Help with a tiny football shoot animation... Thanks

[Nacho]

Hello beautyful people: I am working in a silly one room penalty game. This is not comfort quest, a game with lots of animations and script, difficult to do, this will be finished, and soon! (Thanks Steve McCrea for the promise of scripting...)

But I need a little bit of help.

As you can see the player is going to be tiny. No real possibility to goofe with the animation, but... could you help me a little bit with the shoot? As you can see, we are talking of tiny pixelart, I recommend to download it and make a paintover. Thanks.

The field:


The shootÃ, 

[Mordalles]

that looks so good already! it looks motion captured. haha. no seriously, it looks awesome. are we gonna be able to choose our player to shoot with? like ronaldino?Ã,  can't wait for world cup!

[Nacho]

I'll probably release something very easy where you'll just be able to shoot lots of times, no intro, no reward screens... just a code each time you win a round. The one passing me via PM the most advanced in the game code, will win the right to betatest the final version (with teams to choose, even a fictitional competition between an AGS team and another adventure game maker programs, with profiles, stats, reward screens... Lore offered to be photgraphed for the strip version as well...).

but as said, at the moment just shooting and keeper control. With the codes at the end...

Steve will script.

EDIT: Just read the motion capture thingie... In some way, it is... It's based in the flashback animation, painted over, and pixel resized, 50%, but, man... running and shooting is not the same, I have been two days watching me at the mirror to get something.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Something like this?  I used the same number of frames as you did, I just made the kick less exaggerated so you could see it better and cut a few frames from the run so it was faster.

[Nacho]

There are some parts of your animation that result so much pleasant to me than mines, whereas some others might work better if I mix both a little... which means... thank you man!

[lo_res_man]

one problem I see in progz edit ( o my Bob, I am crit-ing prog-z?!) is that to me it looks like he runs up and that is well done, great in fact, but when he shoots he looks as if he is doing it from stock still. just the feeling I get. I don't watch much soccer (or football if you call it that) but it somehow doesn't feel natural

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I don't watch soccer either.  Do they keep running after they kick the ball?

[lo_res_man]

well the kind of jerk to a stop and boance a bit.but the feeling I get from yours is he is running up and the frame were he kicks is from a a shot were he is  shooting while standing still.

[Nacho]

I know what do you mean... MY FAULT for posting unfinished work. Here is the little jump every player should do after shooting, thanks Mr. Newton. I think it's quite correct, but I am not totally happy, specially with the right arm, before the shoot...

From Arizona, eh? At least you should look the field goals in american football... 

[biothlebop]

It kinda looks like he's jumping on a horse. Or doing a martial arts pose. I wouldn't probably try to stop so quickly but bring my back leg to side with the kicking leg (not drag it behind).

[Tomas]

I did an edit before you posted your new version. Don't know if it is of much help any more but I'll post it anyway. I think the main problem with your first version was that his hip stopped moving forward when he reached the ball which looked really odd. You kind of fixed it in the new version with that little jump, but it looks really peculiar (the jump that is).

Also, in soccer, do they really shoot the penalties like that? At least the ones I've seen have been a lot more controlled and soft. Your animation looks like an unprecise power-shot.

For the record, here's the paint over I did:


EDIT: Oh, and I _have_ to post this hilarious animation I found googling for some reference material. Watch and learn, kids:

[Nacho]

It's difficult to archieve the movement after the shoot... ^_^ But I assume that this is a round after 120 minutes of game, so, you are tired and shoot as strong as you can. I am quite happy with the last version I did, with some minor modifications. Do we go for the goalkeeper? 

[Las Naranjas]

He looks like he's putting a long ball into the box rather than taking a penalty...or kicking a gridiron field goal. If he was shooting, he'd prefer to have his body over the ball. Leaning back that far would result in a long elegant ball into the terraces.

Now if he was Beckham for Real, that would be consistent with his penalty shots, but this is Barca man!

[Ghormak]

Hi! I know nothing about animation! But I took a stab at a little edit anyway, because while I like your latest version, Farlander, it sill looks a little jerky just as he shoots. I also thought it looked a little strange how quickly his leg snapped from strictly horizontal to bent again.

