Character - Soldier with M4

[Sektor 13]

Here's an edit focused more on the coloring and shadowing:



1. Original sprite
2. Drawn out the palette, some colors already changed from the original version, chose the lightsource to be above the soldier and shaded accordingly, red x represents to color removed in this step
3. More color tweaks, blue lines point to the colors that were merged into one because of their simmilar values
4. Some face tweaks, goggles removed since there is a pair on the helmet, white color removed in this step
5. More color merging and some minor shading and contrast changes
6. Final paintover and it's palette - 9 colors total + transparency

Hope this helps.

Hey thanks for the work you've done, still i made character simple for animations reason, it is much easier to animate simple characte, althou yours looks more real, with better effect of cothing..

[Pet Terry]

The thing with legs straightened is that the pose is sturdier that way and aiming is easier. I don't know how it is in SWAT or SEAL, they might have different techniques.

When we had combat practices I don't remember ever shooting whilst standing, though. I was always ducking behind rocks or other stuff, or lying on my stomach. Much less chance to get hit that way. The only times I shot whilst standing was at shooting gallery.

But I understand you need the standing pose for your game. I guess in real situations you'd just do what you can without thinking about getting the exactly correct pose you were taught. So do what you feel suits your game the best.

[Sektor 13]

here are a bit fixed poses.

I have lowered the head in aiming frames, changed "on knee" frame, and som aother small changes

[TheYak]

As Petteri was saying, the cheek would likely rest very solidly on the stock of the rifle.  It would also be affected by the recoil - partially from slight flinch and partially having the cheek kicked away from the stock.  There'd probably be less cheek contact (if any) if it's rapid fire, since it's impractical to keep jamming your cheekbone against a hard moving object. 

The kick you've got seems about right for the rifle (is M4 another designation of M16?), maybe a bit too much, but that's probably needed for an animation exaggeration.  Keep in mind that the standing position will be affected by kick far more than kneeling (as well as incorporating a little sway).  Keep the positions' purposes in mind for stances: Standing's for a quick shot, and avoided for accurate shooting if possible, legs are straight but not locked in order to provide the least sway and bounce.  Kneeling is a tripod position with one foot, one knee and one ass-to-ankle (or closest as possible).

[Sektor 13]

Well, there will not be a need for sharpshooting, so i thik head is close enough, a lot of rapid fire will be involved too .

But good notice about the recoil in standing and crouching position, i could use it.

M4 is made for special forces and closer combats(it is a bit shorter)  than M16 which is for regulary army, as far as i know. As the game will be inside a structure i have choosen M4, well it doesn't even matter i guess .

edit:
3 "stand" fire anims:





I was inspired by previous anims (from Increator and Sergio...) i didn't use much head moving as Increator did thou, could change in the future..

So which of those three anims is best !??

I was thinking, maybe he should fire slower when standing than crouching (And I wrote my last thought an hour before, but i guess post wasn't saved properly !?? or i posted elswere ).

[R4L]

I think the scond animation of the three is best. A soldier should know how to shoot an M4, and the animation looks like he knows how to shoot it.

[Sektor 13]

Here is an reload anim:



edit:

whole action:

[Afflict]

Man this is starting to look really nice!

Keep it up Sektor13

[Sektor 13]

thanks

I have added a new anim two posts up.. whole action

[InCreator]

Impressive anims, Sektor!

But muzzle flash that gun generates is bigger than yours.

http://www.gunsmokeenterprises.net/muzzle%20flash.jpg
That's M4, some modification atleast.

Or simply google images for "muzzle flash" - even handguns seem to generate larger flash (about a size of a human head), I guess M4 generates even larger due stronger ammo... of course, the flash is very quick, and realistic doesn't mean the best if it comes to low-res sprites.

[Nikolas]

Inc: Not necessarily!

Larger guns do not neccesarily mean more "fire", since they have longer "guns" (don't knwo the word), which takes away most of the fire. I think that Sectors is pretty accurate in that perspecitve. And very good in generall.

