Hi guys!
We're currently making a character model, here are the early model pics:
(http://cs412121.vk.me/v412121067/4f8/c5t_Gdxa_bE.jpg)
(http://cs309322.vk.me/v309322067/6196/RnGmjZtN6_0.jpg)
(http://cs412121.vk.me/v412121067/4ba/InvoUJfXCpc.jpg)
Anything we can improve on? I, personally, don't really like his nose on the side view and his face for 3/4 is just, eh, smashed with a frying pan weird.
I would make his face a little bit wider in the 3/4 view, he needs a bigger jaw to match the side view.
The side views hair seems off compared to the 3/4 views (which I really like).
All in all, the character looks great, very nice. As for pixel noses, they're pretty tough to pull off, but a pixel here and a pixel there should cure any problems you have with this guy.
For starters you could post them as .pngs.
Here are some reworked gif's (thanks for the suggestion, NickyNyce), hope they'll do instead:
[imgzoom]http://s23.postimg.org/kb1a8zoqv/image.gif[/imgzoom]
[imgzoom]http://s23.postimg.org/4e2ic9wcn/image.gif[/imgzoom]
[imgzoom]http://s23.postimg.org/xui4ep2pz/image.gif[/imgzoom]
He looks very wide and buff in the front shot, his head changes sizes in the last two shots and his face is totally flat still.
Quote from: Armageddon on Wed 17/04/2013 06:01:37
He looks very wide and buff in the front shot, his head changes sizes in the last two shots and his face is totally flat still.
I've told our artist, thanks for your tips. :) However, personally, I don't agree that his front shot doesn't correspond with the other two.
I'm no expert, but I think they look really nice :)
Is he supposed to be really dirty in the front view but clean in the 3/4 view? The nose still doesn't look right in the side view.
I like the 3/4 view best, regarding shape, lineart and shading.
The third (3/4) lacks the shading that the others have, but is the best looking sprite.
The first looks good, but the shoulders / upper arms look a bit bulkier than in the other poses, where they looks more natural. I'll admit it does look better against a background than alone.
The side view doesn't really have a nose to speak of.
Aside from these few minor critiques, I think they look fantastic.
Quote from: cat on Wed 17/04/2013 08:46:52
Is he supposed to be really dirty in the front view but clean in the 3/4 view? The nose still doesn't look right in the side view.
I like the 3/4 view best, regarding shape, lineart and shading.
He will be dirty in every view, those aren't final of course. :)
If only you knew how he'd look like towards the end. (laugh)
Quote from: dactylopus on Wed 17/04/2013 08:54:56
The side view doesn't really have a nose to speak of.
I've been poking our artist over and over about his nose on the side view, but he says he can't really figure a proper way to redraw the nose as there aren't many pixels to play with (yeah, speaking of space quest or larry, yep). He said he'll try though.
And thanks everyone, we appreciate all of your critiques.
How about this:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/ku48Rgi.png[/imgzoom]
Added nose, fix the hair to match in all views, narrower face in front view, moved head back in side view, stretched the jaw and moved the eye more to the right in 3/4 view. Moved some shadows (like under the jaw in 3/4 view), hope for the better.
The 3/4 view face was just too narrow and eyes to together. Also he was missing eyebrows. Nose in side view is hard, but when I moved his head back, a 1 pixel nose doesn't look that bad.
As a tip, it's good idea to keep consistent outlines, don't put them on some edges of the sprite, then don't do at other places. When between objects (as in when it's not an edge of the sprite but between clothes and skin etc.) you can choose not to use them, because number of pixels is limited and you don't need the outline as much as you do to separate the sprite from the background.
Wow, thanks a lot. Very nice work. :)
We'll adopt everything you did (if you don't mind) except the 3/4 nose as it does make the character somewhat, eh, anime-pitiful-ish, won't describe it right. (laugh)
Quote from: tinyhippo on Wed 17/04/2013 11:15:24
We'll adopt everything you did (if you don't mind) except the 3/4 nose as it does make the character somewhat, eh, anime-pitiful-ish, won't describe it right. (laugh)
Sure, no problem, I just slightly pushed things around.
And yes, might be too animeish, you need to work that one out though. Maybe add 2-3 pixels of the outline skin tone (experiment) to indicate the nose.
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/nK0DiGi.png[/imgzoom]
I had a go at more cartoony approach to the face, I didn't touch your colours (thinking now that the skin is a little dark) but pushed some pixels around. Not sure if it's any help.
I hope ProgZmax won't mind if I post an old sprite sheet of his (I think it might be a paintover), but since you've been concerned about getting enough facial detail/expressiveness I thought it might be an interesting thing to look at:
[IMGzoom]http://i.imgur.com/eXu5Bpi.gif[/IMGzoom]
Wow, that is some old stuff right there! :)
Anyway, the main problem you need to work on is visual consistency between angles. Right now the shape of the head does not maintain size between angles and therefore is throwing everything else off. I've made an edit showing the original with horizontal lines to point out alignment and then an edit below.
1. Adjusted shape of face in angled and right pose to match the size of the downward version (this included bringing down the jaw and eyes).
