Isometric walkcycle

Started by .M.M., Tue 10/02/2015 15:24:34

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.M.M.

Hello everyone,

I'm currently working on a walking animation for my game and since I'm a complete newbie when it comes to drawing characters, I would really appreciate some critique. This is what I got so far, mostly thanks to a lot of reference pictures:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/GWFQqvR.png[/imgzoom][imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/pVcFCQR.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/81KK2EB.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/ug7zZfd.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/wVRPf1L.png[/imgzoom]

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/zNrC21j.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/DtSAl8R.gif[/imgzoom]
(this is a dummy, so the colour-pick is mostly random and unimportant, the shading and shape is what matters)

I started shading only the first loop, because I'm not sure especially about that.
I want to keep it as simple as possible, with just one darker shade for each colour - is it enough? I'm trying to find a balance between minimalistic, clean (such as in the Another World) and useful style fit for the isometric projection.
Background (WIP) with a character:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/qDJtzjd.png[/imgzoom]
What do you think? Is the movement smooth enough? Is it too simple or does it work well with the style of the background?

xil

I really like the style, it works very well with the background.

2 quick pointers would be:

The head only seems to bob one pixel down on the 3rd frame I think, in a walk cycle, your head would go from say level, to lower, back to level, then higher, then back to level if that makes sense, like a bobbing motion. Yours stays level for all frames apart from 1. I'd say the 1st frame needs to raise his head to create that bobbing motion.

His arms could do with being a little bit longer in the down/up view. If you look at the diagonal or left/right views, his hands are well below his jumper/top and over his trousers. I think this needs to be reflected more on the up/down views. Unfortunately this also means tweaking some of the frames on the animation in my honest opinion.

If anything doesn't make sense just let me me know as I can get you some references later when I'm not at work.

When you say first loop, do you mean you are still to do more frames for the down animation? 5 frames for a walk cycle is rather odd. I would have thought it would be an even number? I think his right leg 'jumps' a bit when it goes forward as you need 1 more frame.
Calico Reverie - Independent Game Development, Pixel Art & Other Stuff
Games: Mi - Starlit Grave - IAMJASON - Aractaur - blind to siberia - Wrong Channel - Memoriae - Point Of No Return

.M.M.

Thanks, I'm glad you like the style, and your critque was very helpful - it's easy to stop seeing things like this when you work on a single sprite or view for a long time. ;)
This is version wih longer arms and different head bobbing.

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/wg0PGel.gif[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/mB34GVl.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/04YDnWp.png[/imgzoom]
Quote from: xil on Tue 10/02/2015 16:34:14
When you say first loop, do you mean you are still to do more frames for the down animation? 5 frames for a walk cycle is rather odd. I would have thought it would be an even number? I think his right leg 'jumps' a bit when it goes forward as you need 1 more frame.

5 frames should be the final frame count. It's actually based on every second frame of 10 frame animation I used as one of the references. I wanted the lowest frame count possible, so if it isn't a major issue, I'll leave it as it is. Maybe it will require further tweaking of the head, because now, frame 2 has -1 pixel and frame 4 +1: that means change between every frame but 5->1.

Renal Shutdown

I think 4 or 8 frames would be a better option.  For 4 frames, aim for "left foot: back/down, right foot front/down (/\)", "left: up/moving forward, right down/center (|>)" and the opposite of those.  Four frames allows for all the extremes, whereas 8 allows for subtle blending/adding character.  Even numbers also lets you mirror images very easily; five seems like an awful lot more work than necessary.  As it is, it looks to me like the character is going down a flight of stairs.  Are those the 5 frames in a row in your last post?  I think parts 2 and 3 (5+1) are too similar to warrant another image, when you could take a halfway point and jazz the timing to suit.

I've always loved walk cycles.  I've no idea why.  However, I've always been of the belief that it would be better to stick figure sketch a personal walk cycle per character than try to mimic someone else's.  Have theirs (and several others playing in the background) and get a feel for your character.  Once you have the feel in you head, pick the opposite extremes only, and time it.  Once you feel it fits your vision, fill in the 50% gaps.  After that, rinse and repeat until you've got the level of detail needed.

I agree on the head bob issue mentioned before; I'm not even sure it would need any at that angle/resolution/character height.  If the head does bob, the shoulders should too - it'll be the hips that vary the height (legs straight vs. legs diagonal). Also agreeing on the arm length.  I'd really like to see one of the diagonal walks.
"Don't get defensive, since you have nothing with which to defend yourself." - DaveGilbert

EchosofNezhyt

Add more movement into the shoulders. Its at like 95% awesomeness atm.

Also if you can adjust shading a bit to on the chest when he moves, but for me the static shoulder line is what I notice most.

Nice art!

.M.M.

I tried adding more shoulder movement into this one:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/WLaEmHJ.gif[/imgzoom]
But I'm not sure if it isn't a little too much. Otherwise, this animation is far from complete, I think it still even has short arms, which I changed in the other animation.
The chest shading does move, but I can try adding a bit more.
I've been thinking about making my own 3D character and base the animation on it - I prefer working with 3D, so it seems silly to skip it in the animation process. The downside is that I'm as inexperienced in 2D as in 3D animation.
Thanks for your critique! I'm glad you like the style, and even more since I want my game (another one, post-apocalyptic, but with the same art style) have the great atmosphere your Pripyat Bridge of Death has!
Anyway, I won't be making much progress now, I have enough of sketching, drawing and modeling at university. :-)

EchosofNezhyt

Quote from: .M.M. on Tue 31/03/2015 09:46:17
I tried adding more shoulder movement into this one:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/WLaEmHJ.gif[/imgzoom]
But I'm not sure if it isn't a little too much. Otherwise, this animation is far from complete, I think it still even has short arms, which I changed in the other animation.
The chest shading does move, but I can try adding a bit more.
I've been thinking about making my own 3D character and base the animation on it - I prefer working with 3D, so it seems silly to skip it in the animation process. The downside is that I'm as inexperienced in 2D as in 3D animation.
Thanks for your critique! I'm glad you like the style, and even more since I want my game (another one, post-apocalyptic, but with the same art style) have the great atmosphere your Pripyat Bridge of Death has!
Anyway, I won't be making much progress now, I have enough of sketching, drawing and modeling at university. :-)

It looks pretty cool.

There is a zombie game with 8 way directional isometric people. They had full running and walking animations you can prolly find the sprite sheet for a reference.

However they realized it was alot of work so they switched to 3D and rendered to low resolution frames giving it kinda the same effect. (Not as good looking but not bad.)

Its called project Zomboid. Also thanks for the compliment!

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