AuthorTopic: GR#149 - Jumping Animation  (Read 10105 times)

Offline Zizka

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GR#149 - Jumping Animation

on: December 15, 2013, 11:30:28 am
Hello!

The time has come again to seek feedback about yet another animation.
I thought I’d describe my process this time around (better safe than sorry!  :y:).

Well, I used this reference from Street Fighter 3 this time around.


After fiddling with this a bit I got this:


Which looked, really, really wrong. So I tried to find another reference. I couldn’t really find anything on Google except a video you had to pay for so I tried to salvage some frames from it for reference:
http://www.jasonryananimation.com/tutorials.html

So reworked the animation and I got this :


So, sure, it's a lot better than my first attempt but I'm not happy with it just yet.

As usual, you know the drill  :). Tear it apart and I'll rework it over and over again until it's good enough for the game.

EDIT1:

So after I analyzed it further I started to see a couple of things which were bothering me:

* The hair was static, so I changed that.
* The arms were static, so I changed that.
* The timing was super wonky, so I tweaked that a bit.
* Modified other little details.

And I got this:



EDIT2: Then I figured, better do something about those legs really. They're too static too.

And I got this:

« Last Edit: December 15, 2013, 01:51:45 pm by Zizka »

Offline Nameless Force

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #1 on: December 15, 2013, 01:58:32 pm
I actually like the more subtle motions of your first attempt better than the more exaggerated motion of your second attempt.  The timing is definitely better in attempts 2 and 3 though.

Is this the player character for a platform game?  If so, you may want to nix the anticipation frame(s) and launch the character directly into the air.  I'd rather have responsive controls than ultra-smooth animation.

Offline Zizka

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #2 on: December 15, 2013, 02:04:35 pm
Thank you Nameless force.

Yes, it's for a platform game. So you think I should skip the crouching part before the jump entierely?:

That's the fourth attempt:

Offline Mr. Fahrenheit

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #3 on: December 15, 2013, 02:13:18 pm
I definitely think the crouch is pretty important. Anticipation is one of the most key parts of animation. I think your second edit on the first post looks basically right.

Offline HarveyDentMustDie

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #4 on: December 15, 2013, 02:16:55 pm
I made a quick edit with my mouse. It's not perfect, but you can see the difference.

Big problem is frame timing, and to fast animation which occurs because web browser and animation program doesn't show animation at the same speed. In web browser is a lot faster.

I change some frames. If you can't find good reference make it yourself (you can jump, right?  :)).

You still have black outlines.  :-\

Offline Zizka

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #5 on: December 15, 2013, 02:31:38 pm
@HarveyDentMustDie (man I have to find you a shorter nickname  ;D).

I noticed you didn't edit the fourth version (which is the most recent one). Is it because you feel that the second is the best one so far?

About the outlines... I honestly don't know what to do (as you can see, they're there sometimes and disappear otherwise). I've seen plenty of games with outlines and I find that it helps for the character to stand out more. On the other hand, it's uglier than without. So yeah, I don't know what to do about this.

Thank you for the edit.

The problem I have with it is that the crouching part (anticipation) before the crouch is too long. Players would complain that the controls are not responsive enough (Nameless Force brought up this point). This is why the crouching part is so fast in mine although in the end that might not be a good idea.

@Mr. Farhenheit: Yeah, I don't know anymore man. I feel that between a fast anticipating crouch and no crouch at all, the second option might be the best one for a game (although the first one would be better for the sake of animation). The SF3 only has one crouching frame for the jump, it's super fast.

Offline HarveyDentMustDie

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #6 on: December 15, 2013, 02:55:19 pm
I edited that version because, at the time when I downloaded gif it was last one.  :)

This is the best crouching compromise (At least until PixelPiledriver show up  ;)).

IMO black outlines at small resolution can look very bad, and they occupy valuable space. If you want for your character to stand out more, you should choose different colors for background of your game.

