I've done a walkcycle for one of the importaint characters of Caribbean Mysteries, Crispy the Monkey. He is the pet of Torleif Shufflefoot and he's very smart. Unlike his master he can play a tuba the right way and the only thing that distracts him is bananas. Anyway, here's a walkcycle of him plus a frame of his regular veiw (to the right):
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Crispy_walkcycle.PNG)
I know that monkeys regularly don't walk on their hindlegs but since CM is a cartoony game and that Crispy is smart and is a pet I don't want him to walk on all four like real monkeys do.
I'm not entirely sure if the tail wags the right way when he walks (I don't want it to look so stiff so that's why it's wagging while he's walking. I'm not sure if monkeys tails do wag when they walk or not, though.).
Sorry about the unneccesary white space. I promise to get rid of it.
Any chance of an animated version? It would be good to see him in full flow.
I think his arm in the still view (the last pose) should be closer to his body... it looks kinda odd at the moment.
Also, monkeys use their tails for balance when they're climbing trees etc but that's when they use all four limbs. I don't know how the tail would move with Crispy using two legs.
Sure, I'll fix an animated version. I realized now that I had one more frame too much since it's meant to be a six frames so the last one is actually the first one (yes I know the tail is wrong here).
QuoteAlso, monkeys use their tails for balance when they're climbing trees etc but that's when they use all four limbs. I don't know how the tail would move with Crispy using two legs.
I thought it might be something like that but didn't quite fully remember that.
Sorry. My flipbook monitor is out of action for a while. I'll wait for the animation.
Hope you don't mind Mats...
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/mb_crispys_strut.gif)
There's a bit of a problem with his legs from frames 1 to 2 and frames 4 to 5 but other than that he's looking pretty good apart from the tail, but you already know about that.
I'd rather see the monkey move in a swinging way using its forearms, if you know what I mean. Like, lifting its body and swinging its legs forward, off the ground.
--Erwin
dg: Thanks for animating it for me. I have Adobe ImageReady and it can only have animation files in psp files and you can't upload those on AGS Upload. Well, I'll see what I can do about the frames. And about the tail, I'm still not sure but I don't know exactly what's wrong with it or how to fix that.
Erwin: Sorry but I totally disagree with you because, that counts as Crispy walking on all four. If you missed what I said before, I will repeat:
QuoteI know that monkeys regularly don't walk on their hindlegs but since CM is a cartoony game and that Crispy is smart and is a pet I don't want him to walk on all four like real monkeys do.
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Mon 25/07/2005 20:27:04
dg: Thanks for animating it for me. I have Adobe ImageReady and it can only have animation files in psp files and you can't upload those on AGS Upload. Well, I'll see what I can do about the frames. And about the tail, I'm still not sure but I don't know exactly what's wrong with it or how to fix that.
Erwin: Sorry but I totally disagree with you because, that counts as Crispy walking on all four. If you missed what I said before, I will repeat:
QuoteI know that monkeys regularly don't walk on their hindlegs but since CM is a cartoony game and that Crispy is smart and is a pet I don't want him to walk on all four like real monkeys do.
Oh, okay... I missed that part ;) Now that you explained this: The monkey does remind me of a Futurama episode. :D
Technically I don't have much to add to what's already been said, except a suggestion to shade the arm and leg in the background a little darker. That'll probably make the animation easier to watch. Other than that, great work! Keep it going :D
--Erwin
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Mon 25/07/2005 20:27:04
I have Adobe ImageReady and it can only have animation files in psp files
I used ImageReady to animate it. If you chose "Save Optimized As" (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S) instead of "Save As" then you can save as a gif.
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Mon 25/07/2005 20:27:04
And about the tail, I'm still not sure but I don't know exactly what's wrong with it or how to fix that.
I think there should be less movement in the tail, at the moment (in the animated version) it looks like it's going 'round in a circle. It would probably look better if it just kinda swayed from side to side in time with the footsteps.
Erwin: Ok, I will make a darker shading. Maybe the darker color that I have now isn't dark enough to see any difference or maybe your screen is a bit too dark. By the way, I haven't seen so much Futurama so I don't know about the monkey from there but Crispy is 100 % from my mind.
dg: Thanks! I'm going to change that.
Ok, now I have finished a new version and this time I managed to make it as an animation (thanks to dg for the help!):
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Crispy-walk-side.gif)
* I have lowered the head on the 2:d, 4:th and 6:th frame make the head bob when he moves (thought it looked slightly stiff when his head was still).
* Changed the tail so it wags back and forth (it looks good to me but I don't know about you guys).
* Changed the feet in second and fifth frame.
I'm not sure about the feet but maybe it's just me. Tell me what you think.
There's a little problem with the feet (although it doesn't matter that much with the high res you're going to use):
Even the worst walkcycle looks good if the feet don't slide over the ground.
To achieve this, make sure that the feet move back the exact same number of pixels between frames as long as they're on the ground. (This number should equal the "Speed" in the Character Settings, btw.)
Apart from that and the head's wrong timed bobbing, it looks good.
QuoteApart from that and the head's wrong timed bobbing, it looks good.
Then in what frames should the bobs be then if not 2:nd, 4:th and 6:th frames?
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Mon 25/07/2005 20:27:04
dg: Thanks for animating it for me.
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Tue 26/07/2005 07:14:18
dg: Thanks! I'm going to change that.
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Wed 27/07/2005 21:02:41
thanks to dg for the help!
Glad I could help, Mats.