Well done mate!

I couldn't've done better myself!









HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (<-sarcasm about how bad I suck at grahpics and animation)

[Sektor 13]

Thanks

Well, those muzzle flashes are very strange thingys. I heard that in reality they are not visible. Like if you shoot with real Glock or even m16 (i think) you can't see any muzzle fs.
Tottaly opposite are "movies". You can see very large ones ther, althou they are incorrect.

I must say, that I never fired a gun, so i cannot be 100% sure, maybe Petteri would know, if he is in army.

Well, the muzzle flashes are easy to fix

edit:
I am looking some data about m16 and m4, looks like my rifle is closer to m16 (in length), so it is officialy M16 rom now on

[InCreator]

Larger guns do not neccesarily mean more "fire", since they have longer "guns"

I'm no expert neither. Most handguns use 9mm ammo. It's 19mm long. M16 uses 5.56mm NATO ammo. And this is 39mm long. Now, how to calculate volume for a cylinder...? Well, my calculations tell that yes, 9mm bullets should have more gunpowder?

And gunpowder is what flashes, right?

Eh, but in movies and games, M16 generates a star- or x-shaped muzzle flash (if viewed from front, not side), and it's brighter and bigger than the one pistols make (which is almond-shaped from side and round from front).

It's still mystery for me.

Well, muzzle flash could be visible in automatic fire, but hardly seen from single shot. For a game sprite, I suggest still using some flash.

[sergiocornaga]

The second animation of the three is the best, backed up by the fact that you chose to use that one in the full animation. Do you think it matters that the rate of fire is different for the two stances? Because the animations look very good so I'd say speed is the only thing that should be changed now, if neccesary.

EDIT: One thing, I've noticed. I think both arms should move back in the crouching stance.

[Haddas]

Slowmotion gunfire:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8309414592630275524&q=slow+motion&pl=true

[Sektor 13]

The second animation of the three is the best, backed up by the fact that you chose to use that one in the full animation. Do you think it matters that the rate of fire is different for the two stances? Because the animations look very good so I'd say speed is the only thing that should be changed now, if neccesary.

EDIT: One thing, I've noticed. I think both arms should move back in the crouching stance.

I want to shoot a bit slower while standing, as it was said before, you can fell more recoil while standing and a bit faster when crouching.
Let say that the soldier uses single fire mode when standing and fully auto while on crouch, for accuracy reasons, i think this would give a nice addition for player to think how to shoot if something will aproach him very fast.

I saw Glock fireing from that movie, muzzle flash is very very brief (is this the right word for short !?), even when slowed down, you can hardly see it. I guess that why it is "invisible" in "normal" speed.

[Sektor 13]

sorry for double post grrrrrr

[Afflict]

Well its all good IMO I like the way it is.

[Sektor 13]

And "throw grenade" anim:

[big brother]

It might be nice to include a bit more secondary animation to make it more dynamic. Guns tend to drift upwards because of the kick when shots are fired in quick succession. You may mant to add a few spent cartridges ejecting from the gun.

It's a unlikely that a trained soldier would fire a shouldered weapon (far range) from a standing position. If his target is distant, he'd generally crouch or lie down for increased accuracy. When firing at close range with an automatic weapon, he would keep it at about waist level (or chest for medium range).

For a platform sprite, the colors are far too subdued. It's crucial that the character is visible against a background, since this can mean the difference between winning and losing the game. I'd suggest putting him against the background tiles before you get too far into his animation. Also, look at other arcade style games like:

Alien vs. Predator: http://www.rom-world.com/viewscreenshots.php?id=130

Metal Slug: http://www.mobygames.com/game/metal-slug-super-vehicle-001/screenshots

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/C/xCadillacs_And_Dinosaurs.png
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/C/wCadillacs_And_Dinosaurs.png
http://digilander.libero.it/calimerosegg/gallery/callus/dino.gif
http://www.aitpast.com/games/dino/dino04.png

Notice the colors they picked and the sprite to background contrast. Hope this helps.