So I decided to make a sort of tutorial on how to improve replays. I will tell you about speed, momentum, flow, balance and some other stuff. Remember that this is under construction, so your input will be appreciated.

Replays: Tips 'n Tricks
Introduction
Replays are often judged based on style and destruction. The style part of the replay includes how fast it looks, flow, balance and pose. The destruction part includes the count of hits and how powerful a hit looks and stuff like that. In this tutorial I will give general pointers on how to improve those aspects.

Flow
The amount of flow often determines the visual aspects of a replay. A replay without flow is often described as "stiff". When you increase flow, momentum is easily conserved and you can make combos quicker and better. But how to improve the flow? ( Example attached)
- The first element of flow is momentum/speed. You can't move fluently if you're nearly standing still. Therefor, speed is essential ( see speed section for help with that)
- Also important is that when you hit, your hitting bodypart doesn't suddenly stop, as this interupts the flow. Strike with either such force that the bodypart you hit flies off, or make it slide through. Another solution is altering the hit so it does stop, but the rest of the body still flows and prepares for the next hit.
- Don't suddenly try to move direction. For example, when you're twisting left, don't suddenly twist right unless you got your legs or hands or whatever planted on the ground, in that case you may use it for momentum. When you do this, the twisting momentum going left is cancelled by the momentum going right. For a few frames it may look like you're struggling to move.
- When you're pushing yourself off the ground, don't punch or kick the ground, instead go with an angle and flail you legs for momentum ( be careful not to look sloppy though).
- Some people may say "Relax all, makes for better flow." No, it makes you look sloppy unless you use it well. Hold is just as important. Experiment with it. But it IS generally easier to just relax joints you won't be needing, because they move along with the rest more smooth then held joints.

Speed
Speed is one of the most important elements of a replay. Not only does it make the replay look better, hits also become more powerful. Speed is also part of momentum, as momentum is mass times speed. So with more speed, more momentum, more destruction and probably more visual coolness. How do you gain speed:
- You can push yourself of the ground for speed, the most common and most powerful way of gaining speed. Pushing yourself off the ground allows for some serious rotational and directional momentum.
- The law of inertia applies also to toribash. This means that your whole body moves slightly backwards if you move one part forwards, as Action = Reaction. This also means that if you swing your foot forwards, you can gain momentum by swinging other parts the other way. This doesn't work with extended glutes however, because that is more of a rotating movement. If you want momentum for your contracted hip with both glutes extended, a wise choice would be to also contract the other hip.
- When kicking, you can increase speed by relaxing the anlke, so it works as a whip. At first it goes extended, then swings forward with lots of power.
- Also, most joints are at their top speed about 2/3 of the way they want to go. So hit Uke there to go for a maxed momentum hit.
- You can also grab pieces of Uke and swing them backwards to go forwards, as a variation on the law of inertia.


Aim
Aim is very important in getting the hit you want. You can have all the momentum you need, hit uke in the chest, but then nothing happens. Aim is very important for booming too.
- When you're aiming, and see that it's going to miss, but decide to change direction later, do it as soon as possible, for the sake of conserving momentum. Last frame direction changes kill momentum like nothing else.
- Aiming is all about finding the right combination between hold and relax. Relax makes the path go near the biggest swing ( example: with the shoulder it goes to the middle when you move the pecs, there it has the biggest swing) and hold fixes the joint in the current location. Remember: Hold is not as strong as extend/contract/twist/bend/raise/lower. This also applies in Multiplayer, especially with high gravity, Hold may move. So if you don't want it to move, put some of the movements mentioned above on it at the last moment.
- Most of the times, some joints may be of great influence while not seeming that important at all, especially when skeeting. Experiment with all joints when you have trouble aiming, sometimes the right change is not in the limb that hits at all.

