Oh man, I still don't have my own thoughts 100% percent straight, but uh, just a few
quick large (sorry) interjections:
Quanyails said:
I like the rigid Tinkertoys skin, as I don't see Fidgit's joints as squishy. I'd think that Cartoons! makes Fidgit's joints animate because, well, it's a sketch animation and it's made to look lively. Are there any pictures of Fidgit's joints really deforming while bending?
Eh, I disagree, but the problem in disagreeing in this particular instance, is that it's a matter of opinion rather than evidence. So, first off, no there isn't any art where Fidgit's joints way deform, that's just the case. My reason for having a differing opinion though, boils down to a few things; the first (and most prominent) is that I disagree that you can discount how something moves in an animation because it's being made to look lively. Yes it's a sketchier animation style, and every frame isn't necessarily a painting like is usually the case with animation, but that things like Fidge's joints bending were oversights on Cartoons's part, I don't really buy that. In 2-D animation, no matter how quick or unpleasant looking the end product is, there's thought put into every frame, that's just a nature of the trade. So, subjectively, I disagree there. (Small extra point I just thought to mention, Cartoons current avatar is another animation, and I'm sure he's made more other places. The 'mons in those don't do any crazy shape 'tweens, they move like they should in a consistent animation. It's my belief Fidgit does as well.)
Oh and, even though this is a less solid point imo, the supporting art shows inconsistencies in the
shape of both Fidgit's elbow balls and leg thingeys, so I would honestly be confused if they were supposed to be made of a hard material, or a rigid one at least.
DougJustDoug said:
The "squishy" joints just don't seem to fit with Fidgit. I think the joints are always round and the limbs are just magically connected to the surface (localized gravity manipulation? works for me) and can move in all directions... ...But regardless of precedent, I think Fidgit's joints should be rigid spheres, even if that makes them look inorganic.
See... To be entirely honest, I kinda like this viewpoint as well, if only because it's the simplest way to make animating Fidgit work. That aside, I think there's some definite problems with this line of thinking too. The most important in my eyes, is the example of Regirock. I'm not faulting you Doug, or saying that's a bad example in this circumstance or anything, I think it illustrates your point well. I do think it's also a bit contradictory however: Regirock, is quite literally a reanimated pile or rocks held together by magical forces, based off of the mythological golem. It's literal point is to be a messy, inanimate, hunk of stone. I don't think that Fidgit is supposed to be either a robot, or a psychic creature capable of having nonsense limbs, that just doesn't make as much sense to me. Even though there's still gray boundaries all over the place in regards to what Fidgit is "actually supposed to be", it being some sort of bug-like, organic creature makes much more sense considering things like the typing, than if it were some sort of tinkertoy creature in my
opinion. Oh uh, to go back a few steps too, even when Regirock's joints move, (although it doesn't make sense for them to move to begin with) it's animations are all still anatomically correct. His arm never smashes in a weird direction or anything. In my mind, if you have Fidgit's joints be magnetically connected (which is the only way I can really think to interpret that), I feel like it would be as strange as if the Gamefreak devs made Tentacruel's tentacles out of spaghetti. I just don't think it makes sense if you look at pokemon, like somewhat flawed, but still working living creatures.
Anyway, sorry for the 'rant', there's still nothing objectively I can disprove about that line of thinking either. Those are some thoughts as to why I'm opposed the idea of "no-sense limbs" though, I guess.
QxC4eva said:
Look at video tuts, read some books or articles, and play around with the software (I suggest Blender if you're an artist, or Maya if you're a programmer).
(Small aside in a giant post of logic talk, but I'm just gonna put that information in my back pocket and save it for the second I get the time to understand blender better...)
QxC4eva said:
I think both A and B are extremes. Here's the "inorganic idea" as coined by our fidgitologist FriesforNapkins! Think of it like a TOILET PUMP
OKAY, MORE SERIOUS TALK. Alright but, this is where the difficult part for me comes in because I still don't have my thoughts on this all composed quite yet... I guess I'll just say this to start:
QxC4eva. You are a very cool person for even hearing my bs fidgitology out to begin with and also for doing crazy 3D modelling work. Seriously, thank you. But, uh, I don't think A, B, or C look quite like what I was thinking of to be entirely honest, here's objectively why; the one conclusion I've come to about this, is that the glands (assuming they are glands) should not not move like glands but like elbows. How does this view make any sense? ...Still working on that one, but, the real world example I'm going off of for now is the
Siamang Gibbon, and/or any animal with a
throat/gular/vocal sac. It's the closest comparison I can draw to Fidgit's wonky elbow situation, and even though them monkeys don't got a joint in their terrifying pelican throats, the glands should function sort of similarly is my thinking...? So, in short, real world animals with that gland, inflate it for whatever purposes they use it for, and then it's deflated the rest of the time so it doesn't pop or w/e. I imagine Fidgit's joints working in a sort of similar way. The A & C examples you gave make sense if the glands are fully inflated when it moves, but I'm starting to think it's more likely that the glands would act more like a half-inflated extra layer of skin than like a bubble. Just a thought, still composing some ideas regarding all of this, sorry for all the hassle but most importantly this crazy long post, aaaa.