Character query - Please Answer !

[dear_abhijit]

I know such questions are asked earlier, and I HAVE gone thru the replys But,

How does one make good quality character sprites ?


All the forums topics and resources only point you to websites offering characters to download. But most of them are :

1. Small
2. Low quality
3. Game rip-offs
4. Non Human
5. Offering limited motion capabilities

I want to know if there is any program which lets you make readymade character sprites in an easy way.

I am talking about GOOD QUALITY HUMAN characters like say in
Ben Jordan 4, who Move, Sit etc.

Please help !!

[R4L]

Well, all I can say is , PRACTICE! 

It's not the easiest thing in the world to do, but you can certainly practice to get what you want. I usually take almost a full day on a walkcycle (drawing it, then fixing it up, then importing) which is a little too long, but it gets the job done.

[Tuomas]

well. if you want to make moving characters, you have to draw all the frames to the moving animation. Then you can import them into AGS and make a sprite out of them. that's what I do.

[woodz]

the easiest way would be Poser to get realistic looking characters, but even that isn't easy, they often look very wooden when the walk or move

poser5 was free earlier in the year, from Content Paradise dunno if it still is

you also have issues with anti alias problems, which dogged me for years until recently

my games use Poser and the games:
Tales of the Odd: Brain Hotel and Nick Bounty: The Goat in the Grey Fedora from http://www.pinheadgames.com/ where poser altho cartoon rendered

you could use poser animation frames as a template and and redraw them as 2DÃ, 

if you do go the Poser route, get DAZ3D as well, it renders cartoon style a lot better than pre Poser 7 editions

[Ali]

I want to know if there is any program which lets you make readymade character sprites in an easy way.

I am talking about GOOD QUALITY HUMAN characters...

You can't demand easy and good, I'm afraid it's one or the other. I don't know of anyone providing a good range of readymade sprites. Luckily, there's some free software about that will make the difficult and time consuming process of producing good animations quicker and easi-er.

SSH's walkcycle generator:
http://americangirlscouts.org/bbc.com/yabb/index.php?topic=26501.0

MakeHuman (like a poor man's Poser, generates 3D human figures very quickly):
http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=150931

Blender3D (fully featured 3D software you could use to animate MakeHuman models:
http://www.blender.org/

Inkscape (Vector based drawing application, could be used in conjunction with blender for a 2D homestar runner-y effect).
http://www.inkscape.org/

If you click the link in my signature you'll see the game I'm working on. I used software like Inkscape (actually CorelDraw) to draw the parts of the characters and then animated them in Blender. This meant I didn't have to re-draw the character every frame, so it saved time. In many ways though it was more compliated than simply drawing.

[Blackthorne]

Heh, Ali makes a good point.

I've seen many people demand easy and awesome sprites - like there's a secret, hidden, cache, reserve or trick that a small sect of people have and/or use.

It's like, the Illuminati of Animation.


In all seriousness, it's like most have said already - great amounts of practice and drawing.  Watch reference films to get motion down, and then try to copy that motion into your drawings. 


Bt

[woodz]

hi Ali i haven't used Blender for a long time.. mainly coz our computer sucks and always struggled with it in the past.... but its had a bit of an upgrade lately so i thought i'd have another go at it 
Theres a niffty feature in Blender i was never aware of, for cartoon shading



i had a look at the links.. some great stuff! thanks

[dear_abhijit]

Thank you all !!


Will keep trying till I succeed !

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I've seen many people demand easy and awesome sprites - like there's a secret, hidden, cache, reserve or trick that a small sect of people have and/or use.

It's like, the Illuminati of Animation.

We're a select group! 

Really, the only way anyone ever gets good at pixel art is through practice.  I've been doing it for 14 years now, so you can say I have practiced much!  I made a walk cycle a couple years ago for the forums as a sort of guide for animation.  You may find it of use.

[Da_Elf]

i agree with what most people here have been saying. it takes practice. I got my BFA in film animation and i still hate walk cycles.

[lo_res_man]

For me the hardest part of a walk cycle is puting character into it, and the arms, Zorbs I hate animating arms.