Just coz I had some free time today I thought I'd see what I could do with this walkcycle... Here's the result:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/dgmb_8frame.gif)
I played around with positions of his arms and legs in the original version but in the end just went with eight frames instead of six. I made a few other changes as well, he's a bit lighter brown now and I moved his ear forward a couple of pixels... maybe something else too but I can't remember.
It's not great but it's okay so I thought I'd share it.
Dave
mats, on the front leg's back swing, I think it might be worthwhile to better outline the upper part of his leg, so that one can more easily follow it's movement. The way you have it now, I find it's just getting lost in his fur, and it muddies up the motion.
Also, dg's edit's motion on the backswing doesn't go nearly as far -- yours goes back a bit too far, IMO, making it look like he's REALLY shoving off to me.
I like how dg changed the movment looks more natural now... the only thing now is that it moves like a person inside a monkey suit instead of a real monkey ;D
I agree, Floskfinger he does look like a bloke in a suit. I think my version needs longer arms and more bend in his limbs. Mats asked me to loosen up the tail, which I did in this edit:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/new_tail_v3.gif)
But he could deffinately use an injection of monkeyness.
DG: That would be 100% perfect if the monkey would blink, Great work guys! ;)
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Thu 28/07/2005 14:00:24Then in what frames should the bobs be then if not 2:nd, 4:th and 6:th frames?
Look here:
http://idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml
Quote from: Alias on Sat 30/07/2005 13:54:12
DG: That would be 100% perfect if the monkey would blink, Great work guys! ;)
Thanks. I think a blink in an eight frame walkcycle wouldbe too repetitive though, maybe for an idle animation...
khrismuc, ok, thanks for showing me the tutorial.
dg: Well, my game is in humorous cartoon style so I'm not aiming for 100 % realism but maybe you could try to edit so that he does bend his limbs (but I don't want longer arms because I don't want to totally redesign everything I've done for Crispy so far, plus that I like Cripsy's look as he is).
Alias: Yeah, I agree with dg about the blinking. Which person or animal does blink all the time while he/she/it walks around anyway?
Alive ones? ;)
Alias: A walk cycle is only two steps - one with each foot - so, in my opinion, it's best to leave out things like blinking because nobody (or monkey :) ) blinks every two steps... At least not that I've witnessed ;)
Mats: I'll get on it later today.
QuoteAlias: A walk cycle is only two steps - one with each foot - so, in my opinion, it's best to leave out things like blinking because nobody (or monkey ) blinks every two steps... At least not that I've witnessed
That's exactly what I meant. Besides, it looks very silly to do a thing like that. Also, in the game the characters will have different kinds of expressions both on their mouths and in the eyes so you see when they're happy, sad, angry, chocked etc, so the eyes won't look be "stiff" like suits or dolls.
Just got around to changing the limbs and kinda got carried away and it ended up as a swagger / strut . I can't decide if it looks good though:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/dear_god_its_a_walking_monk.gif)
that looks really cool. He's got a nice exaggerated movement now which is what you normally want in a cartoony game. I'm glad you changed his arms and legs from the first sample, he's right arm must go forward when his right leg goes back.
It looks excellent. tail is nice too, it bends great, great realism.
I, for one, love it.
p.s. a monkey swing movement (earlier mentioned) might also have been a nice option.
It looks great, dg! Very great! I think I could use that in the game.
calacver: If you meant like Erwin Br. suggested about "real" monkey walk then I'm sorry to say that I'm not aiming for that since Crispy is a smart pet and not a wild monkey so that's why he walks on two legs. If you meant like swinging in trees like Tarzan or monkeys in trees, I'm sorry to say that won't appear in the game (but maybe in a possibly sequel).
Quote from: calacver on Sat 30/07/2005 22:45:32
he's right arm must go forward when his right leg goes back.
I'm not quite sure what you mean ??? His right arm
does go forward when his right leg goes back (and did in the previous versions)... Maybe I've misunderstood.
Anyway, thank you for the kind words. I'm pretty happy with it as it's the first animation I've done (that kinda showed from my previous attempts I think :) )
No, i am complementing you. That's what I mean, i'm glad you do it in your animation since the walkcycle on the first page doesn't have that. :) I know you already do it, that's why i am complementing. :)
mats:
yeah, i like the walk your going for. Yes, i like it, i wanna play the game :)
calacver: I thought I must have misunderstood :)
I've just started on the front walkcycle. I'll post it here later today or tomorrow... most likely tomorrow as it's gonna be a bitch to get right ::)
Yeah, front walkcycles are harder to do then sideways.
After a lot of messing around in Photoshop and ImageReady I've come up with a half way decent front walk cycle:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/crispy_front.gif)
It looks quite good but the tail seems a bit too big and the hands and the feet are too small compaired with the side veiw.
Yeah I see that looking at it again... I didn't have access to the internet or the side anim for a couple of days so I was going by guesswork more than anything.
New version coming up...
I didn't have much time so I threw this together very quickly:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/MokeyBajs.gif)
How about something like this? I don't really know how a real monkey moves like but this way seem a litle more natural to me atleast. I know the tail is a bit stiff and should probably move more but I didn't have the time.
Quote from: Mats Berglinn on Sun 31/07/2005 09:05:22
It looks great, dg! Very great! I think I could use that in the game.
calacver: If you meant like Erwin Br. suggested about "real" monkey walk then I'm sorry to say that I'm not aiming for that since Crispy is a smart pet and not a wild monkey so that's why he walks on two legs. If you meant like swinging in trees like Tarzan or monkeys in trees, I'm sorry to say that won't appear in the game (but maybe in a possibly sequel).
Oops! I didn't read this before I posted my edit.