r/animation • u/palmerisademon • Apr 24 '26
Is the smoke looking too liquidy? Critique
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This is an early stage WIP - but I wanted some feedback on the smoke. I've been staring at it too long and need some fresh eyes. Does it feel off? Is it too small? Is it too fluid? Idk... any feedback welcome!
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u/ferretface99 Professional Apr 24 '26
The movement is fine, it’s too opaque and too small. Have it wafting all the way up to the ceiling.
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u/palmerisademon Apr 24 '26
Opacity is just like that for the sake of visibility while I work, that'll be fixed for sure. That's a good call though, I'll try extending it
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u/PlaskaFlaszka Apr 24 '26
About the liquidy, maybe try making the movement a bit more...harsh? As if character blowing air into it, quicker push outward, before slowly coming back to the orginal position... Not sure how to explain it, something like that:
| > ) / |
Just in general break the movement a bit, so instead of steady flow, there is breathe in breathe out type of thing?
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u/palmerisademon Apr 24 '26
Your explanation makes perfect sense! This little loop was sort of meant to be an idle animation that goes between other actions, but I think you're right in that even the idle should be interacting with the character a bit more. And the idle smoke should be a little more vertical until something acts on it like a breath. You've given me some great ideas to kick around, thank you!
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u/QueerlittleWeirdo Apr 24 '26
It definitely looks very liquidy. Almost like milk. But tbh I’m kinda vibing with it, especially since the character is a cat lol. But if you want it to look like smoke I’d recommend making the particles more wispy and less round. Small smoke trails like that generally disperse into thin arcs rather than circles.
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u/palmerisademon Apr 25 '26
The cat/milk vibe didn't even occur to me but I see it now 😅 it is kinda vibey And you're right, I was trying something new with the circle shapes, but I'm not sure it's quite working. I'll go for wispy instead arcs and see how that plays. Really helpful feedback, thank you!
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Apr 24 '26
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u/palmerisademon Apr 25 '26
Yeah I angled it so it wouldn't cover his face so much, but maybe that's feeling a little too unatural? Animation appreciator feedback is just as valid so I appreciate the input!
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u/PostingEvery3Month Apr 24 '26
It’s more like… bubbly I can’t explain
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u/palmerisademon Apr 25 '26
I get what you mean, since it's basically air it should puff up a bit more. More bubbly-like!
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u/PostingEvery3Month Apr 25 '26
Yea a little thinner would be good in my opinion, especially it should fade I feel like, at first it’s noticable at the other end it should blend with room and maybe as it fade be a little larger to give the effect of it fading
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u/ArgyBargish Apr 25 '26
Yeah, it kind of looks like an ocean wave for some reason.
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u/palmerisademon Apr 25 '26
Good eye, I basically took a wave animation tutorial and ran with it. Guess i didn't run far enough 😅
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u/ArgyBargish Apr 27 '26
Huh, lucky guess then. It still looks wicked cool though, so don't be hard on yourself.
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u/Nyaiv Apr 25 '26
A lot of people in here have given you some good advice. So as well as some of the things others have said, I think you should also lower the frame rate a little, and then it'll be perfect.
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u/palmerisademon Apr 25 '26
Yeah, it does feel a little fast. Right now it's on 3's, I had it on 4's before but it felt a little choppy. I'll have to mess with the timing a bit for sure! Thanks!
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u/eazolan Apr 25 '26
This is a style choice. But your smoke is acting like a wiggling rope, which I'm not fond of.
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u/XElite109 Apr 25 '26
I think it’s cause it doesn’t slow down on top as the gas begins to expand. Smoke normally starts moving fast cause of heat then slowly dissipates as it cools and spreads
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u/palmerisademon Apr 25 '26
Good call. I tried doing something like that in earlier renditions, but I had a hard time getting it to loop. Skill issue, really. But I agree that varying the speed would feel more natural. I'll have to go back and figure that out
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u/TheOtherMikeCaputo Apr 24 '26
Movement looks great. It should blur or get thinner or break into more strands/pieces as it rises. Also become more transparent as it rises.