Cleanliness (?)
A replay generally better when it's "clean". That can mean two things: Either Uke is left with 0 points or ( the more important one in replay making) there hardly is collision between Uke and you, except for what is needed for a hit.
- For example: If you're going to spinkick Uke to the face, make sure you spin nicely, and then try to make contact only with your foot to his face.
- "Hug"punches and kicks are usually considered pretty messy, because a lot of bodyparts collide. So don't do it, unless you know what you're are doing and accept the messyness.
- Manipulations are an example of where you touch Uke without dismembering, but instead you try to keep him airborne for some momentum generated by gravity. Same rules apply here, don't touch stuff you don't need, so keep the amount of contact reduced.
- Sometimes, selfdamage is on (/set damage 1). That means you need to be careful with where your own body goes too. So keep that in mind.
- Sound often also influences it. When there's a chaos of sounds, it doesn't sound very amusing. One single *CRACK* is more elegant. This is a crap tip, because sound is generated by collision, so the above tips should help.

Posing
Posing is what finishes the replay. It's the icing on the cake. Balance is important. There are different kinds of poses, as always: beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so do what you think looks good. You can stand, sit, handstand, headstand, or squat. Whatever you think suits your replay.
Here are some general tips on how to pose:
- Your centre of gravity is when standing with every joint still attached about at your abs. So keep you abs above your feet when you're standing. Of course, if you move parts of your body, your centre of gravity will shift with it a little.
- Try to get as much surface area on the ground with your hands and feet for maximal balance. Also, try to spread it, so it covers more area.
- To do this, you can relax your ankles to flatten your feet. Or you can contract your knee and put your shin on the ground.
- Try to have as little speed as you can when you reach the point where you want to balance, else you'll just fall over and there is annoyingly little you can do about that. Just edit your speed away beforehand.
- Try to get into your pose as soon as you can and make the transition smooth. When you can't, do something cool, like flipping or walking until you can get into your pose.
- Relax as much as you can just before you are done, that makes the transition smooth. Be careful to not fall over or look sloppy though. Holding is better if it maintains your pose better.
- The lower your centre of gravity is, the easier it gets to find your balance. So keep your body low.

Now for Standing poses. These can be really timeconsuming, but look very nice if you can pull them off:
- Don't have everything extended, it looks tense. Relax a little, hold for example your elbows about 2/3 before extended. Or contract them. Have your feet a little apart from each other, for balance and because it looks better.
- If you can't get into your pose, make sure you stand straight, with flattened feet. Also make sure you are nearly standing still. Then play around with your pecs and chest, or hips and glutes to find your balance.

Skeeting
This was requested by Boredpayne.
First of all, the definition of a skeet. A skeet is when you throw something at something else. Most people throw something at Uke's head, but this is not a necessity.
You can also throw very hard to achieve a dismember with a skeet. When you decap Uke using a skeet, that is called a skeetcap.
People often use their own hands to throw. Mostly because:
- They are easy to rip off. ( Just contract wrist and elbow, and make sure you grab your own shoulder/pec, it should come off)
- A dismembered wrist doesn't bother you that much when throwing, whereas a dismembered shoulder significantly shifts your center of gravity and disables you to swing both of your arms for momentum.
- They are light, but don't spin as much as for example feet, pecs and cockblocks. But they are also a little heavier then the mentioned spinny parts, so their accuracy is higher, because when you move one joint, heavy parts get influenced less. This may sound bad, but for long throws it's very important to be able to make small changes.
- They do damage to Uke, even without selfdamage on ( /set damage 1 ) and can grab for easy dismember.

You can ofcourse just grab a piece of Uke flying around and throw that, but then, put selfdamage on if you want a dismember.

So now, for the actual throw. A backhand throw is the most common throw, because they are easy to aim, and they give quite a nice swing, so lots of momentum is generated.

I will make a step to step explanation on how to throw with a backhand, this probably gives you a fair bit of practice, so you can later apply this for other throws.

1. Grab the part with one hand. Choose a hand that is far away from the target, so you can make an easy turn and have much momentum.