I don't know, now it doesn't look like the shot is as powerful, but I think it looks a little smoother.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Here, I updated shoot with some follow through, this looks good to me but then again, I'm not a soccer guy.  This reminds me of some old amiga soccer games

[sergiocornaga]

I'd say it's definitely getting there, but he needs to stop on a pose somewhere between standing still properly and having his legs wide apart.

[aussie]

So Nacho... who's taking that last penalty for Barcelona? Because we all know Casillas is going to save it...

Sorry, I got a bit carried away...

Progz latest edit is excellent as usual, but it strikes me as a rugby player kicking for the posts. Ghormak's perhaps looks more soccer-like.

Now, since I've missed quite a few penalties, I kinda know what I'm talking about here.Ã, 

In most of those edits, as in the original, the player seems to toe-punt the ball. You have very little control over your shot when you do that. Not many people toe-punt penalties (toe-punt = chutar de puntera).

Whenever you kick, you need to lean over the ball a bit (that is, if you go for a power shot and you want to keep it reasonably low, as you would in a penalty). If your upper body lags behind you'll nearly always send the ball over the bar (unless you go for a really soft tap with the inside of your foot).

Another thing I see is that the guy is kicking the crap out of the ball in every edit. I don't know how consistent that will be with the power meter your have in your screenshot. Perhaps you should also consider at least one more animation, just in case the kick is only a little tap (and you could make a third one for a Panenka-type shot: that'd be unreal!Ã,  8)).

Finally, I'm not sure about the perpective. For a penalty kick I prefer to see it from behind the kicker. Otherwise it's hard to see where the ball actually goes. But that's just a matter of preference.

In any case the idea is very original. I love it.

[Andail]

I think it's already sufficiently drawn. We're talking very difficult motion animating here and Farl has done an extraordinary job.

Most players tend to place the ball rather carefully, and even though it looks like a powerful shot, that's mostly due to the short distance. As Naranjas pointed out, the player now looks like a goalie about to shoot very high and far.

Even in the animations were the leg is very extended, you need to realise that a football shot is not a karate-kick, and the leg and foot should not be stretched out in front of you, but rather in a curve, in this case moving towards the viewer.

Ghormak's version makes him land awkwardly.

In any case, the end animation of the kick is not that important, since all attention will be on the ball anyway. Which is why almost nobody knows exactly what a player looks like after having kicked the ball.

[12431]

It looks awesome, but the players run further than that in a penalty kick.
Apart from that, beautiful :-)

[Nacho]

I totally agree that he looks more than a keaper doing a kick off more than a penalty shoot, but I had enough, it's not perfect, but it's enough effective for the purpose I have in mind. Thanks for the crits, very helpfull. ProgZmax'edit has worked as the base for the new animation, except the left arm which was totally goofed (And I just know it because I've been 5 days watching me in a mirror, shootingÃ,  ) and the final "jump" that the player should make. Still too "goalie", but no probs...

Thanks Petter for the recommended animations, placing the ball and walking till the point where you start the race, but... I had that in mind! I still aprecciate it.

and 12431... The run really deppends on the player, I think, I've seen some of them who do not make a run, not at all... so... The run is not really a problem.

But thanks!

EDIT: Aussie, I know that the best option for placing the "camera" in typical penalty games is behind of the player, when you shoot, and even behind the keeper when you got to block.

But look at the "circles". When you shoot you'll have to look at that meters... The penalty itself will be a "cinematic", no control at all. You'll have to see if your ball goes into the three posts (you'll know it before, deppending on where you stop the line in the meters) and if the keeper can be able to block it.

The possibility to block will deppend, first, if the keeper guesses where do you place the ball. If he does not guess, and the ball goes between the three posts, goal, no matter if the ball goes with power or not.

If he guesses... the most powerfull, the better (for the penalty shooter). But again, for adding difficulty, the powerfull the shoot is, the faster the lines will go on the "height" and "sides" meter. So it's just a matter of choosing.

Hope the interface is clear. If you can think in a better interface, please PM or post it here if you feel it's interesting for CL.