Help on side/up and down walkcycles...

Nacho · Wed 05/07/2006 11:38:55

Hello. Inspired by the amazing simplicity of "the Shivah" graphics, I started to mess with the style. Here are the results... I am almost 100% happy with the side walk, 75% happy with the south animation (the third one) and not very happy with the north one (the one in the middle). Any ideas? I will clean all the "jumping " pixels, so, that's not an aspect to crit, but I need help about the pose, and specially the paceline on the "north" animation, which looks "ruse" (even being a flip of the south walkcycle...)

It will help a bit any suggestion, or paintover about how making him less "Shadow of the comet", but have in mind that I will probably change the pallete, since it's the same...Ã,Â

Thanks to Ian AKA BigBrother and ProgZmax for the private help...

EDIT: Ok... I know why the north wc looks so energic, missing frame, sorry

Still not very happy with it, though...

SSH · Wed 05/07/2006 13:19:19

I think that on front/back walkcycles, the "bob" should be less noticable. Also, the south one's shading looks like his jacket has a big horizontal stripe across the shoudlers.

When I made my walkcycle generator, I turned off the bob completely on the front walkcycle.

Babar · Wed 05/07/2006 14:08:58

The front and back views make it look like his jacket is on tight, but the left view makes it look like it's loose. Something strange about the shading in the 2nd view where the jacket looks very much like it's hugging his ass. Also, his neck looks wider in the side view than in the front/back views.
Just a general (and probably skewed) observation, but he looks scruffier in his side view than in his front/back views.

PS: Don't coats have a small "tail" on their back?

Nacho · Wed 05/07/2006 14:30:44

SSH... bob? What's that? Sorry, the translator does not translate it... $:-\$

And Babar, you are probably talking of a levite or a tuxedo, I can't think in any equivalent to a "tail" in a jacket...

SSH · Wed 05/07/2006 14:58:57

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bob

Maybe it would just translate as saltar? Anyway, he shouldn't go up and down so much.

Kweepa · Wed 05/07/2006 15:49:06

These look great, and moving around in a game will probably look even better.
They are perhaps a little too purposeful - he looks like someone acting out a walk cycle.
I think the main problem though is the position of the hip joint in the side view, which is below his hands. If you paint a stick figure skeleton over one of the strike frames it'll be most obvious.

Uku · Thu 06/07/2006 12:31:08

i think they are quite good

Nacho · Thu 06/07/2006 20:26:46

I am attempting a different approax which goes totally against Steve's advise of being more "subtile" with the motion

(I am changing the palletes, so, don't worry about the "jump" of colour of the face...

Kweepa · Thu 06/07/2006 20:47:37

Noooo!
Don't paint over "that" walkcycle!

Your character subtends a small camera angle, so you shouldn't see such extreme perspective on the character.
When he takes a pace forward, given how big his foot gets in the animation, you would expect him to grow to twice the size.

The Ivy · Thu 06/07/2006 23:41:46

Wow, those crotch pixels are really going to town.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Fri 07/07/2006 00:18:20

Ivy, is that a criticism of the walkcycle or a joke, because either way I don't see how it will help Farlander improve.

As for the walkcycle, I made a quick edit.

1. Made the shoulders move in relation to the wide arc his arms take when swinging.
2. Made the leg movement less extreme.
3. Made the torso move a bit.
4. Reduced animation to 6 frames.

Something that makes the walk cycle look a bit odd is the length of the legs in relation to the torso. I think the waist should start about 4-8 pixels higher. Aside from that I think you've done a good job. Here is a version with the waist altered using color.

Mordalles · Fri 07/07/2006 00:39:36

Quote from: The Ivy on Thu 06/07/2006 23:41:46
Wow, those crotch pixels are really going to town.

hehehe.
lighten up, progz.

we dont all wanna become robots.

i really like the walkcycle! and good job with the hair progz.

Nacho · Fri 07/07/2006 08:46:58

Thanks for the reply... I don't want to give the impression that I am not taking attention to the crits, I am applying everything, and now I am quite happy with this new version, a mix of the stiff realistic movement and the "Mr.Colossalishadventurishy" one...

Thanks for all. I'll use this space for a complicated animation I am going to do, I am not very sure how to make the approax.

Evil · Fri 07/07/2006 08:58:55

The new one looks good, but the leg doesn't have enough forshortening when the knee comes up. Maybe something like this?

I dunno.

Kweepa · Sat 08/07/2006 00:15:16

* I think the foreshortening is too much
* The highlight on the leg is a bit bright
* The crotch is too low
* You should just poke ProgZmax in the eye and steal his animation

Neil Dnuma · Sat 08/07/2006 03:22:54

Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 07/07/2006 00:18:20
Ivy, is that a criticism of the walkcycle or a joke,

Could be both!

I think he's too much like a soldier in the last one, very stiff upper body and high knees.

If the somewhat noisy "jacket-twist" in progz' edit could be omitted, it'd be damn near perfect, IMO.

Penguinx · Sat 08/07/2006 03:27:26

I like the newest version with the more desaturated pants and the determined but not robotic walk. I say fly with it.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sat 08/07/2006 08:09:53

QuoteYou should just poke ProgZmax in the eye and steal his animation

No need for violence! ;o

I think the altered colors look good, but so do the darker range. It really depends on the background. Move that waist up, Farlander!

Also, it could benefit from some torso animation. Keep at it.

Helm · Sat 08/07/2006 10:48:45

As was said, legs too small on your latest. Half of your full height are your legs, and the other half your groin-torso-head. It's not difficult to keep check of this, Farl.

The downwards animation by eric you've used as inspiration in my opinion cannot be used to good effect. Progz's edit is the way you should go.

Nacho · Sat 08/07/2006 11:11:02

Actually I was not using Eric's sprite sheet. I just was not happy with the first version when the legs go totally parallel... Whereas more realistic (I do walk in that way better than the duck walk I made in my second attempt) I wanted to get the feeling of the early 90ies walkcycles.

I use the spirit of Helm's sentence "Send reality to hell! Just make what you want to see!"

That's why I took a look to SSH's wc generator and took the idea... Of course, Eric's sprite sheet was (unconsciently) there, I pressume...

Now I see that the legs are too small... I thought you guys were commiting the mistake of confusing the hips with "torso" because of the jackett, but now I see it, the movement of the legs starts too short, it should involve some pixels above, 1 or 2... Fixing it.