Punching Tutorial (Fighting Basics)

Notice: I will not be putting up any pictures, instead I will upload a .piv file for you to download. Please do not steal my animations.

So, You may be asking, how can I make a fighting animation. I'm pretty sure you probably have already experimented with this, but the outcome probably was very stiff and choppy. Now the question is, How can I make a good fighting animation? Well. First we need to reduce choppiness. How? There is a technique called easing. Easing is when you start an animation off by moving the onionskin only a little bit. The onionskin will get bigger and the gray area will become less close to the stick man.
The first frame of any animation should start off with only a little gray area. If you've looked at my animations, you'll know what I mean. The second frame should have twice the amount of onionskin, THIS WILL LIMIT how much the stick can move in one frame, but that's how you reduce the unrealism. Keep doubling the amount of the gray area in your desired motion until the 6th or 7th frame, then just keep going until you come to a suitable place to reduce the onionskin back to as much gray area as on the first frame. Make sure to do this considerably, about every 10 to 15 frames or so.
The problem that most people have with the animations is that they don't understand easing. Personally, this took me about 2 months to master, it might take you anywhere from 1 week to 3 months, depending on you and how you animate. Easing is essential. You must make sure that you learn it if you want to make good looking realistic animations. Try to practice easing until you can do it like me without any guides, then proceed to learn other movements. IT WILL HELP A LOT, TRUST ME!!

I now assume that you can ease and do it very fluently without any guides. Let's move on to the punching tutorial.

Punching is the foundation for fighting animations. It is like the base of the animation. In order to make a punch seem realistic, you must first know the movement. In real life It's just your arm straightening in a forward movement. Because you are 3D and the stick is 2D, you have to make the arm go up as usual(DON'T forget to ease this.) and when the arm is at the top, it should be in a bent position.
THIS IS CRITICAL: With the arm in the bent position, make it disappear for a frame, put it on the other arm, this will create the illusion that the arm is actually on the other side and you can't see it from a 2D angle, after this frame just straighten the arm out like a normal punch and ease the stick man back into position, ready to punch again.
Remember the stick must move forward when it punches, so make sure the legs move like a walking animation. also here is a .piv file:

Download Me MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PIVOT 3 BETA OR IT WON'T DISPLAY THE ANIMATION.

Introduction to Fighting

We've all seen fights before, whether it be in movies or real life, well, now you're going to animate a fight. Fights consist of many types of complex chains, which are made up of basic movements like punching. Make sure you know how to walk run and jump before attempting to make any of these animations because they require a certain level of skills to execute, the next tutorials, will teach you basic punching kicking and other movements like that which you can use in a fight. I always make sure the animation is about 50 frames long before going back and editing parts I don't like. Remember, a good fight sequence will keep an audience entertained, so make sure your fights have good plots and are full of fighting, don't leave out too may frames for a dialogue, those should be very quick. Without further ado, let's get on with the tutorials...

Jumping Tutorial (Basic Movements 3)

Jumping is a very easy movement, it can be done in almost any position, you just have to ease to stick man downward and propel him into the air, then ease him downward to the ground.

That may have been a little too much to take in at once, so I made another frame by frame tutorial for you guys.

Examine these photos:

Frame 1: The stick man is ready to pivot and ease downwards make sure its in this position.


Frame 2: The stick man eases downward, the legs bend only a little, small onionskin


Frame 3: All movements are all more pronounced, slightly larger onionskin.


Frame 4: The left leg starts to bend, all movements from 3 are pronounced further again, and the onionskin gets larger.

Frame 5: Legs ease and the movement ends with a small onionskin, the upper body pivots downward as well.

Frame 6: Legs move upward, larger onionskin, the upper body moves as if were limp.

Frame 7: Legs move inward, as they move upward as well, onionskin is stll large, head bends a little.

Frame 8-13 The stick man stays in this position while moving upward, head may bend on the way up.

Frames 14-20 The stick man continues its downward journey toward the ground, eventually returning to almost the position it was in the start.

IMPORTANT!!! Remember that the two frames in the picture of 8 - 13 and 14 - 20 are only those frames, you will have to do the easing parts yourself, if you would like a pivot file E-mail me at ylperon@gmail.com

Running Tutorial (Basic Movements 2)

Now that you've seen the walking tutorial, make sure to look at this running tutorial for more basic movements. This is a run loop which means it never ends, try it follow this tutorial.

Examine these photos:


Frame 1: Your stick figure is already in a running position, in a longer animation, you will use easing to get it in this position. Make sure it looks like this.
Frame 2: In this case the stick man never "moves" from the spot it's already in in this frame, the legs pull in and there is some onionskin. The arms also move toward the body.
Frame 3: The legs are still in the process of crossing over the arms also touch the body now and will start to cross in the next frame, make sure there isn't too much between the figure and the onionskin.
Frame 4: Arms cross over each other, this can be tricky, but make sure you get this right or your animation will look unrealistic, the stick figure is also in the air now, don't make air frames too long or it will look like the stick is floating.
Frame 5: There is little onionskin in the upper body in the frame, but the legs still move a distance, the arms also have crossed over now. The stick is still airborne.
Frame 6: Arms and Legs move in this frame the stick person is now almost ready to start the cycle again. Make sure all your frames match, or else it will look unrealistic. Do not wobble.
Frame 7: The last in final frame, the stick man now starts to fall and the legs extend outward, after this frame is completed the animation will loop over and over is if it was running in one spot.
I hope this tutorial helps you, for further help, contact me at ylperon@gmail.com and I will send you a .piv file to look at. Thanks for reading!!

(Walking Tutorial) Pivot Basics 4: Basic Types of Movement

As you have seen in my videos, there is a variety of punching , kicking, blocks, transitions, and effects. Let's start off with something basic, like walking.

Examine these photos:

Frame 1: Stick figure is standing, ready to move.
Frame 2: In this frame the stick man leans slightly forward, small onionskin.
Frame 3: Front leg moves out, all joints ease forward.


Frame 4: Same as frame 3 except the leaning forward and legs are more pronounced. Slightly bigger onionskin for legs.
Frame 5: Less onionskin, stick man leans forward. Notice how arms move out too.
Frame 6: Stick's upper body tilted a little forward, movements in frame 4 less pronounced, notice how the leg is lifting up and bent a little.
Frame 7: Large onionskin. Leg bends forward, body bends forward. Make sure not to wobble anything. More pronounced movements.
:Frame 8: THIS IS A VITAL FRAME!! This frame is when the legs cross, the body still eases forward and the bent leg "fits" over the straight one.
Frame 9: Also, pretty important, in this frame the foot of the bent leg is on top of the straight leg. Make sure to ease forward!!
Frame 10: This is the final frame before the animation starts over again. the leg eases forward again like in the beginning and repeats.
I hope this helped you, if you would like to see a video, Here is one, this is the longer version with 20 frames instead of 10, but the process itself will repeat over and over. Thank you.

Video Examples Part 3

In order to understand the improvement by practicing, look at these really old animations, they are my 5th and 6th pivots. Take a look.






As you can see, now my animations are a lot smoother and more realistic, this site will help guide you through the process. Have Fun!

Video Examples Part 2

Here are my older animations, as you can see I used a different stick figure, but overall the movements are still smooth. Look...