GR#178 - Endless Runner Character - Animation

[HarveyDentMustDie]

Hi guys, I was asked to create character and animations for a running game. Soon after that, game was cancelled due to lack of money , but I liked my design and decided to continue to work on it just for fun. I was aiming for simplistic and interesting design. Here are two test characters, and running animation (btw when I made it, I realize that this was my first running animation ever ). Animation is still WIP and I'm not sure if I need to add couple more frames. Current "dust" form is just a temporary solution. 
Last version:

Any comment regarding animation, or design are very welcomed. 

[Coltrane]

Hi. I really like your design and the run cycle. The dust works really well but i understand you want another solution for the run to look good on any background. The cycle has an anime touch due to its minimalism and effectiveness. Of course you can add some frames if you want to smooth it. Just depends on what style you're after.

[Fizzick]

Looks good. I would try to add a little weight to the legs, but that's more of a style thing.

[looaks]

Love it!
I made a very quick edit:
I like the dust but since you are repeating it different frames i took the opportunity for add small changes to make it less 'blinky'
I didn't add any frames but since you were repeating the same frame for timing I move them to add some arcs in the animation
I notice the character was floating somehow then i realize that he is most of the times off ground so modified frame 4 and 8 making his foot contact to the ground and making the legs more 'bended'



I hope it helps

(p.s. making a running game is super easy you could finish the game all by yourself)

[HarveyDentMustDie]

@ Coltrane
Thanks, I like simplistic look and I was going for cartoony, but you describe it perfectly, its anime look (somehow I didn't see that before  ). I will try to achieve more without adding frames if it's possible.

@Fizzick
Thanks, I will try to increase pressure on the legs.

@looaks
Thank you for your efforts. I like your dust edit, and smart decision to move the same frames. Legs are still not right.  I will maybe add one more frame to balance time in the air and time on the ground.

(p.s. making a running game is super easy you could finish the game all by yourself)

Maybe I will, cause I really like how things currently develop. What program do you suggest, cause I know programing, but I'm not a professional. I never made a game before. Maybe game maker?

Again thank you guys. I'll post a new version soon. 

[looaks]

I strongly suggest to have a look at unity for various reasons. It's simple yet powerful and you can export for different platforms (mobile, console,  PC, mac linux etc.) If you can understand coding even at a base level you can build some serious stuff.

Have a look at this tutorial:
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/live-training-archive/infinite-runner

[wolfenoctis]

I think you could use some blur on the arm movement, generally the movement is too fast for the amount of frames you have, too much action in too short a space of time. I made an somewhat sloppy edit:

[HarveyDentMustDie]

@ loaks
I always thought that unity is to complex and never tried to use it. Now I'll definitely take a look at it.

@ wolfenoctis

Thank you for very useful edit as always. I love your dust animation. I thought about using blur but I didn't cause I was afraid how it will look on low resolution. 

I created two new edits, one with motion blur second without. I've tried to make it as good as I can without adding more frames. I think that I've improved leg movement, but I still can't decide which way should I go with blur or without?



PS If colors are changed, that's because I have troubles with color profile in PS. 

 

[Coltrane]

my vote goes for "without motion blur".

[cels]

Ditto. I like the version without blur better.

Now, I'm no animation expert. But if I was to really nitpick, then I'd say there's something a bit odd about what's going on with his legs. The animation looks great at a glance, because it has a nice bounce, and the way he turns his shoulders and swings his arms looks great. But looking at his legs alone, it looks like he's galloping.

I think it's because between frame 5 and frame 6, is right leg is just freezing in mid air as he steps down with his left foot. His right leg moves pretty fast in frames 1-4, but then moves very slowly at frame 5-8. Meanwhile, his left leg moves pretty smoothly, except that it seems to freeze between frame 8 and 1.

Maybe that's what makes it look like he's galloping, to my eyes at least.

EDIT: Just noticed wolfenoctis' animation seems much smoother in regards to leg movement. Take a look at his edit, perhaps?

[Coltrane]

Here there is a lot of examples you can study to make the legs right :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMWtWCnmH0E

[HarveyDentMustDie]

Thanks guys.

@Cels Of course I watched wolfenoctis edit, but I tried to getaway with this without adding frames. His edit have 4 additional frames. I agree that there is still something strange about the leg movement but it's better than first version, so we're making progress.  I will try one more thing, if that don't fix the problem, I will add more frames.

@Coltrane After you said that it has anime look I tried to find some references for anime run, but I didn't find anything usable. This video looks promising. Thanks. 

[astraldata]

The 'gallop' appearance has to do with the fact that it's such a low res animation and he moves up much too far over the course of the animation while he's also moving forward very far in some frames.  If you were to stabilize the head a little bit, you should be all set.

Wolfenoctis' animation looks okay due to the added frames and increased speed, but his edit, too, still suffers from the gallop issue. It's just less prominent due to the slight improvement in smoothness across the animation. Adding more frames won't help to fix the issues with the fundamental motion though.

[HarveyDentMustDie]

New version in comparison to previous one. 
   Prev     New

[cels]

Well, I don't know much about animation, but I'm fairly confident that I find his leg movement weird because of the way he moves his legs, not his lack of head stability.

The legs on the new version do look a bit better though. The whole animation makes it look as if he's running faster than before, partly due to the reduced bounce, I suppose. But if he's going to be sprinting at full pace, shouldn't he be stretching his legs more? Asking out of curiosity.

[HarveyDentMustDie]

That's just what I need the fresh pair of eyes, to see things that I don't. Thanks.

How about now.  I found this slow motion sprint reference -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-3cHxXAK0
   0.06       0.07   s/frame
 

[Coltrane]

I think it's much better, but there is still something you can improve here :

It's kind of blinking in an unpleasant way.

[HarveyDentMustDie]

@ coltrane Thank you. I had the trouble with that from the start due to small number of frames. I think that now it's a little better.

[cels]

A vast improvement from the original. I can't spot any flaws / issues any longer.

[HarveyDentMustDie]

I agree, I'm very much satisfied with final result. I will continue this tread buy creating jump over animation.
For now here's something I did just for fun, and because it looks cool. 

[Coltrane]

In my opinion, the run cycle looks very good now.
I must say, and it's just a matter of personal esthetic taste, i don't like the large shoulders of the character...
I was thinking, before your last post, he was looking more like this :

[HarveyDentMustDie]

I agree, it's a matter of personal taste. For me guy in your edit looks weak and a lot younger. Of course my version isn't final. Maybe I'll change some things along the way. I'm glad that I have basic run cycle, and I will add more "shoulder structure" in animation if needed. We'll see. Now, because I decided to really make this game, I need to create detailed plan.