Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Sokota on June 03, 2008, 04:37:45 am

Title: Rpg Character - C&C Needed!
Post by: Sokota on June 03, 2008, 04:37:45 am
Ok, now I've made a walk cycle! I'm working on all the animations etc. before I start on anything else. Also, should I try to go with 8 directions? Or stick with 4? or even try out 12?? I need help badly!


(http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6781/betteranimationwj1.gif)
(http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/1048/basicrungz0.gif)
(http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/87/basicwaveqr9.gif)



Sokota

Title: Re: First RPG Character | Work in Progress Game.
Post by: Sherman Gill on June 04, 2008, 01:51:01 am
It's all controlled in the program. What are you using to animate it?
Title: Re: First RPG Character | Work in Progress Game.
Post by: Sokota on June 04, 2008, 02:10:41 am
Eh..Gamemaker 7.

Sokota
Title: Re: First RPG Character | Work in Progress Game.
Post by: Joseph on June 04, 2008, 04:04:13 am
gamemaker doesn't loop gif's and doesn't support frame speed.
Title: Re: First RPG Character | Work in Progress Game.
Post by: Sokota on June 04, 2008, 06:06:31 am
Alright, whats something *a program* that does? Me needs help. And can anyone critique/edit my sprite so I know what its full potential is? Anyone think I have potential?

Sokota
Title: Re: First RPG Character | Work in Progress Game.
Post by: Xion on June 04, 2008, 11:28:40 pm
I would suggest Graphics Gale, but the trial version doesn't save .gifs. Just try googling free .gif animator or something. You'll probably get something useful within the first 5 results.
Title: Re: First RPG Character | Work in Progress Game.
Post by: ndchristie on June 05, 2008, 03:35:25 am
unFREEZE is free to download if you've got scruples, otherwise just look around.
Title: Re: First RPG Character | Work in Progress Game.
Post by: Sokota on June 05, 2008, 07:11:35 am
I've updated it, it's in the first post, but I thought I'd post it here too:

(http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6781/betteranimationwj1.gif)

I found a good program! Though it's shareware.. :(. Anyways, I think the attack is much better, and it loops. Yay, right?  ;)

Sokota
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: Sokota on June 08, 2008, 06:39:59 am
Ok, I've made a run/walk now. Is it good, because it's like my first rpg style walk ever?! I need some feedback! Thanks so much!

(http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/1048/basicrungz0.gif)

And, before anyone else replied, I made this:

(http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/87/basicwaveqr9.gif)
Wave

All comments welcome!

Sokota
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: Joseph on June 09, 2008, 03:40:08 am
his arm grows twice as long when he waves.
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: Sokota on June 10, 2008, 12:09:39 am
Really? I knew they looked a bit tentacley, but I couldn't place the problem. Any other suggestions? I take it the run/walk is good?

Sokota
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: AdamAtomic on June 10, 2008, 05:32:31 am
That type of 3 frame walk cycle works very good on very small characters, e.g. 16x16 px or less.  However, it starts to look really weird and limited on larger, more detailed characters.  You should work on relying on black outlines less, using more saturated skintones, and more interesting color ramps with a broader range of values.  This character is very flat, like a coloring book image currently.
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: Sokota on June 10, 2008, 05:45:22 am
Well ums. Huh? I mean, I said it was first, so I have *almost* no clue what you are talking about. Except the black outlines. Is there something horribly wrong with cell-shading? Just asking, not trying to ignore advice...Could you edit the walk, or give me some example of what your talking about? I'm not sure how to make it better.. ???

Sokota
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: Corsair on June 15, 2008, 06:05:55 pm
There's a lot wrong with the swinging animation.

Before you animate anything, don't think of "sword swing" think "how does a guy move when he swings the sword?"

remember that the character, not the weapon should be the focus of the movement.

as such i've made the attack more forceful and more like an attack. as it is now, it just sorta looks like he's waving a sword round in front of him. again, just ask yourself how a person would move, not how the weapon would move. the weapon comes rather naturally after that since a sword is *more or less* a simple straight line object.

here's my edit
(http://i29.tinypic.com/n4fu44.jpg)
It's crude because i'm lazy, as usual.
I'm not going to adress any anatomical proportion or style issues because i'm not really in any place to approach them.

