How to stop 'marching'

[Calin Leafshade]

Everytime i try and do a front facing walk cycle it always looks like they're 'marching'.

Can someone explain to me why that is?

Example:

[NsMn]

My three cents/tips:

- "Bulge" the legs when he's moving them.

- The arms should move different; if the left arm is in the back, the right one is in the front etc.

- Maybe let him jump up and down while walking (because of the legs, see part 1)

[Calin Leafshade]

ok i've tried again.. what about this?

[Crimson Wizard]

I am not a pro, but I would suggest making legs finish their step on different heights. Like, at first left leg steps couple of pixels lower than "baseline", and right steps cople of pixels higher. Then vice versa.

This should (I hope) simulate he is actually moving forward.

EDIT: Oh wait, that was dumb, you already made that... hmm...  

I have another idea. Try make legs go with different speed. If leg is raised it should go faster. If leg stays on place (while body moves forward) it should "move" slower.

I'll try elaborate. Animation should have following moves:

1. Left leg raised (fast)
2. Left leg starts to lower (fast), and right leg goes "back" (actually - up - on your pic) - (animation here slower).
3. Left leg is on ground, right leg raised (fast).
4. Right leg goes down (fast), left leg goes "back" (slower).

something like that.

This also means, that leg that is being raised should move futher up, than the leg which logically "stays on place".

[Renegade Implementor]

It looks like as one foot moves forward the arm on the same side is moved forward as well, as in- left leg forward, left arm forward.  I think this movement is contributing to this 'marching' movement.

I'd suggest the forward arm be opposite the forward leg, ie. left leg forward, right arm forward.

[Snarky]

Rather than going into the various things that are wrong with the animation, I have another suggestion.

You need to be clear on what you're actually trying to draw. That is, how are the arms and legs positioned in each frame? This is easier to do in side view. So start with making a side view animation, or use an existing one for reference. For each frame, draw the corresponding front view.

OK, so some speficic tips: Use shadows and foreshortening to indicate body parts that are closer/further away. If you do the up-down bobbing of the head, keep in mind that it starts in the hips (the belt, shoulders and head should all bob together). While getting the basic animation right, I would recommend that you leave out the coat: it's just in the way, and distracts from the important movements. When you have a good walkcycle you can add it back.

[zabnat]

I second making the side view first.

Also Renegade Implementor is right, on basic walk when right foot is on front right hand is back.

I remember a lots of walkcycle threads here that have scanned pages from some books that show you how to make walkcycles. I suggest searching for them and getting some tips from them.

[Scarab]

I think one of the main problems is that he's square gaiting (same raised arm as leg) which creates an awkward looking walk when people are doing it, let alone animations. You should change this before you make any modifications to this animation.

Peace 8)
scar

[Brentimous]

When doing frontcycle legs, I tend to have the legs moving in a diagonal direction. When a character's left leg is extending, I move it a pixel to the right. So it'll look a bit like  "\" when it's extended fully. Hopefully that extremely complicated bit of of ASCII art will help you on your way to animation glory. Doing this help gets rid of that stiff Lego-man walk.

Also, the foot should get slightly smaller as it moves backwards.

Demonstration:





I'm still a rookie at this sort of thing, but hopefully these pointers will help.

[Mouth for war]

Here's a walkcycle i've made for my game...maybe it helps...I'm not a great artist but i hope it can help a little

[Darth Mandarb]

I didn't read the entire thread (so forgive if I'm repeating somebody) but I think you should go back to your other thread and get the sprite right before spending all this time on the animation!  You've got a great start to the guy and I'd hate to see you waste time animating until you get him a bit more ... perfected

- The shoulders are REALLY off/out of whack.  It looks like he's got balloons (or something) under his coat on his shoulders (I'm guessing this isn't intentional?)
- also, I feel (just my preference) that the legs are too far apart

[Calin Leafshade]

Isnt that how his shoulders would be if he wore a big baggy coat with a collar?

[OneDollar]

To me the main issue is that he only ever moves on side of his body. If you look at some of the other walkcycles posted here you'll see that both the arms and legs change position every frame, making for a much smoother animation and less of the 'left-foot, right-foot' marching you've got going on.

[Mordalles]

i love the sprite, so i just wanted to have a go at his walk cycle. hope you don't mind.
i tried to make his cloak move accurately, but not sure if i was succesful.

[Calin Leafshade]

Wow i really like your walk cycle. You should do all my animations :p

[WHAM]

Mordalles' walkcycle is really nice, but it has one tiny detail, which I believe might poke the player in the eye if left untouched:
Look at his pants, just above his crotch. When his right hand moves forward, there appears a dark spot on the pants, which then disappears without a trace. Same for the left side.

it might be some kind of shadow of something on his clothes, but I think it looks a bit strange.

Great sprites overall, both the original standing ones and all of the animated attempts, very detailed and nice!

[Mordalles]

yip, that jumping pixel shouldn't be there. i only realised it when i posted it.  there are a few other loose pixels as well, as well as the pants and coat aren't shaded.