Help with my walkcycle animation!

[Jakerpot]

Hey there, i made it! I created a much better walkcycle, but i still need some help with it. Please C&C!

UPDATE: Now better than last time  

[Jakerpot]

Hey Mods, i think this shouldn't be here because i'm not asking for comments, but for help. Someone said that critic's lounge is just for critics, not help. If i'am wrong sorry.

[Matti]

Hey Mods, i think this shouldn't be here because i'm not asking for comments, but for help. Someone said that critic's lounge is just for critics, not help. If i'am wrong sorry.

The Crits Lounge is exactly the right place when you're asking for help 

[Jakerpot]

OK then  Sorry for my ignorance. But can you help me

[Layabout]

Righty. Where to start.

At the start...

The biggest problem I see here, something that should be addressed before going into the arms is his staticness. This is caused primarily to you shortening and elongating his legs. Put simply, on the pose where his leg is relatively vertical, his body and head should be at their highest point, contact (both feet on the ground) the body and head should be around a midpoint, and after the contact should be at the lowest. (see image below)



Next up, the arms. You have the right idea here... sort of. The pendulum is decent, no shortening or anything. It's just too static. does he have elbow joints? His upper arm should be moving, and his lower arm and hand should kinda be 'floppy'. And remember, due to the pendulum effect, the outer part of the swing should ease in and out, having only really the middle of the swing vertical. Eck, it's hard to explain. So I draw.



A nice touch that is not used enough is body movement and balancing. Your body is a complex machine and counterweight. The arm swings counterbalance the leg movements. So right leg forward, right arm back. YOu've got this. But the whole body twists. Your shoulders and hips also move. You should try to incorporate this into your animation.

Lastely, 11 frames is not ideal for a walkcycle. There is an uneven amount of frames. A good target for frames is in multiples of 2. 4 frame animations don't really work well, but if you are lazy, you can use them for up or down views. (not recommended at all though) 6 is good for auxilliary characters, and has been utilised in this fashion in the gabriel knight games. I'd target 8 frames for an AGS game.

That said, i think AGS uses something around 10 frames per second for it's timing overall (correct me if I'm wrong please), so a 10 frame animation (people usually walk at half a step a second). 10 frames is a pain in the arse though, as it's more difficult to have defined positions for each of the frames.

So on this note, I'd recommend you probably restart this walkcycle honestly. Aim for 8 frames. Here is a great reference to plan your frames.



To read up more on walkcycles, the Animator's SurvivalKkit by Richard Williams is pretty much the bible. I recommend it.

Final edit: A good way to animate your character is to have them walking across the page/bitmap/whatever. This helps keep balance and make sure the feet are in the right position and are the correct size. Also, make sure you keep the body parts the correct size.

[Jakerpot]

thanks  layabout just a question, i will use the exemple you gave me (the 5 frames walkcycle on the image) but i will add more 2, so when should i add it? in the middle of wich frame? Thank you!

[Layabout]

Nah, use the first 4 then repeat them with the other leg forward.

[Abisso]

In the frame where his right feet is almost centered, the feet suddenly becomes bigger, and from then the right leg seems to do a clock-wise quartercircle, like sliding on the floor. This looks weird, and it's probably due to the fact that, still, the foot aren't aligned in all of the frames.

[Jakerpot]

fixed, thanks 

[Layabout]

That's looking a hell of a lot better! Only 1 crit I'd have, as the right arm swings back it gets slightly shorter. But to see the difference between the 2 it's pretty outstanding that for one, you followed my advice, and two that my advice actually worked

[Abisso]

Yeah, you're almost there buddy. Anyway, there seems to be some "feet-changing-size" problems, yet. And, to be very boring, one of his feet still slides, in the frame where the leg is completely straightened.

By the way, the job you've done with his arms is very good, especially the animation, and also nice is the way his hair falls up and down his face.

Keep working on it.

[Jakerpot]

Thank you two  Yeah, the arm is a bit smaller in this frame, i will change it. About the feet sliding... How can i fix this? Actually, when a normal person walks, the leg stay still, and just is passed by the other one but i can't animate this way, or the character would be really walking through the frames  I wanted some help on the shadows too, i wanted to add more depth to his cloths, but i don't realize how.

[Abisso]

I didn't say anything about the arms, that are nice, for what I can see.

And probably I didn't explain correctly what I wanted to say about the "sliding". Of course, the feet has to slide when you watch the animation in a .gif file (as it is in your first post). When I talked about the sliding matter, I was referring to the fact that, since his feet always keeps the same position until it reaches the left part of the frame, you can't say when the heel touches the ground. This causes his feet to go down in the ground (or so it seems), in that frame when he should have it just put on the ground.
Not very simple to explain, though.

I believe that working on the position of the foot could solve the matter. You should made him touch the ground with his heels first, and then with the whole sole.

Anyway, believe me: this animation isn't bad at all, and can be, as it is now, a good enough walk-cycle. So improve it just if you're looking for excercise, or for something really, really cool.

[Jakerpot]

i got it, thanks Abisso 

Yes, i think i will make his heels touch the ground first, but this will be secondary,only if have disposition. Now i should work on the up and down walkcycles. Any resource that may help? I dont have ANY idea on how to do it! Thank you.

[Abisso]

Well, with a rapid google search, I found this:

http://www.anticz.com/Walks.htm

and not much else. The most of the tutorials seems to explore just the side walkcycles.... anyway I'm sure you can find something else, and even on this forums there must be something handy. Good luck.

[Jakerpot]

OK, thank you anyway  i will search further for up and down walkcycles and finish this character, then i have more 1 character to create a walkcycle 

[cuestaluis]

... Any resource that may help? I dont have ANY idea on how to do it! Thank you.

I would recommend learning from the masters, get a sprite sheet of your favourite character (eg. Guybrush) and study it to detail, it's the easyest way, that or actually recording yourself (or a friend) walking. It helps understand the action lines and actual movement, and reduces head-desk syndrome.

[Jakerpot]

Yeah, i thought about getting a character walk cycle sprite sheet to study. thanks for reminding me of that