Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: infinity+1 on July 27, 2007, 10:58:37 pm
-
trying out my first ever run cycle. i was hoping for some feeeeeedback
first:(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/coloredrun.gif)
latest:(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/runny.gif)
sorry for no transparency
-
It's almost like he's speed walking. I'd say he should have more vertical movement have him get more hangtime. Right now he barely gets off the ground.
-
It doesn't just look like a speed walk, it IS a speed walk. As long as both feet are never off the ground at the same time, it's walking. To make it a run, there has to be a point where both feet are in the air at the same time, and for that to happen you need to give him a bit more bounce. Like Blick said, vertical movement.
I also think you've tried making him lean forward to make it look speedier, no? Don't be afraid to overdo it. If you want a real power dash, you could have him almost diagonal as long as you make him push off the ground with enough force.
But for now, focus on vertical movement. Actually, how many frames have you got there? Six? I'd recommend you tack on two more to get rid of the jerkiness, too.
-
I also think you've tried making him lean forward to make it look speedier, no? Don't be afraid to overdo it. If you want a real power dash, you could have him almost diagonal as long as you make him push off the ground with enough force.
What? Why would you ever want to overdo anything? Besides, if you look at real runners you will see they don't do that stupid ninja diagonal dash, their backs are straight. Even if you insist on doing that for "style," I certainly wouldn't recommend that someone who is still grasping the basic concepts of a run animation to start practicing gross exaggerations.
infinity: as rox said, he needs to have a point where no feet on the ground, but also, at no point should both feet touch the ground. Also, concentrate on making the parts of the run where his feet move the fastest look fast. That is, think about at what points his feet would be speeding up and slowing down. His feet would be slowest at the arcs of his stride, as he is changing his foot's direction, and fastest in between (that's also where you get the speed in the run). So it might help to put "padding" frames around the extremes of the arc.
I'm not sure how clear that was, so if don't understand what I mean I can do an edit if you want.
-
You want to overdo things because sometimes you have to overdo things to get a point across. This animation tries, I believe, to look a bit ninja-ish by having him lean forward. But it fails because he's not leaning enough. For it to look like that, you have to overdo it really.
But otherwise, yeah, the back should be straight. If you look at athletes who run for a living, you'll notice their backs are as straight as can be. But I don't get the impression this is meant to be an athlete, so I felt the ninja-esque dash style would be a bit more fitting.
-
I think this is going to be a great run but you probably need to create and extra frame between the 6 frames you've got now.
You would then have a character that runs 3 pixels per frame instead of 6 pixels per frame.
EDIT: Forget what I said about moving 3 pixels per frame. I wouldn't put extra frames between frame 3-4 and 8-9, the character needs to move 6 pixels/frame to look good just like you've got it now. I'd still insert 4 extra frames making a total of 10.
Also I would not animate a silhouette like that. Too much gets hidden. Don't over render it either, just make each limb individually recognizable and it becomes much easier to animate.
The dittering you've got going now (if it was done by hand) slows down the animation process. Use simple colors until you can go on to render the character.
Regardless of how many frames you've got in a realistic animation like the one you're creating the frame where he just touches ground and the frame when the foot is just about to leave ground is fairly important, I wouldn't leave them out.
Are you bound to using 6 frames? Otherwise I'll make an edit and show you what I mean. Heck I'll make an edit anyway. BRB...
-
thanks for all the replies, and sorry i haven't been near my computer since i posted it originally.
i haven't had a whole lot of time to edit it yet, but i will say that there are two frames where no foot is touching the ground. but i'm not denying that he doesn't get any hang time, so here's a quick edit. let me know if i'm on the right track. also, there's a little bit of shake in the animation, like i didn't align everything properly when i leaned him over just a bit, and i'll get that fixed.
also, i giggled a little bit at the ninja comments. it's not really supposed to be ninja-y at all, to be honest. but i was liking the idea of a little bit more horizontal of a run. i think it's a good way to emphasize speed, i guess. here's some artwork:
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/smoothrun.gif)
EDIT: i went ahead and made it a little bit smoother, and i should work on stuff before i post it up here all willy nilly. i could have skipped like three steps:
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/smoothrun3.gif)
-
You're going to have to bend the knees and lift the thighs. A strong impact upon hitting the ground seems to be in order as well.
