C&C /CPR Required for Messy Walkcycle

[Mr Flibble]

Hi.
This is the walkcycle for a game I'm making. However the animation quality is really rather poor.


There isn't any shading on the legs, as I wanted to get the actual movements sorted
out before I started messing about with detail.
In retrospect the arms need to be thicker, but I'm more concerned about his
suicidal bobbing up and down.

Paintovers are openly encouraged.
I'm not saying "I suck, paint over this and do it for me" . I know the problems, but I don't know how to correct them. Therein lies the paintover request.

Many thanks.

[aussie]

I like the sprite a lot.

I'm not going to animate it, because I have to go to bed, but you might find the following advice useful. This is the way I've been doing it lately and my walkcycles look ok.

- When the stride begins or ends, the head should be about one pixel higher than the standing pose. (1)

- Whenever the stride is wide open, the head should be about one pixel lower than the standing pose. (2)

So from left to right:

(1) (1) (2) (2) (1)
(1) (1) (2) (2) (1)

Then you should get your bobbing more or less right (it might still need some more tweaking. You might also want to have some frames at the same height as the standing pose, for smoothness sake).

I would get rid of the fourth and ninth frames, IMO they're a bit redundant (also, in the ninth the guy seems to be flying).

Another small piece of advice: have boundaries for each frame, so you're sure they even out when cut and pasted into AGS. Otherwise chances are your character will end up Irish dancing all over the place.

G'luck.

[Mr Flibble]

Ah yes, the Irish dancing. That did crop up.
I'll whack out an edit and see how it figures.

EDIT



Gone is the tendancy to dance like a drunken Irishman.
I animated this in AGS, and it looked quite choppy. It looks better without 4 and 9
as you said.
Any ideas on frames to add to make it smoother? Also, I think the way the arms swing needs medical attention.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

The animation would probably benefit from using fewer frames rather than more, actually.  Try limiting it to 6-8 frames.  With small sprites, less really is more.

Here is a rather extensive edit (almost a redraw) with 6 frames.  There are still alot of problems I did not fix, such as his shoes changing size and his arms being too short, but it should give you an idea of how to make him walk at a brusque pace without looking like he's running or using too many frames.  Hope this helps.

your version at 10 frames    new version at 6 frames

[aussie]

As ProgZmax said, less frames would probably be better.

In order to avoid that funny torso movement, you should make sure the horizontal alignment of his head is always the same. Otherwise the torso and the head will keep moving back and forth for no good reason. Just like ProgZ did.

Lots of potential there Mr. Fibble... good work.

Ã,  Ã, 

[RyRayer]

Nice, but legs are still bit weird IMO. Reminds me Guybrush Threepwood.

[Mr Flibble]

Reminds me Guybrush Threepwood.

Shh! Don't say it too loudly or everyone will want one.

Thank you ProgZmax, your skills never cease to amaze me. I'll work with your paintover and see what I can come up with.



I found Prog's edit to be a little over Zak McKracken in the nose department, but apart from that, the walkcycle is basically prog's edit.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I thought it was guybrush, hence the honker from curse.  Glad you like it

[stuh505]

I think  the 10 frame version looks considerably better...it has so much more flow and personality in the walk.  Granted, the body is jittering a little and that needs to be fixed.

[Chicky]

Yes, sorry but i agree with Stuh.

[Mr Flibble]

Hmm, okay.
I'll fix up the original's suicidal swaying and see how he polishes up.

EDIT





Any thoughts?

[Oliver]

The legs look quite okay. But what's up with the hands? They seem like they are just attaced with a piece of tape and just hanging there or whatever.

[Sam.]

i really disagree, progs edit makes the character look like ge's walking, instead of lumbering along in a drug induced stupor. FLibbles original was goodm but the movement of the arms is not just weird, its unnatural.

[Chicky]

aww no way! I love the new edit! Loads of character

[Andail]

Mr Flibble's edit is more accurate and probably more functional in a game, but it's also a bit stiff and mechanical.
The problem with his cycle is a very common one; the leg's movement is constant throughout the stride, while in reality, it will slow down just before the turn. I think Eric described this issue and how to address it in one of his tutorials.

The original cycle has a good leg movement, which you can see if you cover the upper body while watching the animation.

[Kweepa]

The easy way to address a timing issue is to change the timing of the individual frames.

[stuh505]

the new anim is the best in my opinion

the legs are great

arms could use a little work still.  don't move the upper arm so much, let it be more the lower arm swinging.  also the hands should be facing palms to the legs

[fovmester]

I like the original version best! As someone said, it's got more personality. But you should add shading to both the arms and legs so that you'll know which arm/leg is behind the character and which is in front.

[Mr Flibble]

I was holding off on shading and details until I got the animation right.

Okay, so which of these is better?
Number 1

Which is more or less a perfect walk cycle in technical terms.

Number 2

Which has more character but is far less accurate.

So on which frame should the walkcycle slow? I read Eric's tuts, and looked at his templates, and they were a great help.
I think that the second one would work, if only I could correct those arms.

[Chicky]

2 all the way!