EDIT: Another idea.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2013, 03:15:56 pm by HarveyDentMustDie »

Offline Sardone

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #7 on: December 16, 2013, 12:24:12 am
The crouching frames are kinda weird, the head is moving foward ?
Also you should avoid setting frames with different timing.

Quote
I feel that between a fast anticipating crouch and no crouch at all, the second option might be the best one for a game (although the first one would be better for the sake of animation). The SF3 only has one crouching frame for the jump, it's super fast.

do Mario, Sonic and Megaman crouch before they jump ?

damn i got rusty :-\.

Offline Kain Nobel

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #8 on: December 16, 2013, 07:02:47 am
What you got now is perfect for if the character was standing still prior to jumping, I'd keep those frames for that case. Now, if the character was moving, you'd probably just omit those anticipation frames and use the rest.

Offline HarveyDentMustDie

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #9 on: December 16, 2013, 11:52:19 am
Quote
Now, if the character was moving, you'd probably just omit those anticipation frames and use the rest.

I disagree.

Offline shane.poole

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #10 on: December 16, 2013, 12:18:08 pm
Hey there Zizka.

You really need to think about what kind of platformer it is you're going to make. If it's going to be a fast-paced one with semi-twitchy or full-on twitchy controls like meatboy, I would say omit the anticipation and landing animations completely. Focus on animating the upward jump (when your y velocity is moving you upwards) and when you come falling down. Also, that jump looks to me like you're standing in a single spot and jumping. This is all of course just my opinion (take it with a bucket of salt, I'm still a noob), but think about the x velocity as well as the y, and then make your animations work accordingly to match the speed of the character.

If you're making a slower platformer that uses slightly more realistic physics (where jumps take a while to execute), then the anticipation animation should probably be fine, provided it's not too slow.

Now the landing animation could potentially work in any situation, provided that the player is coming straight down (little to no velocity on the x axis), upon which the character's landing animation will execute. This could also work for a fast-paced platformer if you allow the animation to be interrupted immediately upon player input. In such a case, I would recommend you also put in a rolling animation if the player's x velocity exceeds a certain amount.

I probably don't need to tell you this, but think about the gameplay mechanics and fine controls first before you animate your sprites. You could also program your game and test/tweak the animations by actually trying it out while tweaking the physics, gravity or character velocity values. That's what I usually do.

I'm going to start animating my character for my game too. Good luck to the both of us!  :)

Offline Selassin

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #11 on: December 16, 2013, 01:54:34 pm
 Having responsive controls is really important for me too, so I'd prefer something like 1 crouching frame or not at all.

 And I'd prefer this:

than this:

 Because it looks "slimy"  ;D not very realistic.

Offline Zizka

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Re: Jumping Animation

Reply #12 on: December 16, 2013, 03:44:23 pm
@HDMD (do you mind?)



Nice edit but I think he's crouching for too long before he jumps. That would bother me as a player. It looks good though, both animations together.  :y:

@shane.poole:

Yeah, I've had this comment quite a bit in other forums. I find it difficult to sacrifice animation quality over game practicality. It will ultimately come to the game designer's decision, it's his game after all. I saw your game, thought it looked pretty sweet although didn't want to post to just say that. Keep on listening to Facet's advice, you're on the right path. Good luck with your animation, keep us posted here, I look forward to see what you come up with.

@Kain Nobel:

Maybe that would be a good compromise. Have the crouching animation if the jump is vertical and ditch it if there's movement before.

@sardone:

Nice edit. I feel like the head doesn't go down enough however, it doesn't convey as much ''power'' before the jump. I find that the position of the head (not being forward) looks pretty good in your edit however. I don't think Mario or Sonic croutch before they jump, no. I think it all comes down to what kind of game you're doing. Since both Mario and Sonic are games where jumping is used extensively, I think it better be as responsive as possible.

@Selassin:



I like the blur personally. I thought about putting some but I thought it might end up being troublesome in the actual game. Also, I've never seen blur in jumps in any games I've ever played.