Waterfall motion

[Decroded]

just in the early stages of animating this waterfall.
I feel like everything is going to hinge around the rhythm of the waves so I thought I'd ask how does this motion look at this point before I move on?
I've tried to incorporate a sort of static shimmering effect where the light is always reflecting.
the surrounding tiles r just there for context as its the canvas I'm animating in but feel free to crit (I will be adjusting bush shadows though fyi).


I'm trying not to add any more frames.
water ripples are 4 frames at half speed of the watetfall's 8 frames.

now I wonder about wave speed and frequency.

[Friend]

looks beautiful, but i find your waterfall streams dont go as well with the style as it could.  the style is semi realistic, but the streams do not imo.  it lacks volume and instead looks like water running down waterslides.  could maybe suggest more body and naturalism.  perhaps something similar to this effect might go well with your style?

[Ambivorous]

Let me just start off by acknowledging that your pixel art has really become something of a marvel. Just utterly beautiful to behold. Even in just your edits here and there I find a lot of awe inspiring stuff.

Moving on, I don't quite know enough to analyze the style relative to the rest of the piece, but as far as what you've attempted to go with I'd say you've hit the nail pretty damn square on the head.
I remember Sohei making some waterfalls a little while back (here; also the WIP thread) and I'd say it's on the same vein.

If I had to give any advice at all I'd say perhaps space the falling 'wave' out more as it goes further down to give it the feel that gravity has increased it's velocity throughout the fall?
Otherwise if you do have the time, try out Friend's suggestion, because I'd love to see the result.

Keep up the good work!

[Decroded]

Thanks guys those comments r helpful.
Seeing Master Sohei's waterfall makes me realise I could do it in 4 frames if I increase the frequency but haven't decided yet.

Anyway some progress and messing around with colours.

Thx to Wolfenoctis for ideas on colours.

[wzl]

nice color variation in the last one, makes the waterfall pop up so much more!
What i dont like, and what friend mentioned as well, the falls look like flat bands, something water normally wouldnt look like, especially rolling down on rocky surfaces like that. I'd try to break up the straight lines, make some rocks poke through the water, have it run down the structure of the cliff to make it more interesting and believable.
I don't have time right now, but i'll try to give it a spin later. its just too tempting

[Pusty]

omg this looks awesome! :O

I think the darkest version is the best because it makes it look more "natural" as water isn't normally so bright (or at least I don't think so. correct me if I'm wrong)

[Friend]

omg this looks awesome! :O

I think the darkest version is the best because it makes it look more "natural" as water isn't normally so bright (or at least I don't think so. correct me if I'm wrong)

depends on many things, maybe most importantly lighting conditions, ie sunlight

[aamatniekss]

Yeah, I also think the dark version looks the best, because of how good the contrast between the waterfall and still water is. Looks super cool.

[yaomon17]

I like the very left. I feel the dark contrasts a bit too much with the lighter grass and conveys a different atmosphere opposed to the grass. I feel like the darker water color would look better in a shaded grove or a nighttime area.

[Friend]

I like the very left. I feel the dark contrasts a bit too much with the lighter grass and conveys a different atmosphere opposed to the grass. I feel like the darker water color would look better in a shaded grove or a nighttime area.

I agree. but i think if the grass had heavy detail like in seiken  densetsu 3 the dark blue would be great.

[Decroded]

Re the waterfall shape, I should have mentioned earlier I'm restricted to straight lines as the cliffs tile vertically as below (hence the weird blocky shapes of the rocks).


also a bit of a colour edit trying to add a bit of flavour and keeping comments from u guys in mind.


not sure if grass is a little TOO desaturated now, it looks OK in Photoshop but on here it looks off.
man i really hate the bright background on this forum it really throws off the colour balance 

[Friend]

New colors look amazing. I really love the new rock colors specifically the shadow colors.  I kinda wish the grass had some detail or texture besides edges though

[Decroded]

New colors look amazing. I really love the new rock colors specifically the shadow colors.  I kinda wish the grass had some detail or texture besides edges though

thx. will probably add a few more plant sprites as overlay declas otherwise it will make a shit-tonne of extra tiles.

working on various water flow and shimmering effects within 4 frame loop.

intending to keep movement fairly minimal though I may go back and add a few more dramatic bits.

