Here's the rough diagonal walk cycle for my cowboy hero character. Is it as wonky as I think it is? Suggestions please!
(http://www.chapter11studios.com/production/episode_01/animated_sprites/jake_walk_dia_fw_rough.gif)(http://www.chapter11studios.com/production/episode_01/animated_sprites/jake_walk_dia_bw_rough01.gif)
It looks ok But put shading on the right leg cos if you look at it for to long it looks like the legs spin around
Layman's opinion - isn't he jumping up and down too much?
He looks like he's feeding HIS right leg (our left) behind his left one. This makes him look like he's line dancing
I could take a look at it for you if you send me the frames as unblurred individual bmps (the current gif has alot of blending/blurring on it). My art program won't natively import gifs so I can't touch it up otherwise. What I'll do is try redrawing him from scratch in the meantime and see if I can come up with something to help you out.
I would also slightly decrease the framerate; I think he's walking too fast.
--Erwin
Quote from: ProgZmax on Wed 29/12/2004 22:47:23
I could take a look at it for you if you send me the frames as unblurred individual bmps (the current gif has alot of blending/blurring on it). My art program won't natively import gifs so I can't touch it up otherwise. What I'll do is try redrawing him from scratch in the meantime and see if I can come up with something to help you out.
Thanks, ProgZmax! I'll send you the files (or post them here) early next week. I have to rescue them off another computer.
The shading on his neck looks a bit funny.
If it grows downwards, it should be because his head drops slightly.
Also, his face and his collar look too static in comparison with the rest of the body.
What is that white stuff around him??? :o
Cant you read? Its a rough animation.
You got to remember I'm a newbie to this stuff(game making and animating). I barely know what the word rough means.
Quote from: Fawfulhasfury on Fri 31/12/2004 22:18:01
You got to remember I'm a newbie to this stuff(game making and animating). I barely know what the word rough means.
Welcome, Fawfulhasfury! The white stuff around him is just some crap left over from a poor cut and paste job done in haste to get a working model up for people to look at. It will be fixed in the final version. Also, things like his head not moving and the gun holster staying in the same place will also be corrected. This version is more or less to get a sense of how he walks before actually finalizing it. BTW, anyone else think his arms need to swing back and forth more as he walks?
To me, his legs seem too short in proportion to his torso.
Alright, I tried to work with the original and I cleared up a few things that I saw to be problematic-
(http://www.chapter11studios.com/production/episode_01/animated_sprites/jake_walk_dia_fw_rough.gif) (http://members.cox.net/veradin/rjwdiag.gif) edit: (http://members.cox.net/veradin/rattj2.gif)
The first problem was that his head just seemed offset from his neck too much, so I made a version that seemed to fit the overall width of his body. The second problem was that when walking in a diagonal, the inside leg needs foreshortening in order to make it seem as if he is not just sidestepping. I did not detail the legs much but I redrew them to (hopefully) give the illusion that he is neither walking straight down or directly to the right. The last problem was that his belt was moving back and forth but nothing else. While ideally his head should probably move back and forth a bit, I focused instead on his shirt and touched it up a bit. It's not perfect (his left arm needs more of an angle to it, his legs need detail, that sort of thing), but the angle his legs move back at gives you an idea of what to shoot for (no pun intended). Hope this helps.
edit: After some sleep and going back to the original, I think Snarky is right about the leg proportions. My quick fix was to shrink his torso size and I also gave his walk slightly MORE of an angle and bent his left arm. Hopefully you can see the differences.
I like the face from the original better. But the rest is fine.
Prog, you animating fiend you.
I like the edit, the face looks much more rough 'n' tumble cowboy, also, from seeing the bgs for this game, it suits the style greatly, it is a much sharper animation that will suit the hi res graphics.
Yeah. But it's not supposed to be a rough and tumble cowboy. At least thats what I thought I read once. Its supposed to be a Guybrush if he wanted to be a cowboy and not a pirate type character.
Quote from: Fawfulhasfury on Sun 02/01/2005 17:18:05
Yeah. But it's not supposed to be a rough and tumble cowboy. At least thats what I thought I read once. Its supposed to be a Guybrush if he wanted to be a cowboy and not a pirate type character.
Saddle up for adventure with 'Rattlesnake' Jake Dawson, a down-on-his-luck cowboy turned treasure hunter in the era of the Gold Rush.Doesn't sound like a cowboy wannabee to me.
(http://www.chapter11studios.com/images/hiddensun/jake_faded_2thirds.jpg)
Doesn't look like a cowboy wannabee to me.
(Source: Their official website, of course!)
On topic: I kinda like the boots in your character sketches; Why'd you ditch them in the animated version?
--Erwin
QuoteOn topic: I kinda like the boots in your character sketches; Why'd you ditch them in the animated version?
Turns out, cowboys don't really wear their boots like that... they pull the pants over the boot down to the ankle. Who knew? ;)
Also: Here's a work in progress for the side view. Thoughts?
