AuthorTopic: The quest of the Runcycle  (Read 15127 times)

Offline FrostPumpkin

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The quest of the Runcycle

on: September 16, 2014, 11:46:58 am
Hi guys,
So this year I decided to build myself a solid portfolio with a lot of different things including animation, I've never been much of an animator and the generic runcycle animation is, I think, a good place to start. It's pretty hard tho.

I've tried several times using different approaches.
2 years ago I started working on a quite "technical approach"



It didn't quite work since I'm not a patient person and there are better ways to achieve this kind of works (like puppet animation).

This year I used a different approach, drawing directly each frame of a very simple character at a smaller resolution, with less frames. I felt it was much easier that way and errors are more forgiving.



I think it works, it was a bit faster before I convert it to gif format for some reason. I din't bother much about timing tho, might lack a bit of punch.

from that base, i tried to animated a bigger character. I simply doubled the resolution to draw over each frame.



Actually I think it sucks. The movement is wonky, messy. I think the cause of this, now that I look closer, is that she doesn't step up from the ground. There should be 1 frame or 2 where the character jumps off the ground and her feet doesn't touch the ground.

Yesterday I started a new one using the same process (took the small guy as a base) and I came to something way more satisfying.



Well, so I corrected most of the errors I found in the knight one and the movement is way more punchy and clear (also clean pixelling and bright colors does help readability). I played a bit around timing, it might not be 100% accurate with my original psd file but I think It looks alright.

There might be a few anatomical issues, like legs being shorter/longer on certain frames or weird poses but once animated it doesn't seem to matter much. Tell me if you spot anything obvious

I think I'm on the right track with that one, I will continue working on it. Maybe give him a proper head someday and play around other animations like idle, jump, shoot, attack, run with gun in hands, etc.

Any feedback / head design proposition is highly appreciated, thanks for reading  ;D

Offline blumunkee

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Re: The quest of the Runcycle

Reply #1 on: September 16, 2014, 01:11:11 pm
Oh yes, big improvements thru each iteration!

On the latest anim either lower the delay on frames 1 & 5, or add two extra tween frames to make the transition smoother. (One extra after frame 1, another extra after frame 5.) The frames where the feet are making contact with the ground look smooth (the stride), but the frames with both feet off the ground are jerky.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2014, 01:13:04 pm by blumunkee »

Offline FrostPumpkin

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Re: The quest of the Runcycle

Reply #2 on: September 16, 2014, 04:03:57 pm
Thanks for your answer, I'll have a look at it, i think i'll reduce the delay. It does help giving more punch to the stride to have that long frame when the character is in air, might be a bit too much tho.

i've decreased the delay on the "in air" frame, it's now 0,1 instead of 0,12 sec.
 
I started to sketch frames for the jump animation. I don't like it much tho, I think it should be the other leg landing on the ground, I'll probably remake it based on some references (i didn't use any)

Offline Indigo

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Re: The quest of the Runcycle

Reply #3 on: September 17, 2014, 12:20:15 am
Love these animations - lots of character and good line flow.  I second what blumunkee suggested about the extra frame.  Your animation's timing obviously supports that theoretical frame since you created the delay there.  There's no reason to suddenly drop the framerate in parts of the animation unless you just want to be lazy.  Stylistically, it just makes an otherwise smooth animation look choppy.

I've made a sloppy edit to show my point:


Not only does the extra frame add smoothness, but it allows you to really sell his speed by the use of over-extension and follow through on those two frames that were once one.
« Last Edit: September 17, 2014, 04:55:22 am by Indigo »

Offline Mathias

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Re: The quest of the Runcycle

Reply #4 on: September 17, 2014, 01:12:27 am
. . .
There's no reason to suddenly drop the framerate in parts of the animation . . .

Question - could you please elaborate on your opinion of using different frame timing in the same anim?
I see you've used 0.06 seconds per frame for every frame. The result is indeed much smoother.

Offline Indigo

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Re: The quest of the Runcycle

Reply #5 on: September 17, 2014, 04:40:07 am
It just adds a form of contrast that doesn't bring any value to the piece; a resolution contrast.  You can liken it to defining an 8 color palette, then randomly decide to not use one of those colors for parts of your image that could benefit from it.  Another analogy is it's like mixing different resolution sprites in the same scene (like many indie games seem to be fond of doing for some reason).

Here's a silly image to demonstrate:


Both gradients describe the same value space, but in the second one the eye is immediately drawn to the place where the resolution of that gradient is less compared to the rest.

There's nothing inherently wrong with lesser frame-rates or resolutions - but by *changing* it within the context of an existing resolution, you are creating a contrast that will stand out to the eye.  Unless you have a very good reason to do it (fighting games make good use of frame-pauses for hits pretty well, etc), the results often look sub-par.

In this specific context of the run animation, I'd say leaving out the frame hurts the piece - especially because the frame he's leaving out can be pretty important in selling the momentum and motion of the character.
« Last Edit: September 17, 2014, 04:51:56 am by Indigo »

Offline FrostPumpkin

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Re: The quest of the Runcycle

Reply #6 on: September 17, 2014, 10:33:16 am
Oh yes, you're right. It's missing a frame, I mean it's obvious now, that delay I put on the "long" frame only demonstrates the need of another frame, it's like having 2 frames merged into 1. definitely looks smoother with the additional frames

Actually, i thought the delay would add some rythm to the motion and more power to the strides but in fact I was just being lazy.
I'll be working on it, thanks for the feedback !