This is my first front walkcycle in a long time and I just can't seem to get it right. Something still feels a little odd but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe you guys can help:
(http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1520/junewalk.gif)
Apart from the flatness and how say her arms would flip in front and behind the torso(understandably considering how the images are produced; I also find the arms a bit too long though), one problem is it seems that she's vibbbbbrrrrrrattting and the animation actually makes me feel dizzy. I'm not sure why, maybe it's the frame rate, maybe it's with her movement that somewhat sways in the horizontal direction (there's a notable jump at a certain moment in the cycle that's quite jarring).
Also, while the whole body is quite vibr dynamic, that her head is locked dead on the body rigidly may be a problem too.
Also the joints aren't bending. You simply transforming and stitching doesn't seem to help here. You really consider to add manual shadows to underline the knee and elbow movement and to show which limb is in the front.
The clipping of the arms also looks odd.
The anatomy is completely screwed up. Sorry for stating it so plainly.
-The stomach/hip area is as flat as a cardboard and too far down
-the arms are way(!) too thin and too long
-the head is a tad on the big side I'd say
Very quick and dirty paintover:
(http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/4154/explmod7.png)
You are doing exactly what I did. Look a few posts down to my first walk cycle. My arms were retarded. I got some real good advice and a great template which helped immensly.
Your arms are to ridgid and dont swing enough.
Also she seems to hop. Try limit the ammount of height her feet go through
Slightly off-topic: her dress looks like instant pyelitis (Nierenbeckenentzündung, had to look it up myself ;) ).
And you might get in trouble having to draw her butt crack on the back-cycle because of these incredibly low low-riders
OK thank you very much for your feedback! Especially Khris for the paintover which really helped.
I tried to fix a bunch of stuff you guys mentioned - for the bending well I can't really do it unless drawing the bending frames manually, so I will at least consider drawing in siome shadows after the final render
Please note that this is 2x the final resolution (probably its even 4x) so a lot of things will be less obvious (like the popping up)
(http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1373/junewalk2.gif)
Compared to the arm movement there is hardly any rotation in the torso and the legs and especially feet look rather wobbly.
It looks for me like: The knees seem to be in the middle of the shin (or like both shins are broken and bending inwards with every step) ???
I liked the swing of the hips in the first post - very sexy!
Maybe those little shadows on the outsides of the thigh would be better at the place, where the knees should be?
Another day, another try.
I'll change the clothing a bit and I'll make seperate animation steps for the feet so this is just an animation test, to see if it could work like this.
(http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3213/junewalk3.gif)
What exactly are you doing to animte? Like distorting parts of the picture? It's not actually bad, could be a good tehnique.
There's a twitch (suddend shift, like a frames are missing) now on her right arm and the feet are still wierd
I'm using anime studio. I'm using a bone rig, which distorts the limb layers. The last animation is actually a test of motion capturing.
I think the result makes her look like a flat paper cut-out, but if you like this approach then I would recommend fixing the right arm so it doesn't appear to be popping out of joint. Also, going back and keeping the jacket top layer intact so you don't see the shoulders pushing through would help. The movement is acceptable but her feet do not look like they come towards the screen on a down step enough, almost like she's standing in place and kicking her feet back.
It has a certain aesthetic but I dont think its particularly effective for a straight game.
It works for Angela Anaconda tho : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PEfiGu6Mso
Ahh! I used to watch that show after work. Healthy mix of artistic humor.