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Cycle - A Short Cycling Animation

Eighty seconds of calm and subtle animation

"Cycle" is a lovely little film, created by Israeli animator Amir Porat for the Israeli Maratoon 2013 contest, a competition in which film-makers were given five days to create a short animation from start to finish on the subject of the bicycle.

Cycle from CycleTeam on Vimeo.

“Cycle” starts with shots of several different people riding bicycles and then pans back to reveal they are pedaling thin air. Romantics might see this as the effortless joy and freedom that cycling brings, cynics might suggest that moving bicycles are a bugger to animate, especially when you less than a week to produce a short film.

Whatever, “Cycle” was good enough to come second in last year’s Maratoon. Sometimes you want to hear someone’s rambling thoughts that come to them whilst they’re noodling about on a bike, sometimes less is most definitely more.

Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.

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10 comments

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Fran The Man | 10 years ago
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Blimey! Ain't it just enough to say you liked - or didn't like - it! I thought it was  16 . And I liked it!

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joemmo | 10 years ago
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Well yes, if you keep it simple then it will be... simple. It totally depends on the execution and style, you can draw a stick man or a fully anatomically correct human and say of both of them "I've drawn a man"

What I'm saying is that if you want to animate a bike and rider realistically, in 3d or hand drawn for example then artistically and technically it is a challenge to do well.

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VecchioJo | 10 years ago
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i've tried to animate a moving bicycle

as ' joemmo' says - pedalling, cranks and wheels turning, steering, it's a bugger

just sayin

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fukawitribe | 10 years ago
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cynics might suggest that moving bicycles are a bugger to animate

Only if they're a some sandwiches, bucket of cocktail sausages, old blanket, plastic glasses, bottle of fizz and a basket short of a picnic - they're a doddle to animate as they're basically rigid (modulo rotation). As kobacom said 'Its not about the bike, its the people'... but you knew that, right ?

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joemmo replied to fukawitribe | 10 years ago
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fukawitribe wrote:

cynics might suggest that moving bicycles are a bugger to animate

Only if they're a some sandwiches, bucket of cocktail sausages, old blanket, plastic glasses, bottle of fizz and a basket short of a picnic - they're a doddle to animate as they're basically rigid (modulo rotation). As kobacom said 'Its not about the bike, its the people'... but you knew that, right ?

a bike, isolated and riderless with bits rotating is a relative doddle. Put a person it pedalling, turning, shifting their weight and have it moving across a surface and it is a pretty complex bit of animation to do realistically.

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earth replied to joemmo | 10 years ago
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joemmo wrote:
fukawitribe wrote:

cynics might suggest that moving bicycles are a bugger to animate

Only if they're a some sandwiches, bucket of cocktail sausages, old blanket, plastic glasses, bottle of fizz and a basket short of a picnic - they're a doddle to animate as they're basically rigid (modulo rotation). As kobacom said 'Its not about the bike, its the people'... but you knew that, right ?

a bike, isolated and riderless with bits rotating is a relative doddle. Put a person it pedalling, turning, shifting their weight and have it moving across a surface and it is a pretty complex bit of animation to do realistically.

I'm with fukawitribe - its a doddle. You don't have complicate it. Keep it simple.

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aSolihullCyclist | 10 years ago
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Now this is what cycling should be about.

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Bob's Bikes | 10 years ago
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No helmets no hi-viz kid had earphones on woman was using hand held phone. GRRR GRRR

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mephistopheles replied to Bob's Bikes | 10 years ago
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FATBEGGARONABIKE wrote:

No helmets no hi-viz kid had earphones on woman was using hand held phone. GRRR GRRR

 29

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kobacom | 10 years ago
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Its not about the bike, its the people.

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