AuthorTopic: Child running animation  (Read 4863 times)

Offline looaks

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Child running animation

on: June 25, 2014, 02:09:32 pm
Hello guys I'm working on this character for my game:



Working alone, sometimes I get stuck on silly problems like today I made this animation I know there is something wrong whit it but i can't pin point what it is.


It's still pretty rough because I don't usually invest lot of time detailing before I'm happy with the overall animation.
Thanks for your time!

Offline dustinaux

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Re: Child running animation

Reply #1 on: June 25, 2014, 02:55:16 pm
Overall it looks pretty choppy; here's some notes as I looked at it frame by frame that I think may be causing that:

The head typically never moves left or right in a running animation, so that may be an issue here, and also the vertical movement isn't the same for each leg movement.  The first 6 frames seem ok on this point as the head is moving smoothly, but afterward it seems random where the top of the head is and doesn't match how high it was off the ground for the other leg.  I guess I'm talking more about the total height of the character, rather than just the head itself.

There's also a lot of body shifting left and right it seems.  The torso rotation is ok but his center of gravity is shifting around too much, and should be relatively stable horizontally.

Also you may want to add some more contrast between the (viewer's) front leg and back leg?  They can kind of do the optical illusion of switching which one's overlapping the other which doesn't sync up with the correct arm in front.

Lastly for a run, both feet are typically off the ground at their farthest point across, with the front leg's knee bent only slightly, but in these frames your pose isn't as strong as it needs to be making the animation kind of look like an intense power walk instead of a run.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2014, 02:59:33 pm by dustinaux »
Currently making The Enchanted Cave 2

Offline looaks

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Re: Child running animation

Reply #2 on: June 25, 2014, 05:37:51 pm
Thanks for the quick response!
That is the kind of feedback i needed
An other issue I can see now it's the exaggerated rotation of the hip in some poses which breaks the anatomy. I'll post an update soon

Offline looaks

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Re: Child running animation

Reply #3 on: June 26, 2014, 04:43:03 pm
I made an update that is i ditch the original one and started again from scratch. I'm still not completely happy whit this but that's why i continued to post it in this forum :)



Any suggestions on how to improve on this?

Also I'm curious about your workflow. I sometime can draw for hours and be very productive but once in a while I get stuck on something and I need to spend days on a single piece until I get it right. Do you people have some strategies do deal with that?
I usually go and do something completely different (since I'm developing a game, I always have plenty of stuff to do) what helps you?

Offline dustinaux

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Re: Child running animation

Reply #4 on: June 26, 2014, 05:25:35 pm
Looks a lot better!  :y:

There's a lot of rotation in the torso going on though, which you may want to reduce.

Also I'm curious about your workflow. I sometime can draw for hours and be very productive but once in a while I get stuck on something and I need to spend days on a single piece until I get it right. Do you people have some strategies do deal with that?
I usually go and do something completely different (since I'm developing a game, I always have plenty of stuff to do) what helps you?

Personally I'm a better programmer than artist and need a good bit of work on art so I have the same issues.  I think it may just be practice, practice, and more practice?  I'm on a pretty tight schedule with the game I'm currently working on and have been trying to simplify my pixel art into more flat shades, fewer colors, and larger groups of pixels to both improve the style a bit and make the process faster.  I think reducing colors is a pretty big plus if you're focused mainly on creating decent quality assets relatively quickly.

Also pixel art itself is a pretty slow process compared to say digital painting.  The resolution of your piece is a bit larger than many pixel art games so that adds to extra time as well.
Currently making The Enchanted Cave 2

Offline CombustibleNate

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Re: Child running animation

Reply #5 on: June 29, 2014, 02:13:32 am
You know, depending on what style you were wanting to go, the initial animation would look perfect for one of those creepy paper cutout type deals. I like the rustic coloring a lot, but you need to give him a little more bounce in his step. His head seems pretty clunky and hardly reacts to the impacts of each step.

Offline looaks

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Re: Child running animation

Reply #6 on: July 01, 2014, 01:52:43 pm
I'll try to add more weight. Since he is a child I didn't feel like add lot of mass, but you are right that make just sense. I'll post an update soon. Thanks

Offline looaks

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Re: Child running animation

Reply #7 on: July 02, 2014, 09:20:42 am
Here's a quick edit I'm almost happy with the animation overall. I will spend some more time cleaning up everything.