AuthorTopic: Improving a Running Animation  (Read 3242 times)

Offline Solace

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Improving a Running Animation

on: March 26, 2017, 12:57:58 am
Hi!
I have been working on some animations for a sprite I made awhile back:

I’m mostly content with the animations I created, except for the running animation below. Something just doesn’t seem right about it. The shoulders seem to jitter around inorganically, and I can’t tell if the perspective on the weapon is correct or not.

Is there anyway I can refine this running cycle and make it a bit more fluid and natural?
I’m mostly looking for feedback on the running animation of course, but if there is anything to be said about my other animations, by all means, do tell me!

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #1 on: March 26, 2017, 02:10:02 am
Everything but the hips looks fine to me, remember that when you rotate the torso the hips go with it!
Try studying the run cycle for the scout, from tf2. Similar running style as what you seem to be going for here!
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
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Offline Solace

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #2 on: March 26, 2017, 09:53:50 pm
I eliminated the majority of the jagged pixels in the waist area as well as on the rifle.
The pixels in the hip were all over the place at first, but I cleaned the hip up and now it looks more consistent. However I feel that the hip may need more work still. 
Old:         
Refined:

Thanks for the advice!

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #3 on: March 26, 2017, 10:20:56 pm
Aye. More minor tweaks that might help:
-shoulder looks pretty jittery, try and smooth out the motion there. Think in arcs!
-leg overextends a bit, looks kinda goofy. Puts me in mind of the scout's run animation glitch from the old days of tf2, try and keep his forelegs from pushing too far in front of him!
-The gun motion needs some work, looks less like he's hugging it close to him for a run and more like he's swinging it in and out of firing position.
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
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Offline SkeptaKing

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #4 on: March 28, 2017, 09:42:32 am
Looking pretty good

Offline Solace

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #5 on: March 29, 2017, 02:42:56 am
I made the shoulder move in more of an arching path, and it seemed to have fixed its initial jittery movement. I also pushed the forelegs a few pixels back.
Old:         
Refined:

In regards to the perspective on the rifle, I could try to make the weapon point downwards some more. That way, it would look more like the weapon is not in a firing position. 
I could possibly experiment with the shoulder some more too. I feel like if I exaggerated the shoulder coming forward and backward more, it would give off more of a 'swaying' motion.

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #6 on: March 29, 2017, 04:13:57 am
I think a better thing might just be to not have it come out so far, RE: the gun.
As for the shoulder, not really much of an improvement. Try to think of the arc as being from above, curving as his torso rotates with the walk. I was a bit unclear on that advice, sorry.

Another thing I've noticed is his torso seems to stretch with the run. Ideally his crotch area should move up and down depending on the legs, so  when the legs are both at the middle he should be at his highest and at his lowest just when they connect.

Try looking at some gifs of people sprinting for ideas!
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
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Offline Solace

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #7 on: April 02, 2017, 05:42:44 pm
Now that I'm not terribly busy with school, I was able to analyze my animation more. I took everything apart, especially the shoulders, which I isolated here:

The one on the left was the old shoulder. It's hard to tell, but there is to some degree a bit of an arch simulated here, its just heavily distorted by the up and down movement of my initial running animation. I made the path in more of a traditional arch like you mentioned, which not only makes the animation more fluid, it is also more accurate to how the shoulder moves in a running cycle.

From here I added the second shoulder and began reconstructing the torso. Originally the torso was static, but the pecs/upper chest actually moves with the shoulders. I blocked in where the weapon would be, and I noticed that the rifle would actually follow the same path that the pecs/upper chest was taking. I added some detail to the weapon, and added the arms back in:

Nothing in the legs was really changed, except for the back leg, which I darkened temporarily to make the legs more distinguishable:

I honestly don't see anything wrong with the legs, other than the fact that I need to clean up the pixel clusters in each frame. I'll add the up and down movement of the running cycle next, where the groin moves upwards and back down as you mentioned.

While looking at running cycles, I stumbled upon a few pixel animations where the head of the character moved along with the shoulders and pecs. I noticed that my character's head was static, so I attempted to implement something similar. However the head moves way to much for my liking. I'll probably have to experiment with the timing and or frames to tone down the head movement a bit.

By the way, I really appreciate all the feedback you've been giving me MysteryMeat.
I didn't think that your advice was unclear per say, it's good advice, and I understood what you meant. I just think you could have elaborated a bit more, no need to apologize for that though!

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: Improving a Running Animation

Reply #8 on: April 02, 2017, 08:58:25 pm
Try reducing it to only two or three rotation changes. Heads are gyroscopic, they stay pretty stable through everything so we can see!

You're getting closer, but now his gait is uneven and he has a lil gimp leg on the back. And his knee is still bending too far forward! Extend it out further and reduce how long it spends in the air. Experiment with removing frames until it has all the punch that original animation had!

He's also lost his run bob, that's important for run animations ESPECIALLY since it keeps things from looking slidey!
Keep it up, you're doing great!
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
MAJOR BORK TALLY: |