(http://www.chapter11studios.com/production/episode_01/animated_sprites/jake_walk_R_cleanup_01.gif)
It looks like he is nodding. Also his face is a bit blurry. Not sure if this has to do with the fact it's rough. His back needs to be a bit straighter. It looks like he's hunched over.
Yeh is he supposed to blur in some frames or is that again because of the roughness?
As for continuity he doesn't nod his head in the diagonal views.
And his beard comes up in front of his ears on the diagonal views as well.
And the very last frame (at least I think it is) when the hand closest to the screen is most far right really bugs me, but I don't know why.
Good work though.
In the diagonal front view, his left leg seems like it never touches the ground at all. The diagonal rear view looks just right but only from a very high perspective; I hope your backgrounds match.
he seems too meek and nerdy, the face is weaker in the animation than in the sketches...
and I LOVE the sketches...
in the side walk his shoulders are slumped like he has no self esteem... like he is 12 and can't get a date. It doesn't fit. it gives him the i'm drunken jack the 50 year old illiterate inbred prospector kinda look to him... it adds unnecessary age... i think his posture and body shape need editing.
in the diagonal walk cycle, there is no distinction of crotch, the legs don't meet into the centre of the hips correctly and it draws my eye too much. The middle of his legs is set far over on the left... too far to the left.
the face in PROGZ edit is too much like a villian than a hero... even for a western.
(( :) But then again i released "Little Jonny Evil" with Jonny walking same arm as leg and I didn't notice till someone pointed it out to me.... so what the hell do I know. :) ))
Can't really think of anything constructive to say. It looks to me like you got it down already. Keep up the excellent work.
I sorta have to ask... was I being a bit of an arsehole with my last post???
if so I can post a few doodles of what I mean, once I get my scanner issues sorted.
Is there a reason you can't get the very-talented artist who did your main sketches to give you a keyframe set for the character? I would commend to you a quick look at keyframing and animation -- there are some great resources around the net. You really need some more life to his movements.
Remember that the avatar is the one thing that the Player will see for the entire game.
ARRRRRRGH my eyes
Sorry about resurrecting an old thread... I just discovered it.
And sorry Josh, for posting my old version without permission:
(http://members.rogers.com/j_l/stuff/left_almostfinal.gif)
Why couldn't Jake be more based on above animation? Granted, the new ones may be technically superior to mine, but now he's not a very likable character. No offense to anybody involved in the creation of the new version, but I don't like the slouching posture, I don't like the head-to-body ratio, I don't like the clenching fist and the angry face.
Why exactly was Jayel's version canned ???
Ok, i like colors and shading on the new ones, however Jayel's character design and animation are *far* superior to what we saw in this thread so far.
Don't get me wrong, even new ones still look quite nice, however both, design and animation, look a bit amateurish compared to overal quality of backgrounds...
Wow, Jayel's animation is awesome! In my opinion, it is leaps and bounds better than the other walkcycles posted in this thread. Very simple, but effective (and oozing with personality). I'm amazed at how much detail you were able to put into it.
Did you draw this by scanning in sketches, or did you use a program like Flash or MOHO?
I beg you to use that animation for the game.
Thanks. it's my fault that the old version's canned.
I couldn't commit enough time to put finishing touches or do walkcycles for different directions...
big brother:
I used an animation software I designed.
Thanks for all your feedback, everyone. There were a lot of different designs that we chose from while picking the final sprite version of what Jake should look like.
The short version of the story is that Dan's (Jayel's) version that he posted here does not match Jake's personality as I wrote it in the game's story. The animated walk cycle part of it, which I agree is AWESOME, is great, but the clothes/colors/and general "look" aren't quite the look we're shooting for.
Now, as for the animated walk cycle part of it, the reason I posted those samples here is because they were a work in progress and NOT the final version. What I showed you was a test sprite that a potential animator for the game submitted, and I was trying to work through the kinks with him. That didn't work out.
We chose a different animator instead. His name is David Birkinshaw and he did a lot of the character animations in Broken Sword 2. Believe me, you'll all be impressed with his work, but as a matter of keeping some stuff under wraps until the demo is available, I ain't gonna post it here. ;-)
Why not post it here? I'd be really curious how it'll look, since it'd take a lot to beat Jayel's walkcycle.
Quote from: big brother on Sun 06/02/2005 07:38:06
Why not post it here? I'd be really curious how it'll look, since it'd take a lot to beat Jayel's walkcycle.
There wil be a high profile unveiling of a lot of stuff about the game in March. In the meantime, I'm incredibly happy with the new walkcycle, so I don't need to get feedback on it. And like I said, I want to save
some surprises for the game itself. ;)
BB, you could always pick a random animation in Broken Sword 2. There's a one in twelve chance Dave animated it! :=
Or play Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death. He was one of the two animators for that.
Sounds promising...
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,159874/