[Crit Nasty]

I really like the darker contrast of colors that you've most recently used. I feel as if the loop is missing some realism though. Maybe add the physics of the clash between the waterfall and the river below it.

[Glak]

Making the waterfall lighter was a huge improvement.  I like the other colors a bit better too.  I think that you could go further with the waterfall and eliminate the darkest blue.  Look at references and you will see that waterfalls are almost pure white, often with vertical streaks of gray.  You might want to use your stone highlight shade in the waterfall.  Here's a great reference: https://earndoggy.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/wpid-new-waterfalls.jpg

[Decroded]

latest version adding some more textures to the loop and reduced dark bits in waterfall.


was trying to keep the bottom area contained in 1 tile height but probs need to extend into next tile a bit or it will look too sudden.

EDIT: added some suggestion of reflective waves.

[Finlal]

That looks really good, but a bit too bright for my taste.
If it's for the game, the waterfall might interfere with character sprite due to it's contrast with cliffs.

[Decroded]

[Crit Nasty]

Omgosh you killed it! Beautifully done Decroded. I really like the "continued flow of the water" which ties together the entire animation very well. Your clash well into the river with the specs of water splashing out is a convincing touch as well! The only thing I would ditch would be the "rolling suds" effect you have. The colors aren't quite right and it just doesn't have the same "elegant" feel as the rest of your waterfall's style. I would love to see what it would look like without it, or even with a slight alteration to its mechanics. All in all, you're on a verge of a masterpiece!

[Decroded]

added some small mist effect constrained within a tile instead of bleeding out.

[Crit Nasty]

How do you combine all the different animations together?

[Gil]

The fun part is, you can probably enhance this in the eventual game engine with extra mist and that'd look just fine

[Glak]

It looks really beautiful.  Are you going to animate the rest of the water?

[Decroded]

The fun part is, you can probably enhance this in the eventual game engine with extra mist and that'd look just fine

The fun part is most eyes wouldn't know its hand-pixeled and not some overlay 

It looks really beautiful.  Are you going to animate the rest of the water?

Most of its already animated (see the OP).
I'm just getting to re-applying the ripples to new tiles/colours and few ripples to finish off.

[Glak]

The ripples are moving away from the rocks, as if the rocks themselves are generating the water.  Would it be possible to work it so that the ripples alternate between moving towards and away from the rocks?  This would make it seem like the water is sloshing around.

[Decroded]

The ripples are moving away from the rocks, as if the rocks themselves are generating the water.  Would it be possible to work it so that the ripples alternate between moving towards and away from the rocks?  This would make it seem like the water is sloshing around.

hmm i see what u mean.
im kinda trying to stay within 4 frames partly for the fun of it so experimented with a couple ripple effects in this version once i finished outward ripples at the base.

but its late and im kinda out of ideas o.0

[Glak]

I really like the one where the water is moving downstream.

[Decroded]

I really like the one where the water is moving downstream.

thanks yeah not enough frames for wiggley one.

update.

[aamatniekss]

Oh man, that is too good. Will this be a game?

[Ambivorous]

Yeah, Decroded, you had better not put this into a game because no one is going to play it - they'll be too busy fapping to your water animations.

Hummina hummina hummina.


Seriously though that's amazing. Especially the underwater rocks. Holy balls. I'm saving this so I can use it for reference whenever I need to animate water.

[Decroded]

Feel like I'm pretty done  and need to finish some surrounding assets.
Still interested in crits for future improvement or any small changes that might improve this.


This was a low-paying commission for an unannounced game.
I went way over time as I wanted to experiment new techniques and gain more confidence with using Gale.

So thanks everyone for the nice comments and helpful crits (Sorry I don't reply much but I take them all on board).
Also a big thanks to Wolfenoctis for listening to my ramblings! 

