Main character walkcycle problem

[Mats Berglinn]

I've recently done a walkcycle for the main character, Torleif Shufflefoot, who will be in my upcoming game Caribbean Mysteries. I used Eric's old walkcycle (the fix frame one with the guy on it, not the new gray alien eight frame one) as a guide but when I played it up on AGS's Veiw Previewer the legs doesn't look correct while the arms sways right. I don't know what's wrong with the legs or how I can fix it.



If you can help me, tell me how to make the legs walk right and maybe show me a picture how it should look like. If you like to you can do a paintover as long as you don't change anything else than the legs (I like Torleif's look and the arms looks fine to me).

[Khris]

The solution is quite simple: You need more frames.
There's a serious jump between frames 3 & 4 and between 6 & 1.
Add at least one frame per jump.

[Mats Berglinn]

Isn't there a way to do it with just six frames? I mean just working on these six was so much work.
Besides, if the arms sawying are perfect in six frames how do you keep that flow when you got to add two more? Yes, I might sound lazy but I have spent HOURS on these sprites to make them look good. If there's no way to do it then I've no choice but to follow khrismuc's advice but if you can do it in just six sprites then why not do it?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

More frames is VERY RARELY a solution to an animation problem.  There were issues with your animation that made the end result look strange.

1.  Proportion was not being kept with the limbs in all frames.
In some frames the leg or arm would actually grow longer or fatter.

2.  Position was not being kept with the limbs in all frames.
In some frames the leg or arm moved too much in the vertical or horizontal.

3.  The torso did not move like the legs.

Other issues I corrected:

Most people do not sway their arms so that they match the motion of the legs.  Arms typically sway in REVERSE to your legs.  Walk naturally and observe yourself and you'll see what I mean.

The leg motion was too great between frames, so I redrew them so that his legs remained connected to the torso.



a version with less head bob


Hope this helps

[What a loser.]

Looks like the guy drank a factorys worth of happy pills.  Make him blink and not smile so much. 

[CoffeeBob]

Here's a quick and not that excellent edit:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/Largo/thedude.bmp
I focused more on editing him all around rather than editing the animation. Hair was a bit low, changed eye to a smaller (yet still big) style. Not a very good edit, but I hope it gives the idea... Somehow.

[Ubel]

That is pretty good edit Largo, but I don't think it would fit the style of his game.

[Mats Berglinn]

Largo: I totallity agree with what Pablo says.

Alias: What's wrong with Torleif being happy? He is suppoused to be a very oppomistic guy so smiles very often. Once I tried to give him a neutral mouth but it didn't look as good as the smile.

ProgZmax: Hey, those animations are really good. I was actually aiming for that Torleif doesn't hold his fists like that but more have the hands loose (like in the original walkcycle) but it your way looks OK.

[Sam.]

but when you think about it, nobody walks with their hands like in your original animation. Progz edit is closer to reality, also the hands in his edit look better anway, the hands in yours look too full.

[Mats Berglinn]

Zooty, you can't say that "nobody" walks with the hands swaying like that. Not everyone tightens their fists, you know. In fact, I do walk like that sometimes and people doesn't even bother.

[otter]

Sorry to jump in, but I just thought I'd point out that the head is also shaped a bit strangely.  As a rule of thumb, the distance from the inner eye to the chin should be the same as the distance from the inner eye to the top of the head.  I would give the head another go and keep that proportion in mind -- it should turn out a lot more lifelike.

[Jimi]

I think he's going for a more cartoony look so it shouldn't matter too much.

[Chicky]

Jimi! It's Jimi!

[Mats Berglinn]

Yeah, Jimi's right! I'm making a cartoon-style game, not a realistic game.

Again, thanks ProgZmax for the help. I'll use your walk-cycle in the game.

[Chicky]

no, that's not quite what i meant. It was just that i havnt seen jimi post in a long time. I think the character is perfect in progs edit.