Take in mind that attacking something or someone is an action you really have to commit your entire body to do. it doesn't really make sense for any part of him to not be moving while he's swinging. and the body isn't just a set of independent limbs and segments, if you move an arm or a leg, the rest of you is going to move as a consequence. it's all about balance.
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: AdamAtomic on June 16, 2008, 05:24:54 pm
Well ums. Huh? I mean, I said it was first, so I have *almost* no clue what you are talking about. Except the black outlines. Is there something horribly wrong with cell-shading? Just asking, not trying to ignore advice...Could you edit the walk, or give me some example of what your talking about? I'm not sure how to make it better.. ???

Sokota

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with cel-shading, but this is not exactly great cel-shading, and you're ignoring some of the crucial aspects of pixel art, mainly the size of the pixels themselves.  If you put a 1 pixel outline around a limb that is only 3 or 4 pixels wide, imagine what that would look like on a cartoon character.  If the animator drew their arm to be 2" wide on the cel, they would have to put a 1/2" thick outline on each side of the arm in order to match the ratios you have in your images here.  This basically never ever happens because it looks weird, and the massive amount of black really throws off the rest of the colors in the image!
Title: Re: Rpg Character Coming To Life - Your C&C Needed!
Post by: Sokota on June 17, 2008, 11:31:19 pm
There's a lot wrong with the swinging animation.

Before you animate anything, don't think of "sword swing" think "how does a guy move when he swings the sword?"

remember that the character, not the weapon should be the focus of the movement.

as such i've made the attack more forceful and more like an attack. as it is now, it just sorta looks like he's waving a sword round in front of him. again, just ask yourself how a person would move, not how the weapon would move. the weapon comes rather naturally after that since a sword is *more or less* a simple straight line object.

here's my edit
(http://i29.tinypic.com/n4fu44.jpg)
It's crude because i'm lazy, as usual.
I'm not going to adress any anatomical proportion or style issues because i'm not really in any place to approach them.

Take in mind that attacking something or someone is an action you really have to commit your entire body to do. it doesn't really make sense for any part of him to not be moving while he's swinging. and the body isn't just a set of independent limbs and segments, if you move an arm or a leg, the rest of you is going to move as a consequence. it's all about balance.
Yes, your attack is definitely better. I wasn't thinking of the body movement so much as the sword. Thanks.

Well ums. Huh? I mean, I said it was first, so I have *almost* no clue what you are talking about. Except the black outlines. Is there something horribly wrong with cell-shading? Just asking, not trying to ignore advice...Could you edit the walk, or give me some example of what your talking about? I'm not sure how to make it better.. ???

Sokota

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with cel-shading, but this is not exactly great cel-shading, and you're ignoring some of the crucial aspects of pixel art, mainly the size of the pixels themselves.  If you put a 1 pixel outline around a limb that is only 3 or 4 pixels wide, imagine what that would look like on a cartoon character.  If the animator drew their arm to be 2" wide on the cel, they would have to put a 1/2" thick outline on each side of the arm in order to match the ratios you have in your images here.  This basically never ever happens because it looks weird, and the massive amount of black really throws off the rest of the colors in the image!
Well, I see your point about the pixel ratio, but really, where else am I going to put a black outline? Unless I didn't have one... :-[ I'm using MSPaint for my pixeling, so how can I change the size of the pixels? Or was that more in relation to the ratios? And I'm still not sure about the walk. I looks ok to me, but then again, I'm new to this. Actually, it's more of the legs that look bad, I think I did the arm swinging nicely.

Sokota
Title: Re: Rpg Character - C&C Needed!
Post by: Atnas on June 18, 2008, 08:51:27 pm
(http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii201/temporicide/Pixel/Sokota.gif)

It needs depth! Black outlines kill depth most of the time. Had I spent more time on my edit, I would have added even more contrast, but my main focus was to show you how much better a colored outline with vibrant colors looks.

In fact, forget outline altogether. Don't worry, it'll probably still be there, brought out by your subconscious, but try to work with form rather than shape. It's like painting rather than inking.

I also don't care for the mad expression. It can get pretty boring pretty fast.