AuthorTopic: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy  (Read 7423 times)

Offline r1k

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so ive spent alot of time today on this run animation.  Im pretty happy with the way it turned out but it can still be better, the limbs are a little flaily.  So any help would be appreciated since Im not very experienced with animating.
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the run animation seems to be animating faster in my browser than it should be so sorry about that.

also Im going to be making a sword swing animation too, so any links or helpful references for how to do that would also be appreciated.

reference for the outfit:
http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/anglais/Henry/oneleg.gif
« Last Edit: April 02, 2010, 04:45:25 am by r1k »

Offline Shrub

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #1 on: April 01, 2010, 04:27:00 pm
Hmm, your shading style is totally wrong.
You need to use more pillow shading - it would really improve this piece.

Unless you don't want it to look realistic.

Also, April Fools.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2010, 09:27:25 pm by Shrub »

Offline Lizzrd

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #2 on: April 01, 2010, 08:17:41 pm
The front and back legs look like they have the same starting point, while the torso is 3/4.
Photocopier: the fact that arne can also code so well
Photocopier: is horrificly unfair

Offline r1k

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #3 on: April 01, 2010, 11:13:54 pm
ok well Im just going to start over and make sure I got it right at each step of the way this time.  So I just did the legs so far

Offline Kcilc

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #4 on: April 02, 2010, 03:22:12 am
His legs move as though the guy is suspended and kicking his legs. Don't be afraid to squish, stretch, noodle, and skew the limbs early on; it's more important to get the right energy and movement than cohesiveness at this stage. The forum is littered with more in depth comments about making an effective run cycle right now, so do some shopping around if you need to learn just how to get that movement. Also try running yourself; it helped me while I was doing my edit!

Three points:
  • Weight
His foot looks as though it's sliding along the ground for a bit in the instances right before and after the foot hits the ground. This gives it an almost zero gravity vibe, but it's an easy fix. Just make the contact with the ground more abrupt.
  • Lift
His feet move almost like a pendulum would, but his upper legs should be the only parts of his lower body that follow that path of movement. In a run, the foreleg is kept at about the same height all the way from the kick off to the contact with the ground.
  • Snap
Notice the little blue lines that I made below your character's feet in my edit. Notice a difference between the top image and the bottom one? I found that when I ran, my leg would anticipate my opposite leg's contact with the ground, and wait until that contact to spring forward really fast.

My really sloppy rough edit:

I hope some of this is useful!

Offline r1k

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #5 on: April 02, 2010, 03:34:33 am
thanks for the reply I knew it didnt seem to have proper weight but didnt know what to do about it.  Ill study your edit and advice and see what I can do.  I tried doing the torso also and want some feedback on that cause I wasnt sure if the torso should move a bit or if it should move at all but this is what I came up with

legs are the same.

Offline Kcilc

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #6 on: April 02, 2010, 03:45:04 am
Mm, yes. I like the torso, it's got just enough movement!

One last thing to keep in mind; a run is really a controlled jump forward, so remember to add a couple pixels of bounce to the entire character where his legs are furthest apart, and then smooth it out in the rest of the frames.

Offline r1k

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #7 on: April 02, 2010, 04:45:06 am
ok now I think he has some weight to his step

but do you think the bob of the head vetically is too shaky now?

also, is there any free animated gif programs that let you load in all the images from a strip (in a single file) and then save it?  Im using unfreeze right now and saving each frame as individual files is really annoying.  Im just loading the animation into gamemaker from a strip to see how it looks but then I have to use unfreeze to save it.

edit

started working on arm
« Last Edit: April 02, 2010, 07:16:53 am by r1k »

Offline PypeBros

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #8 on: April 02, 2010, 11:59:07 am
note that when you run, your twisting your hips as well, so that you actually "lengthen" your steps. That should reflect on your animation by having the attachment point of one leg to the body moving forwards and backwards. Same will apply to the shoulders later on.

Check out that wonderful tutorial hanging around for a while and [http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=10163.msg109579#msg109579]dug recently by 1UP[/url]. Comparing Frames 1 and 6 should hilight my point.

Offline Kcilc

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Re: platform game run animation and idle sprite, colonial guy

Reply #9 on: April 02, 2010, 04:23:13 pm
Also note that when you run, your leg only straightens at the kick off. Letting the leg go straight mid-stride would make it very hard to kick off because it would disperse the built up energy from the contact. That's how you would slow down from a really fast run, and it's also the source of your character's jitters. Your run is looking a hundred million times better though!