2. Changed the highlight of the hair so it was easier to see. Details are only useful if people can see them.
3. Added a nose and some very basic face shadowing.
4. Adjusted shape of hair in angled and right poses.
[imgzoom]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/facex_zps64369116.gif[/imgzoom]
The main thing to pay attention to is consistency, though anatomy is important too and you want the eyes to be at least one full eye apart.
Quote from: Chicky on Thu 18/04/2013 21:56:06
I had a go at more cartoony approach to the face, I didn't touch your colours (thinking now that the skin is a little dark) but pushed some pixels around. Not sure if it's any help.
Thanks, but that is quite the opposite of what we are looking for our character. :)
Quote from: Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens on Fri 19/04/2013 10:22:43
Wow, that is some old stuff right there! :)
Anyway, the main problem you need to work on is visual consistency between angles. Right now the shape of the head does not maintain size between angles and therefore is throwing everything else off. I've made an edit showing the original with horizontal lines to point out alignment and then an edit below.
1. Adjusted shape of face in angled and right pose to match the size of the downward version (this included bringing down the jaw and eyes).
2. Changed the highlight of the hair so it was easier to see. Details are only useful if people can see them.
3. Added a nose and some very basic face shadowing.
4. Adjusted shape of hair in angled and right poses.
[imgzoom]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/facex_zps64369116.gif[/imgzoom]
The main thing to pay attention to is consistency, though anatomy is important too and you want the eyes to be at least one full eye apart.
That is quite impressive. Thanks a lot! I linked this thread to our artist, he seems to have taken ahold of what you said/changed.
[imgzoom]http://cs521417.vk.me/u176513067/doc/da7708b0f74f/animatsia_-geroy-idet-vpered-222.gif[/imgzoom]
Here's a walkcycle made for this character. Anything wrong with it?
That's a pretty good start for the walk cycle. A couple of thoughts though...
-Head and shoulders should bob up and down when walking. After a step's been taken and both feet are more or less on the ground, the head and shoulders are lower.
-Legs should extend forward, not out horizontally. Right now, the character is doing a little bit of a duck walk.
Here's a really good reference video that may help you out:
[embed=425,349]<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vq9A5FD8G5w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/embed]
Quote from: waheela on Sun 05/05/2013 19:10:19
-Head and shoulders should bob up and down when walking. After a step's been taken and both feet are more or less on the ground, the head and shoulders are lower.
Just a point I want to emphasize, since I see a lot of people going wrong: it's not just the head and shoulders that bob up and down, it's the whole body. As waheela says, it has to do with the legs being more or less straight and on the ground at different points of the walkcycle (when your legs are bent or extended in front and back, you're lower; when one leg is straight and under your body, you're higher, and depending on how you walk you might get a little higher still as you lift your heel right afterwards), and that transmits all the way up to the head. So really, the bobbing needs to start from the hips, where the legs connect to the spine and torso.
(http://cs537510.vk.me/u176513067/doc/e97519d7c006/animatsia_-geroy-idet-vpered-tsvet.gif)
Here's what we got. What do you think?
Your original gif got taken down so I can't compare new to old.
The head moves in a V shape, but I think it should move more in an upside-down V shape.
The legs still kick out to the side a lot. Also, maybe consider shrinking the toe a little bit when the foot is closest to the camera. The perspective is such that the camera looks pretty close to the character, which may or may not fit the game.
Maybe have the character turn a bit less as well? When I walk my shirt zipper doesn't move relative to my face.
The bouncing strings on the hoodie is a nice touch. The wrinkles on the sleeves also appear well-thought out. I'm quite impressed. :)
Did a quick edit (verrrry quick) where I only made changes to frames 3 and 7 - I copied the legs from frames 4 and 8, and I moved the head several pixels closer to center. The head now moves more in a figure 8 and the feet don't kick out as much. I think it's a slight improvement even with the screwy neck/shoulders and copy/pasted legs.
(http://i40.tinypic.com/1zgfh2o.gif)
There's something I've noticed on most front walkcycles: the character often walks like a clown: his knees movement look a bit exaggerated. It looks like he's throwing his legs far in front of him, like he's parading. Then again, it's like that on many walkcycles I've seen. I don't know what's to blame for that. Maybe there is a reference walkcycle that is used by everybody and causes chaos for the last 10 years?
You can blame Mr. Colossal (http://kafkaskoffee.com/tutorials/walkcycletut.shtml).
Yeah, that reference is awful.
Here's a much better one:
(http://versethatiwrite.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/genericman.png) (http://versethatiwrite.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/genericdr.gif)
tinyhippo: I'd consider reworking the walk-cycle, moving away from the template.
Edit:
Added animation. (It's by Antipus and was posted in the Contribution Thread.)
I think Eric's walkcycle is actually very good (except for the up view) for a Sam & Max-style, close-up, exaggeratedly cartoony game. But (through no real fault of his) it's been overused and applied where not appropriate. Maybe the one Khris just posted is better for this style (it's hard to tell without seeing it in motion).