subpixel animation feedback

[Wes]

so i'm ready for my next big LEVEL UP in terms of pixel art and i really wanna nail subpixel animation.

here are two fairly basic animations/sprites that I made today in which I tried to do some stuff.





i'm fairly proud of them for the most part (especially the druid-necromander guy). i feel like i'm starting to get this down but i figured that it couldn't hurt to share and ask for some feedback 

for improvement reference, this is an older animation that i made last year. the perspective is different but it was one of my first attempts at using subpixeling and i don't think that i even did enough for it to make a difference (and where it is noticeable, i dont like it)

[Lanarky]

The animations looks really smooth! I really like the blue haired one, it has a really clean animation that gives the illusion of more frames, especially the feet. 

I like the the top one, but I noticed the hood might be a little jumpy above the face, so I made a small, quick edit:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3yr5b0DS_wxd2VkN0o0YnE0ZEE/edit?usp=drive_web

I tried smoothing the downward motion, and I was able to make it so the rim hood didn't become thicker on the upward motion.

Keep up the good work!

[Wes]

sweet man thanks a lot.

great call on the hood. it was the one part that was really giving me a hard time. much appreciated the edit man.

[Lanarky]

No problem.

[Conzeit]

when I think subpixel I mostly think Metal Slug. a lot of ilde animations there have much of that going on there.

much of the appeal is how stuff sort of morphs between frames. if I were to try to master that I'd do it with a reaaaaally slow breathing animation with lots of subtle changes where stuff is almost not moving except it looks like it is.

[jams0988]

Be careful with over-doing it. Too much can make your sprites look noisy and blobby, in my opinion. Like you just down-res'd higher resolution sprites using dirty tools. Your blur haired guy is looking pretty good, but the necrodruid is starting to look a little noisy, I think. The generic "subpixel animation is awesome!" tutorial shows the dangers of sub-pixeling best, ironically:

Sure, that small sprite is holding a lot of information, but is it really a good look?
I've seen some nice examples of sub-pixel animation, though. But I can't find any of them right now! And the only one I can think of off the top of my head is one of the member's avatars here. The guy with the orange slime/poring-like creature. I haven't seen him around in awhile, though...

[Conzeit]

yeah above all it needs to be purposeful, it'd be good for sloow squashing or weight shifting

[Wes]

thanks guys. so here's the latest animation i'm working on:



not complete. (apologies for the huge blank space around it. i had other stuff on the sheet for reference). looking for feedback before i go further with this one.

[Ymedron]

Quick feedback -
The subpixeling is good for the anticipation, but the strike itself is powerless and sluggish.
Reduce the number of frames during the strike. It might be a good idea to add in afterimages, stretched frames or some other "speedy movement" effects.

In the anticipation have the leg already raised to its full height and then stomped during the attack to reduce extraneous flailing. Furthermore, the body could then bend back to exaggerate the anticipation and give the leg more room to rise and come down. The difference in distance also helps add a sense of speed I think.
The free arm looks odd raising to the back, its motion feels more appropriate for swinging rather than stabbing.

Stabbing from under your arm feels like it would need two arms anyway. Overhand it benefits from gravity as it swings in a downward arc, but underhand it doesn't have the same impact.

[astraldata]

yours and mine respectively:


I only did 1 thing in this animation -- I removed the frame where his leg is lifted before the stomp.

The problem wasn't his leg lifting, but the spacing between the tip of the spear during the stab -- it wasn't correct physics-wise because it slowed down before the end of the stab, which caused the sluggish feeling mentioned above. Technically you could keep the leg lift by putting it on some of the anticipation frames before the spear is jutted forward -- IF your intent was to have the spear appear heavy that is, which means you'd need a few more recovery frames after the spear juts.