[Friend]

I like your attitude but your art is even better. Awesome end result

I'm not sure if this is that helpful as I don't known much about animation, but maybe there is such a thing as unity among animation similarly how there is in unity in style of separate elements such as trees grass rocks etc. what I mean is I'm not sure your separate animated bits go together as well as they could. I don't know why but the round circles animating where the waterfall hits the bottom bother me especially

[Digivoxel]

I don't know why but the round circles animating where the waterfall hits the bottom bother me especially

Ah, I see what you're saying. Instead of being reactionary, they seem more like they are coming off of a conveyor belt.

[Decroded]

I like your attitude but your art is even better. Awesome end result

I'm not sure if this is that helpful as I don't known much about animation, but maybe there is such a thing as unity among animation similarly how there is in unity in style of separate elements such as trees grass rocks etc. what I mean is I'm not sure your separate animated bits go together as well as they could. I don't know why but the round circles animating where the waterfall hits the bottom bother me especially

Thanks.
Those things are called Mistypuffs^TM 
Nah the idea was to have a misty haze and it wasn't intended to be little balls just kinda came out like that.
Dunno if I'll get a chance but I might be able to smooth out the effect a bit make it softer and hazier so the balls aren't so obvious.
Besides that I dunno what else to do about conveyor effect with just 4 frames for the whole image (stole that idea from Sohei ).
It was interesting to see what I could do with 4 frames but I'll do more frames next time that's for sure.

The real limitation here though is in the variable-height tiling which does not make this kind of waterfall very fun TBH.
For example I can't easily vary the width of the waterfall otherwise since it becomes difficult to line it up across different tile configurations.

If there was actually a decent software for making animated tiles it would make stuff like this alot easier.
Something like Gale and PyxelEdit combined where you can edit a frame of a tile and have it updated across the whole mockup in real-time would be awesome.
Anyone know of anything like that around yet?

[Friend]

I actually like the Mistypuffs TM. I meant the medium blue circles below the Mistypuffs TM.  Idk. I just think the separate animation sections of the water kinda look like they all are in separate styles. Sorry to keep bumping. Just wanted to clarify I like Mistypuffs TM.



those thingies ^  Like I kinda feel that section might look better if it was all filled in with white water

[Pusty]

If there was actually a decent software for making animated tiles it would make stuff like this alot easier.
Something like Gale and PyxelEdit combined where you can edit a frame of a tile and have it updated across the whole mockup in real-time would be awesome.
Anyone know of anything like that around yet?

I just checked and ProMotion is able to do that. (or at least it seems so)

[Decroded]

I actually like the Mistypuffs TM. I meant the medium blue circles below the Mistypuffs TM.  Idk. I just think the separate animation sections of the water kinda look like they all are in separate styles. Sorry to keep bumping. Just wanted to clarify I like Mistypuffs TM.



those thingies ^  Like I kinda feel that section might look better if it was all filled in with white water

Oh cool yeah Crit Nasty pointed that out too.
It was supposed to resemble something like this - http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/SkyPix/seafoam1.jpg
But maybe I need to redo it if it looks too odd.

If there was actually a decent software for making animated tiles it would make stuff like this alot easier.
Something like Gale and PyxelEdit combined where you can edit a frame of a tile and have it updated across the whole mockup in real-time would be awesome.
Anyone know of anything like that around yet?

I just checked and ProMotion is able to do that. (or at least it seems so)

Thanks alot I'll definitely have to get that program now!

[Friend]

I actually like the Mistypuffs TM. I meant the medium blue circles below the Mistypuffs TM.  Idk. I just think the separate animation sections of the water kinda look like they all are in separate styles. Sorry to keep bumping. Just wanted to clarify I like Mistypuffs TM.



those thingies ^  Like I kinda feel that section might look better if it was all filled in with white water

Oh cool yeah Crit Nasty pointed that out too.
It was supposed to resemble something like this - http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/SkyPix/seafoam1.jpg
But maybe I need to redo it if it looks too odd.

oy i could see how the foam effect might work.  maybe it is because they are too uniform in size and shape and unlike the weblike unfolding they do- maybe think of the foam as connected webs that expand outward in different sizes