2. If you grabbed with your left hand, then make the chest right rotating, contract left pec, do something nice with your right pec ( doesn't really matter much yet) and contract all arms joints. Extend glutes, extend left hip, contract right hip. If you grabbed with your right hand, mirror it.

3. Reverse all, starting with chest and left pec and the hips. Then some frames later, extend left elbow. Then again some frames later, extend wrist. Play around with the timing, as this is very important for the power of the throw. Make sure the elbow and wrist are on 2/3 of their full extension. Then they have the most power.

4. Try releasing every frame and see what the ghost does. If you need to wait, then wait, if you're too late, edit. If you need to change direction, try to do that or else go back further to change it earlier.

5. When you need to change the direction, play around with EVERY joint. Sometimes, strange changes help sometimes. Just try. Editing on the frame of release is most recommend, as you can aim more easily using your ghost.


This is not how you MUST do it, this is an example of a throw. Use the experience you gain doing this to further explore throwing on your own. This does not substitute practicing for yourself, that is still most important.




I will work on this. You can of course also request a tutorial, I'll be glad to make it.

excellent tips right there.
+rep

u should add some things on posing:

1. try to land on ur feet for added realism
1a. use ur chest and pecs to change forward momentum (or sideways) into rotational momentum as this is easier to stop without falling
1b. relaxed ankles are great way to flatten them on the ground at which point u then hold them to stop ur feet moving (this is pointless unless ur centre of gravity isn't above ur feet)
1c. extending then contacting ur ankles is a good way to lift urself off the ground a few centimetres to make small adjustments
1d. swing ur arms around to give urself that extra bit of balance

2. when landing from a high jump it looks a lot better to land on relaxed jointsto absorb the impact

3. simple poses where u just keep ur torso off the ground by putting all of ur limbs down normally look nooby (there are exceptions)

EDIT: some more tips i thought of

4. dont fight ur momentum flow with it by using relax and using the existing momentum to take a few steps to slow down this makes the landing look especially realistic

5. the sooner u stop the better

6. when ur in ur desired position DON'T just hold all automatically this will cause a little jerking motion which can ruin the effect instead hold vital joints and contract joint that are fully contracted until u hold ur position

7. useing uke to pose can be very effective as it looks victorious and u can use him to dicreetly balnace by leaning ur leg against him

8. and finally spend time on ur pose it can make or break ur replay dont just do it as an afterthought

1a. You don't convert anything, you just add rotational momentum.
1b. Yep true.
1c. It also rotates you backwards, so in posing not really good if you are already out of balance.
1d. No, that looks really bad and retarded. Lower them to lower your centre of gravity, so it's easier to stand.

2. Not only does it look prettier, if you do not absorb the hit, you'll break something.

3 Actually, these generally look pretty good when your head is up.


I will write something about posing tomorrow, now I'll go to sleep.

1a always works for me it might be because it brings ur leg in front of u

This is some good stuff, I wish I had a guide like this when I first started, would have made it alot easier.
+rep

4. True, don't relax too much though, might look sloppy.

5. Yes, though a few flips or something might look good though at -30 gravity.

6. Relaxing elbows in standing poses for example sometimes makes it look better. Shoulders too, wrists too. Pecs are a bad idea to relax as they shift your centre of gravity sideways when they move too much.

7. Or hold his head, but this is just extra weight that needs balancing. Holding Uke is more of an aestethic thing, because it doesn't matter that much for the balance, it's just slightly differtent

8. Most pro replay makers spend most of the time on the opener and the pose ( unless they are make something like a really high distance skeet, that's timeconsuming too). A standing pose is really the icing on the cake, it doesn't really changes anything about the quality of the replay when it's not there, but it finishes it quite nicely and makes the replay look a tad more pro.

I will still write something on posing, expect it in a few hours.

Bump because I added something about Skeeting.

man this is one of the most epic tuts eva!!!!!!!!1


+++++REP

Thx. Iv always wanted to skeet