AuthorTopic: Platformer practice: Stage 1  (Read 8783 times)

Offline gliding

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Re: Platformer practice: Stage 1

Reply #10 on: January 15, 2011, 08:14:36 am
it's a girl with short hair so i want her run to be a little less masculine
« Last Edit: January 15, 2011, 08:22:56 am by gliding »

Offline Helm

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Re: Platformer practice: Stage 1

Reply #11 on: January 15, 2011, 08:20:17 am
gliding, don't do it because it seems like she runs one step straight ahead and one step half-towards-the-screen. It doesn't work for a platformer. And although you might have managed to run while swerving your chest and head 45 degrees let's say, it doesn't mean it's useful for a videogame sprite on a 2d plane.

If you want to keep it, alright. But I don't think it can be rationalized away because it emotes something about the character or whatnot. They're just keyframes that do not work together.

edit: to get her to run less masculine is all about arms and shoulders movement (less of it. the apex of the arm not reaching high at all would help), smaller strides, more hip movement.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2011, 08:21:53 am by Helm »

Offline gliding

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Re: Platformer practice: Stage 1

Reply #12 on: January 15, 2011, 08:24:42 am
gliding, don't do it because it seems like she runs one step straight ahead and one step half-towards-the-screen. It doesn't work for a platformer. And although you might have managed to run while swerving your chest and head 45 degrees let's say, it doesn't mean it's useful for a videogame sprite on a 2d plane.

If you want to keep it, alright. But I don't think it can be rationalized away because it emotes something about the character or whatnot. They're just keyframes that do not work together.

edit: to get her to run less masculine is all about arms and shoulders movement (less of it. the apex of the arm not reaching high at all would help), smaller strides, more hip movement.

That's certainly a valid explanation, thanks. I'll try to incorporate some of those points for a more effeminate walk. Appreciated; hopefully I can pull it off, lol.

EDIT: currently redrawing the key frames.
Latest Attempt:
« Last Edit: January 15, 2011, 09:17:05 am by gliding »

Offline Helm

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Re: Platformer practice: Stage 1

Reply #13 on: January 15, 2011, 09:44:37 am
Okay, first of all, taking the timing away and centering the head of the character some problems become immediately apparent



Now look at how irregular the placements of your 'triangle' (the nodes in the joints) are. Should her waist node move all over the place like that? Also, look at the shape of the back leg as it drops from '1' to '2', not only does it morph, also notice the hell. It goes APEX (on 1), drops some (on 2) and then goes BACK UP (on 3). This doesn't happen when someone walks, and you'll note it's not in the ptoing reference either.

I suggest you keep the horizontal of the head constant as a newbie to animation, and if you need some vertical head bob, apply it in a pendulum, sine-wave type motion, not so jerky as you have it now.

On the bright side, the form of the front leg looks excellent to me on '1' and '2' and '3'

I hope some animation expert takes over from my critique soon though, heh :P

Offline gliding

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Re: Platformer practice: Stage 1

Reply #14 on: January 15, 2011, 09:51:00 am
Thanks a lot. I'll try to mess with the placement some more.

EDIT:

Latest version. I paid more attention to Leslie's torso, and I also tried to fix the bobbing of her hair.



It still seems a bit jittery to me, though.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2011, 10:38:09 am by gliding »

Offline NaCl

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Re: Platformer practice: Stage 1

Reply #15 on: January 16, 2011, 02:00:38 am
I think torso rotation is important in a good sidescroller run. Without it, the character tends to look very stiff and lifeless. Same with keeping the head horizontally still, it sucks the life out of the animation. \

I think you were much closer in your initial one, but there were a few problems. First, there was probably too much rotation. Second, the angle was changing to a bit more top down view in the extreme frames. The shoulders were not horizontally aligned anymore, and more of the top of the head became visible. The plane of where the feet land also seemed to change to a more top down view. Third, his head was jerking all around. Keep the movement of the head smooth and constant, it should be the anchor of your run animation. Don't keep it static, but do move it smoothly.

Here are a few examples to show torso rotation and varying levels of head movement.
http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/40955.htm
http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/7255.htm
http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/18632.htm
http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/15613.htm

Offline gliding

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Re: Platformer practice: Stage 1

Reply #16 on: January 16, 2011, 07:21:12 am
Thanks. I'll study these and come up with an edit. The last link was a piece I was looking for and couldn't find. I really loved that run cycle.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2011, 07:23:46 am by gliding »