That was fast.
New suggestions:
1: the new run has a few rough spots. The spear goes through the ground in a few places, and he is swinging the spear around too much. Also, it looks as if you spotted the spear going into the ground and mostly fixed that, but at expense of the spear having a bit of rough movement. Maybe just have him rest the spear on his should as he runs. Would be simple to do, and should look quite realistic.
2: The faster death is alot better. Dead guys gently floating to the ground always struck me as odd.. The other issues with the anim are still there. For example, the spear going through his leg and moving after he puts it on the ground.
3: it is really a shame he as no civ color.
4: If you are going to render out a 15 frame default animation,you might as well have him doing something. Please re-read Utahjazz tutorial for some insight into what a real vetern with Poser does. An animated default is not needed, but it is a nice touch. Just food for thought.
5. the new attack was done the hard way, I suspect. It looks as if you redid the entire attack rather than redo the frame size. The result is 'ok', but the spear is not quite so steady in this version.
With the faster death, the spear flaw is not so visible. With the reworked attack, it is useable since the spear stays in frame.
If you decide to polish it up more, you might look at the spear movement in the attack & run. And perhaps civ color. Extra credit if the spear does not passing through his leg as he dies..
You've made over 2 dozen units now. The basic skills are certainly there. You can make really good units if you apply yourself and take the time to check the unit out. Just render and post isn't good enough. Your last few units have all had moderate to severe problems.
The basic level you should probably shoot for would include:
Does everything stay in frame?
Does any of him move through any other part of him?
Does he have civ color? (important)
Are the animations reasonably smooth and at least moderately realistic?
Little nits like the rough attack and the mild poke through and slightly rough run can be ignored. But, the question you have to ask your self is what standard to you want to hold your self to?
Yes, I know not everyone shoots for perfection... but I'm not talking about perfect. Only to a level where it is lacking major flaws.
I'm convinced that some, like Wyrmshadow (for example) could animate a pile of dung and make it look good. And he would have an easy time doing it. Others, like me, have to work a little harder to try and measure up.
You make interesting models (ie: interesting ideas). That is over 1/2 the battle. Plus your units are almost always well constructed. Another big piece of what makes a good unit. But, it is not enough to have really nice still images. It is the animating that seems to really tax your patience. Parts of it is always really nice, other parts are rather obviously rushed.
Bjornlo's & Shiro's comments notwithstanding ("Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?") great unit. I especially like your approach to the shield.
