Hello,
I'd like some advice on my animation. I'm not entirely happy with the side walking view or when he's walking away from you. I think I quite like the one where;s he walking towards you.
(http://www.nick.me.uk/images/alex_walking_left.gif)
(http://www.nick.me.uk/images/alex_walking_forward.gif)
(http://www.nick.me.uk/images/alex_walking_backward.gif)
Nice looking smooth animations! I agree on the front view beeing the best.
I can't really figure out what's off with side view, I think the fact that his torso is stiff makes the whole upper body look stiff. The legs are awesome though!
The rear view is realy a rear view since a lot of focus is drawn to his butt.. The "T" shaped cleavage really doesn't contribute to his looks :D. Neither does the shadow (of his crack?) that switches sides above the "T". Again, the torso is stiff, the moving shadows on his back aren't enough. Let's see some shoulders moving. Look at the front view that's got a lot better movement. If you animate the torso, I think it will be easier to get the arms right aswell...
Jolly good though!
For the side view - for some reason he looks like he is gingerly walking on ice - it looks good though. He probably shouldn't raise up that one pixel when he is walking on his right leg. Or if you like that he should raise a nd lower with each step (on both legs). Also he is a little too tence I think.
The good thing about the front view is that he looks relaxed/ layed back - if you can stop him from being so straight up and down you may get this look uniformally throughout the anims.
Also with the back view - his legs are angled to kick outwards instead of forwards and (i hate to say this ) but he needs to move his butt (his shoulders arn't moving either).
I think the front view is ace, the character is ace and the whole thing has superb-o potential. :)
Cheers guys! I'll get cracking. Making one character takes longer than I thought it would!
I've modified the walkcycles for the towards and away now. I love my walking towards cycle. It's grand!! A big thanks to some tutorials by Eric (found on the tutorials page) which helped a great deal.
(http://www.nick.me.uk/images/alex_walking_towards.gif)
(http://www.nick.me.uk/images/alex_walking_away.gif)
Is the walking away an improvement? I think it is. But it still doesn't look quite right, does it?
I think his leg movements are a bit extreme. He would fall on his ass if he put his legs that far in front of himself. This also applies somewhat to the front walkcycle. His feet move so much horizontaly that he gets a "drunken sailor" walk. :)
He could also use an extra frame of animation on the shoulder movement. Compared to his arms, they move very abruptly when they should actually be the part of his arm with the smoothest movement.
In conclusion: Great sprite, and on the large, great walkcycles. Just shift some pixels and you will have perfection. Better than mine anyway... ;)
I think the up walkcycle looks odd because his upper body is moving so little in comparison to the amount of movement in his legs. Also, he has no elbow movement, which there is in the down walkcycle. About the elbows in the down cycle, I think they are a bit too low. Also, his forearms, when he swings them, seem a little too close to his body. The whole arm should swing, not just the part below his elbows (walk with swinging arms to see what I mean)