof the 'Star Wars Kid' animation, but I don't care.

Now, I'm not so critical that I can't like things. I love the animation that was added for ToC, where we saw poor Jarod Sunsworn get choked to death by the Black Knight. The animation for Anzu is great to watch, as they take care of the physics for his feathers. I could think of many others, but those are just a few that stand out.

What animations tickle your fancy? What do you love or hate, and why? What could they improve? Discuss amongst yourselves!

Tags: dragonflight, dragons, drakonid, facebookfeed, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Reader Comments (Page 3 of 10)

Nagaina May 12th 2010 8:21AM

"Rotoscoping is not animation!"

Ooooh, be careful. There are quarters of the internet where Bakshi is worshipped as a god by certain hardcore (and very strange) *Lord of the Rings* fen, and expressing such sentiments will cause them to declare a fandom fatwa against you. That being said...

I love the kvaldir death animation. I believe my first response to seeing that was, "Oh, look, a dead sea-going vrykul AND HOLY CRAP DID HE JUST DISSOLVE INTO A MESS OF SHELLS AND SEAWEED?!?"

On the other hand, the hawkstrider running animations make me motion sick. Particularly when they're running under the influence of Crusader Aura.

Endless May 12th 2010 8:41AM

I /still/ think that Bakshi's Gandalf is largely superior to live action one. *wink*

Nagaina May 12th 2010 9:09AM

::grin:: Milking the giant cow...not just for first year theatre majors anymore!

I kid because I love. ^_^

CaryEverett May 12th 2010 9:47AM

Bakshi's LotR a really good movie. I felt disappointed because the live action movie didn't seem as good as the animated one.

I think, part of it... and this is just my opinion... is that it's really hard to make fantasy work in live action. Harder than sci-fi like Star Wars or Avatar. Magic is harder to make realistic than science.

And thus, fantasy tends to lend itself to working better in animation.

That's just my thoughts on it.

Nagaina May 12th 2010 10:22AM

Oh, you'll get no argument from me about the value of animation in terms of producing fine fantasy movies: I actually love all the animated Tolkien movies, including Bakshi's version. (The thing I can't get past with the Bakshi version is, more than Viking Boromir, more than Conan Aragorn, is the balrog looking like a dude in an overstuffed mascot costume with trash bags sewn to the shoulders. Blew my suspension of disbelief right out of the water.) The Rankin-Bass version of *The Hobbit* was one of the foundational experiences of my childhood and the origin of my love of fantasy; as soon as my boys are old enough to not be freaked out by the giant spiders and Smaug, I'm showing it to them and then reading them the book.

To drag this thread slightly closer to on-topic, there are some races in the game that I just have never been able to play for any length of time because their animations hurt my soul. The male human and male night elf models looking like digitized He-Man action figures and having the egregious fug is something I might be able to work past with the proper accessorizing but the fact that they both run like they've got a raging case of crotch-rot is pretty much a deal-breaker for me. Similarly, I can't hack the way either male or female undead models move, despite my deep and heartfelt love for their Lore; troll females are the same way -- their running animation is so incredibly awkward compared to the smooth loping motion of the males that just can't play a troll female, even though I love everything else about them.

Juzelle May 12th 2010 8:26AM

Let's talk about character animations!

Three animations I hate: (I play a female troll, so...)
- Female Troll 1H special animation (UGH)
- Female Troll fist weapon animation (what's with that limp wrist??)
- Female troll 2h Weapon animation (oh god make it stop!)

Three animations I LOVE:
- Female Blood Elf Salute animation
- Female Tauren 2H melee special animation (EPIC FOLLOW THROUGH!!)
- Male Troll Kick Animation

Syme May 12th 2010 11:22AM

Oh, how could I forget that 2-hand special animation for female Taurens? That one really is great. I remember taking several screenshots of my female Tauren hunter until I got one right at the extreme end of that followthrough.

Psiwave May 12th 2010 8:28AM

Could you please explain 'rotoscoping' to someone with a very limited knowledge of animation please?

korvmoj May 12th 2010 8:38AM

"Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films."

says wikipedia

I.E: You take a live action film, and draw on top of each frame, then you remove the live action film. What you get is a series of hand drawn frames, based on real life movement. Play that - booya, animation! Very time consuming, and cool. And, why shouldn't it be animation?

Calaana May 12th 2010 9:04AM

Animation is best described as art is motion. Tracing isn't art, so when they trace over live action...

Carlos May 12th 2010 10:01AM

You know, there's this thing called the internet that allows you to look up the answers to such questions for yourself- maybe you should ask around, I'm sure one of your friends will have heard of it.

Psiwave May 12th 2010 12:08PM

You know what, I had that thought too. I went on the Internet, asked and got a couple very helpful answers. If you look just above your response you'll see them.
I suggest you use the 'internet' to look up the meaning of arrogance and perhaps get some advice on basic social skills.

Samutz May 12th 2010 8:39AM

I recently faction changed a male human paladin in to a male blood elf and noticed a huge difference in the feel of the animations. I like the blood elf animations a lot better, especially the 1h attack animations (tank with 1h and shield). They made the human animations feel very stiff and too symmetrical, somewhat outdated.

As for what I hate; the raptor riding animations. The bouncing just annoys my eyes. I used a star pony from 20-39 on my troll. Then at 40, I decided to get the swift orange/red raptor mount, as I had never had a raptor before, and planned to use it as my main ground mount. But I couldn't put up with it. I tried to ride it back to Orgrimmar and swapped it for the star pony before I even made it a quarter of the way back.

Luci May 12th 2010 9:29AM

Yeah it was hard for me to get used to Anzu - which has the same animations as the raptor. I had gone from a saber to a talbuk to Anzu. Now, I have so many alts with so many different mounts that I just don't seem to notice the feel of the mounts anymore, lol. However, anytime I get a different one, it always takes some adjusting.

Urthona May 12th 2010 8:47AM

Male Draenei polearm and staff attack animations.

There need to be more Strength polearms.

steak May 12th 2010 4:36PM

blood elf males dieing classic overacting, over dramatic just shut up and die already lol

Banndit May 12th 2010 1:16PM

A Dying Gnome!!!

The way their little bodies flop back and make that little scream brings joy to my heart... plus you know... the gnome died.

Namy May 12th 2010 8:51AM

I don't like the human female jumping animation. It's just really bad. I love how nelfs tumble in the air and belfs (though a bit flouncy) bend to touch the ground when they land. The human one just looks awkward. Who would ever jump with their arms out like that? Like they're on a tramoline or something. It's just awful :P

The female dance animations are nowhere near as good as the male ones either. The belf female on is fun to watch the others just seem to be twirling their hips and floating their arms around a bit. Not very amusing. The male orc dance is the best ever and I can watch the draenei males dance all day. So funny! lol :D

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