Mechanical Walking Ape-Thing!

Candall · Sat 02/09/2006 05:32:51

This is a walkloop for a heavy in my WIP titled Prototypical. I like the overall design, and I actually like the walk, too... but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for making it look a bit more... dynamic. I was thinking... and my wife confirmed... that it almost looks as if the 'bot is manipulating an unseen wheelchair. Any thoughts?

I've decided to leave the leapfrog-ish walk for now and try out a knuckle walk instead. I even looked up a video of a walking gorilla for reference. It's not exactly dead-on due to anatomical differences between the 'bot and a real gorilla, but I think it's much smoother and more natural than my previous attempt.

Lucifiel · Sat 02/09/2006 07:01:42

Perhaps, you can look at the walking posture of humans and try to duplicate that instead. Or, make each of the arms and legs move separately, not together.

Evil · Sat 02/09/2006 07:04:01

Yours looks to be walking on his hands. Most apes will use their arms to lift themselves up and swing their legs forward. Then the ape thrusts his legs back to move himself forward. Maybe some more leg movement. It's pretty stiff, even for a robot.

ThreeOhFour · Sat 02/09/2006 07:07:45

Evil - extactly. The legs should be swinging heaps. Get down on your knees and try walking with your hands - its cumbersome and your torso and legs swing like a pendulum. Actually, don't try that. I just banged my head trying it

Candall · Sat 02/09/2006 07:13:00

Lucifel: Well, the whole idea is that he propels himself on his hands rather than his feet, which only bob along beneath him. I see what you mean about the seperate movement, though. I could have one arm extend to the floor before the other.

As for human walks, this is the main character:

I'm trying my best to take advantage of the fact that my characters (being machines) aren't limited to common biped transport.

Evil: Yeah, I'm trying to find that balance... I know it would look a lot better if he followed through with the entire thrust-and-swing motion, but then his stride would be really impractically long.

Ben304: That may be the key to forcing more dynamism. I'll try putting a little more swing in the hips (and by extension, the legs) in addition to de-synching the arms.

Thanks, guys! I'm sure that the next version will be better

Huw Dawson · Sat 02/09/2006 09:57:54

I like the main character!

Only one niggling thing I can see. The steps don't seem to land properly on the ground. Your character looks a little like it's moonwalking.

A good way to fix this would be to make the character "stomp" into the ground in front of him, and then add more tweening frames to slow it down.

- Huw

Ali · Sat 02/09/2006 10:03:24

Unless they're absolutely necessary for the plot, I'd get rid of the ape's small legs altogether. Walking on his hands is a great idea, so why give him legs he doesn't need?
I'd simply extend his torso and have him balance on a spherical base, or a point like a spinning top. Without the fiddly legs, it might be easier to get dynamic pendulous swinging into the torso.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sun 03/09/2006 04:25:05

Your gorilla creature looks like he's sitting in a wheelchair and moving himself with his hands, not a gargantuan beast propelling itself forward. Try watching some videos of actual gorilla motion and it should help you sort it out. Nice design.

monkey0506 · Sun 03/09/2006 05:24:36

Aside from what's already been said, the robot appears to be bending his arms where his elbows would be at, but there's no visible joints there. It just seems to me that perhaps, being a robot, his joints should be more visible?

Sleeping Turtle · Sun 03/09/2006 06:06:22

I Kinda like him the way he is. I believe his arms are using a ball joint for movement.

Babar · Sun 03/09/2006 12:50:52

The reason it looks like he (it?) is on a wheelchair is because the thigh (above the knee joint) doesn't move at all from it's sitting position. Move it! You might also want to make the legs shorter. Ape-things have legs shorter than hands, don't they?

monkey0506 · Sun 03/09/2006 20:00:57

~~Even if he's using some sort of ball-joint, it seems like it should still be visible (look at the knees).~~

Actually...I think I was looking at this the wrong way round. The big-bulgy part is the joint....okay. Just ignore my posts.

Candall · Sun 03/09/2006 20:28:08

Huw Dawson: Believe it or not, the stride function in AGS clears that slide problem up very nicely.

Ali: I very strongly considered using your wonderful suggestion... the only reason I tried another direction is that at some point, this 'bot is going to carry the main character away someplace, so he'd still need an alternate means of travel.

ProgZmax: You're right... the previous animation made him look pathetically constrained, and not menacing at all. How's the new one?

monkey_05_06: It's all good

Sleeping Turtle: Exactly

Babar: Yeah, I really don't know what I was thinking there. Oh well.

Tuomas · Sun 03/09/2006 21:24:41

Well, that must be painful for the back... If it wasn't a robot that is. still,. the legs seem so long, he looks like he should be walking with 2 feel, but for some reason was determined to use hands too.

I thought I'd comparte it to this fellow here, but he seems like he's back is going to start aching, so...

monkey0506 · Sun 03/09/2006 22:22:29

I also think the legs should be shortened a bit, and...I've noticed that when his left arm is all the way back, you can see through his pelvis. But it still looks quite nice.

And...back to the length of his legs...now it almost looks like he's just bent over swinging his arms almost scraping them on the ground rather than actually using them to walk...but...I could just be talking bullocks again.

vict0r · Sun 03/09/2006 22:59:16

I think it looks pretty smooth now, but you should shorten his legs just a little bit imo.

And you can actually see through his hip tube, when the left leg goes forward...

Evil · Mon 04/09/2006 01:36:50

His right arm bounces a bit before he pulls it back. That and the pelvis thing.

Candall · Mon 04/09/2006 04:08:25

Whew... I hope you guys like this one as much as I do, 'cause I'm burned out on this guy. I need to move on, at least for a while.

And here's the side view.

monkey0506 · Mon 04/09/2006 04:49:10

Just curious...are his legs supposed to be held together by some sort of magnetic bond? Because in the side view you can clearly see all the way through his pelivic region, and there doesn't appear to be anything holding his legs on.

But don't get too burned out on this guy. Once you get him just right he'll work quite nicely I'm sure. He already looks wonderful, it just needs some fine-tuning.

Candall · Mon 04/09/2006 06:11:53

Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Mon 04/09/2006 04:49:10
Just curious...are his legs supposed to be held together by some sort of magnetic bond?

Heheh, nah, not necessarily. I'm not concerning myself too much with whether or not the 'bots would actually work. I'm pretty much just going with what I think would look interesting design-wise.