-
I mean, I don't wanna to be blunt, but it looks as if the figure's just floating. I think it was mentioned before; you need to add some vertical movement. It may help if you think about how you actually run--you push off with the foot that's on the ground. Right now it looks more like skating than running.
But I must admit, it is pretty damn smooth, heh ;). Keep pixelling.
-
Yep. You didn't really add any vertical movement. I think it's time for an example!
And I can't believe this is the only decent thing I managed to find without digging around too much... It'll do though.
(http://clubhouse.cartoonsolutions.com/images/gifs/run_cycle.gif)
Not the best animation. But it shows two things your run cycle needs. Timing and vertical movement. Right now, you have some decent timing going on, but it's the wrong kinda motion. You have an excellent pendulum, but that's not how your legs move when you run. Yours come to a halt at two points during one loop, where they should only really slow down when they're the furthest back, kinda like my ... lovely reference up there. And there's the vertical movement, like has been said. He needs to bounce. Bounce up when the foot pushes down, fall back down when the other foot is about to hit the ground, repeat. I also suggest not having his arms stretch that far back. Try running around some in circles and see how far back you can stretch your arms until you actually start making yourself less effective from crazy movement.
-
first off, i'll mention that i'm going to worry about the legs and body movement right now, and i'll leave the arms for later, but i do intend to make them a little less wild.
so as soon as the word "floating" was mentioned, i totally understood what you guys meant. so i put a little more bounce in his run, and i'm hoping that i'm coming closer to a solid run animation.
well, here's my edit, complete without any running around in circles at all:
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/vert2.gif)
also, ignore the hair. but we've been good about that anyway.
-
How does he run like that? I certainly can't split both legs in different dirrections while hanging in the air.
He really needs knee movement.
Here's an edit:
(http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1903/edit55zk7.gif)
Hope it helps.
-
good point. how did i miss that.
thanks for the edit, too. i don't think i would have gotten it quite as clearly without it.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/new.gif)
-
good point. how did i miss that.
thanks for the edit, too. i don't think i would have gotten it quite as clearly without it.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/new.gif)
No problem.
Already looks alot better imo. I think perhaps you should extend the knee when It's at it's highest point a bit more, it could go a bit higher, currently it looks a bit like fast jogging rather then running. Just putting up the knee a bit more (At frames 2 and 6) should do the trick.
-
he really needs to expend his legs out more, if you try to run like he is without unbending his knee you will break yourself.
-
Here 8+1 is a follow up on my crit. It's far from finished but I hope it hints on what I was talking about earlier.
(http://www.serius.se/images/vault/coloredrun.gif)
I colored the guy so that it is easier to follow each limb. It's pretty jerky but I felt bad taking this long posting my edit.
-
i really like the way you did the arms, and i gave them a shot, but they didn't turn out like i wanted. also, i'm going to color the limbs in my next step, but here's a new version of the run:
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/newererer.gif)
EDIT:
started looking at it a little closer and noticed his back foot doesn't move up at all. no movement at the knee at all. so i went ahead and made an edit:
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/newerest.gif)
-
There we go! Vertical movement and feet moving in rough oval shapes instead of just back and forth. Looks much better. The only thing that bugs me now is how the front foot slows down, then suddenly snaps even further forward. Try smoothing that out.
-
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/newerest-1.gif)
slight update. a little bit of work on the arms. i just noticed the hair bumping up one pixel, too. i need to work on that.
EDIT: i tried to smooth out that snap you were talking about. let me know what you think.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/tinsleycurtis/runny.gif)