Need C&C on diagonal walk

[chapter11studios]

This is just a quick .avi movie my animator threw together to give a basic sense of the diagonal walk for a character.  The final walks will be 12 frames per cycle, and these are just the key frames.

I think my animation team has the basics covered, but the diagonals aren't quite there yet, in my opinion. Suggestions?

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/jakediag.avi

Here are the side and front walks, by the way, also only showing key frames.

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/jakeside.avi

http://www.rattlesnakejake.com/jakefrnt.avi

[Andail]

His overly straight back, along with his bandy legs, give an almost constipated impression. Try to make him loosen up a bit! Also, in the diagonal view, I think he leans too much forward.

I think adding diagonal views is a very delicate decision. The straight side views and front/back views are very forgiving when it comes to perspective issues, but I think the diagonal views are more "exposed" in this respect. Also, we're talking doubling the amount of walk sprites.

[Seleceus]

First off:  Great work!

What I noticed was his right leg.  It appears to be swinging in-and-out almost as much as forward-and-back, giving him that Monkees montage cross-over walk.  It's not as on-line with his direction of movement as the other views, giving his hips more sway than swivel.

[chapter11studios]

I think adding diagonal views is a very delicate decision. The straight side views and front/back views are very forgiving when it comes to perspective issues, but I think the diagonal views are more "exposed" in this respect. Also, we're talking doubling the amount of walk sprites.

I'm only going to do diagonals for Jake. The other characters will just get the four standard directions. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Afflict]

The Diagonal looks brilliant Bravo!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

The down walk cycle looks neat but you probably should examine the other two more closely:



In the side view his left forearm sticks out at an unrealistic angle from his body as it moves forward, bending down and throwing off the animation.  The following frame jerks the forearm up back into normal position while the right arm never bends down in the first place.  Altering this frame to eliminate the forearm jutting forward and sticking down so much will improve things considerably.




For the diagonal view a skeleton was quickly drawn to illustrate some issues.  In the left frame with left leg fully extended the skeleton looks fine at that angle, but in the right frame the fully extended right leg gives the appearance of a bowlegged or sidestepping character rather than someone walking at a 45 degree angle.  Reducing the distance this leg covers and tilting his torso/legs inward more will help here.

[Misj']

I think my animation team has the basics covered, but the diagonals are giving us (and me) fits. Suggestions?

The first thing I noticed was, that Jake appears to be walking with a limp (his right leg)...now I have nothing against people with limps, especially if you're a cowboy. So I would normally assume that it's a 'souvenir' from an old gunfight injury. Nevertheless, I'm afraid it's just an artefact (since neither the front nor the side key-frames show the same limp)...petty. I kinda liked it

Anyway, I looked at the animation, and there were a few mistakes I noticed...I'll try to explain it from the following image:

On top you have each frame numbered 1-8 (1' is a repetition of 1...the actual movement is in 8 ), and indicated which leg carries the weight (Left or Right). The black lines below the images indicate the up and down movement I expect (if he doesn't have a limp...because with a limp this will be highly affected).

I'll compare it to an image from the Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams (a great book by the way)


So the simple description of your walk would be would be:
1. The contact point
2. Weight is placed on the left foot (body goes down)
3. Body straightens, right leg moves forward
4. Lift-off, body is pushed forward by the left foot getting partly off the floor
5-8. The same for the other foot.

In your walk-cycle frame 2 (and 6) the weight-carrying leg should bend a little to give the Jake some weight. Also, in these frames the arms should be furthest out. It's easier to draw if you put them furthest out on the contact point (frame 1 and 5), but in reality this is not the case.

Also the lift-off-position could be a little more up. Just a little - you want to keep it subtle for your style - to add some additional weight.

Another thing I noticed was, that frame 1 and 5 Jake has a similar stance (both are the contact points); but I can't really see that from these frames. From the position of this left foot in frame 1 I would expect to be able to see Jake's right shoe sole in frame 5. But we appear to look on op of the shoe (so it doesn't appear to be really lifted by take...thus adding to the limp-effect). Furthermore, the movement of the left foot (frame 5-8) is much bigger than the movement of the right foot (frame 1-4). This too adds to the limp-effect. You should make the amount of movement similar.

Finally, in frame 7 Jake's right arm is much to short. You can see his left arm to be almost a fist longer (disappearing behind his body) than his left arm...while the latter is completely straightened. However, since you might want to correct his arm anyway (my comments of frame 2 and 6), which would probably automatically be solved. But it's something you must always be aware of: body-parts don't suddenly change length...if you're not Tex Avery of cause

So a quick mock-up of the arm-movement could be something like this:

I've added a slight delay when his right arm is in front of him...I felt it kinda added to his limp; adding a little shock/pain to his movement (that, and I was too lazy to correct it ).

Hope to have been at least a little helpful. And should I have sounded to harsh, please remember: it's always easier to comments on someone based on theory, that to do it yourself in practice

Misj'

[chapter11studios]

This is all really helpful. Thanks everyone!