Update: Finalized Animation - See Last Post

Penguinx · Fri 26/03/2004 05:37:13

I've had this thing sitting on my PC for awhile now, and I thought I'd get some feedback on it as I don't have the time necessary for larger projects at the moment. (I've been the victim of a slew of bad hardware luck.) This was, more or less, a test to see how well I could animate a character that was stuck in, say, a 64x64 bounding box. Dack, here, is supposed to be an older fellow, and a bit of a monster killer.

See anything wrong with it?

(Oh, I almost forgot to add that this would be one of several idle animations and would not be constantly repeated as in the gif posted here.)

Darth Mandarb · Fri 26/03/2004 06:44:45

Excellent (as I've come to expect from the Penguin!!) as always!

The only thing I would suggest would be to lengthen the pause after he crouches down and looks to the side.

So he would crouch and look to the side, pause for a bit, then go back up, pause for a bit, repeat.

As for a crit ... when he goes back up the hair movement feels (looks) like it's moving the wrong way. When he crouches, it looks right. When he goes back up ... it looks like it's doing the same motion. Wouldn't it be the other way?

Anyway ... it looks great man!

~ d

strazer · Fri 26/03/2004 08:02:37

Wow! Very cool!
Is he supposed to have a hump? His back looks a bit big.

Darth Mandarb · Fri 26/03/2004 08:09:02

I think it's a backpack ...

strazer · Fri 26/03/2004 08:14:34

Oh, right. Maybe a slightly different color for it then.

Igor · Fri 26/03/2004 08:46:38

Really great work, as always!
I think it's perfect and don't have any critics. Ok, maybe just a little one about hair animation. When the character moves back up, he stops a bit, but the hair stays in "down" position- it would be a good idea to move them back up in original position, as it would make animation a bit more dynamic and realistic.
Other than that- amazing!

Nine Toes · Fri 26/03/2004 08:55:57

Very nice work. That's a cute little style you got there.

Chicky · Fri 26/03/2004 14:00:29

i like, combine it with the platforerius engine and you've got a great game!

its great, as allways penguinx

-OSC

Penguinx · Fri 26/03/2004 15:23:07

Thanks for the comments - You're all right about each of your comments. This was an exercise in layer-based animating, and I think I got carried away with creating movement through taking a whole layer and knocking it down a pixel each frame. And there definitely needs to be a greater pause at the beginning and end frames.

IE: I think there could be more effective (and fluid) ways of making him crouch than to have the shirt and legs 'ratchet' down like they do.

Oh, Igor, your comment made me realize a flaw in all of the returning upward frames. The hair moves up instead of down. It should be getting flatter as his head moves up (instead of just re-using the 'moving downwards' frames in reverse.)

The thing that I am happiest with, and really the stuff I spent the most time on, is his facial animation. I think I got the brow raise right, and that was done in a more traditional way by redrawing the image in the eye areas each frame.

As another exercise, if the free time fairy decides to grant me my wishes, I'd like to do a more dynamic version of this with a lot more movement to it. Take the time to sketch out a definite direction for each frame of animation and go from there.

If you want to be wowed by something, check out this guy's work:

http://www.geocities.com/clamchowder1000/main.html

Evil · Fri 26/03/2004 20:06:30

Looks a lot like Sals' stuff on pixelation. If you want some harsher critics, try there. However, I dont there there is a lot to be changed. It looks good.

Penguinx · Fri 26/03/2004 21:35:12

Well, I have posted to Pixelation in the past. Their board has been broken so that new members can't reach the 15 required posts to start a topic in the main forum (Unless the posts are made in the first thread the new member starts they don't add to your post count and you never reach the required 15.)

I like the community, but I wish they'd fix the board!

'Sides, there are a whole bunch of likeable folk around these parts.

Penguinx · Sat 03/04/2004 06:21:14

Here's an update of the character. Despite the fact that I have several real projects to work on, this was the only thing I had a copy of to tinker with at work today.

He could use some reduced colors, but I like where he is going.

Also, here is the baddie for this game mock-up:

Hollister Man · Sat 03/04/2004 06:57:37

I gotta say, PenguinX, your chars are da bomb.

Why don't you post some of 'em at the DQ forum?

Anyway, I agree that the little dude's backpack needs to be maybe a different color, he looks like a hunchback. :p

Sam. · Sat 03/04/2004 12:13:51

This is the kind of animation that u take inspiration from. Try and draw one. It is so shocking that u just end up sitting and watiching the original all day..

Talking of animation.. is there anywhere i can et free character animation software cos my animations suck. i try all of the tuturials and they stil suck

Hollister Man · Sat 03/04/2004 17:43:18

Is this crouching guy a continuation of the char in this thread? If so, even more kudos on the good work.

Penguinx · Sat 03/04/2004 18:14:44

In a sense, yes. The game changed drastically. When it changed, the main character had to change with it. Originally it was going to be a top-down console style RPG. However, I've been using gamemaker a bunch and I want to make a simple platforming shooter to showcase my pixel art (one that I can later let people download at my site as an example of my work).

Hey, Hollister Man, can you check the email address you have listed at the BluSoft board? I've been having some logon problems over there and have a few things to post.

Penguinx · Sun 04/04/2004 20:42:59

Well, I can't ever leave well enough alone. Below is an entirely new animation. This marks the first time I've ever drawn all the frames out on paper before. The tween frames are still rough sketches, and two of the three keyframes aren't shaded yet, but this represents about an hour and a half of work (and it'd be nice to get some feedback). These are the 5 frames that lead to the middle point of the animation. He'll pause and then, over the course of three more frames, return back to his original position.

Do you like where it is headed?

Nacho · Sun 04/04/2004 21:21:33

I think you should raise the middle frames like 2 pixels... It's easy, just a cut and paste thingie, and it would make it smoother...

Evil · Mon 05/04/2004 01:06:57

Dont make him look directly at us. I think that would give him a lot more character. And like Far said, he ducks down too far durring the movement.

Penguinx · Mon 05/04/2004 02:18:27

I've modified the ending frame to justify the crouching. The idea is that the character spins around a bit hunched down in a ready-to-pounce position.

I made it a bit more dramatic by adding swooping colors and persperation of sorts. I think you'll see what I mean.

This will be one of a bunch of idle animations including: spinning his gun, raking through his backpack, blowing gum, yawning, etc. This character is going to be my practice character. Whenever I have a spare second I want to add to his repetoire of moves.