AuthorTopic: Castle Fade: Animation  (Read 15609 times)

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Castle Fade: Animation

on: August 25, 2014, 06:05:10 am
Hey Everybody. You guys might remember a little thread I posted for gbjam- a question regarding circular platformer staircases. ( Thanks for all the replies!)
http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=17045.0

 We ended up not making the deadline for GBJam, but we are still going to make the game! You can see it's project page on gamejolt:

http://gamejolt.com/games/platformer/castle-fade/31760/

Anyways, the animations were of course rapidly done and mostly half assed, but part of that is because I still don't have the knowledge to whole-ass animation. I will update this thread with animations as I come by them, and I am asking for critique on any and all of them! I would still like to keep frame counts low, perhaps 6-8; currently I basically only know how to structure 4 frame walk/run cycles









Offline ||||

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 341
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • The brand with four stripes
    • llll_lijj
    • http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?owner=30996&ob=search&dosearch=1
    • Lijj
    • View Profile
    • rawbetty.com

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #1 on: August 25, 2014, 10:13:47 pm
The sprites are great!
 I like the animations but I do think the climbing animation could have its feet raise up a bit. I'm not sure if there are frame set limitations or not though.
Looking at that link.. those backgrounds are great. The trees look too good to be 4 color!

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #2 on: August 26, 2014, 10:18:34 pm
Thanks! I'll see what I can do with the rope climbing animation. At this size and this color count I sometimes forget what pixels are indicating what! That one actually uses 6 frames I think, more than enough to do stuff.

Here's an animation with a bit more going on. I'm fairly pleased with it as a first attempt, but I would love to push it more. It was supposed to feel like Artorias's spin attack if you know the reference.





----------

I learned a lot with this run, but he feels too dorky :[ Also, any tips on keeping the sword more consistent, less wobbly?


 
« Last Edit: August 27, 2014, 07:54:50 am by Ryumaru »

Offline michelcote

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 56
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #3 on: August 27, 2014, 04:32:10 pm
Cool stuff! Those mockups/screenshots look great
Concerning the dorky run, the sword's wobblyness I think can be reduced by making the sword arm and sword static for 3 frames (frame 4 is nice), then tip up on the 4th, back to static 3 frames, tip down on the 8th. Also maybe hide the farthest arm completely on at least 1 frame on the backswing to imply more motion.
Try hyperextending the forward leg a bit on the step maybe? Though I think that would need a deeper running lean to compensate.

Did of couple edits of the attack for fun (they're sloppy but I hope they can get my points across)

First one played with the timing, added a doubleflip, and exagerated the downward cut motion. Also reused the crouch frame to stand back up at the end.

Second one is playing with the frame order for different effect.

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #4 on: August 28, 2014, 03:48:52 am
Thanks :D

I like your edits with the attack. I tried the double spin, but for some reason yours look better. Maybe I need to make some unique frames for them to feel more "official".

I increased the lean and made the sword more static. It definitely looks better but I don't know if it's exactly what I want.




------

Starting to kind of get the hang of this whole animating thing. Maybe.


« Last Edit: August 28, 2014, 10:46:47 am by Ryumaru »

Offline Probo

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 317
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #5 on: August 28, 2014, 03:01:59 pm


did a little edit to add some follow-through and contraction to the thrusting moves. Threw a clenching fist in there for a bit of fun!

Offline Hamenopi

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 8
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Oh Hai!
    • View Profile
    • Hamenopi

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #6 on: August 28, 2014, 03:17:31 pm
I think the new animation looks a little bit smoother. Good improvement.
Is he a Tengu?

Offline ||||

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 341
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • The brand with four stripes
    • llll_lijj
    • http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?owner=30996&ob=search&dosearch=1
    • Lijj
    • View Profile
    • rawbetty.com

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #7 on: August 28, 2014, 11:23:13 pm
Funny how that 1st running set really does look dorky somehow subtly (must've been mostly the posture). The new one is looking better.

 :huh: I can't tell the difference on the attack frames you posted and the one Probo posted though.

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #8 on: August 29, 2014, 12:12:07 am
Probo: Much improved, thank you! The recoil adds some weight and character that I've been looking for!

Hamenopi: Thanks! I didn't really have a Tengu in when creating this, but I guess it sort of fits the bill! Raven's have a relationship to the evil queen in this game and so that's where the form of this character stems from.

llll: I might push the run anim even more; I want it to look super badass  :hehe:
Look closely. There are frames after each main strike with subtle movements.

Offline Probo

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 317
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #9 on: August 29, 2014, 01:36:37 am
looking good dude!

you could add a little more weight to the run by making the guy squash the frame after he touches down:



also i made the tail part move a little more

I like the animation, but maybe the guy could run a bit more dynamically, to match his swordwork! Have you thought about putting the sword in the other arm? Or even on his back or something.

this game looks kickass man

edit> oh also i moved one frame right a pixel as it jumped forward a bit strangely
« Last Edit: August 29, 2014, 01:39:10 am by Probo »

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #10 on: September 20, 2014, 04:22:58 pm
working on a new run from scratch, much happier with this one; which should be the case seeing as how I basically just copied the movement from frostpumpkin's thread. :x
Could still probably use a bit more oomph

Offline NowvaB

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 93
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Tumblr

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #11 on: September 21, 2014, 12:56:51 pm
Its kinda fast for its size, what if it was more stiff and drag sword across ground slow? ???

I really like the character, it is just when there is a beefed up enemy like this it takes away from stronger enemies and bosses. well, imo at least.

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #12 on: September 21, 2014, 02:38:05 pm
Oh, I probably wasn't clear on this, but the raven knight actually IS a boss, and Hopefully a rather formidable one at that! I'm taking a lot of inspiration from Artorias for this boss fight and the character's build. I definitely wouldn't have a minor enemy with this sort of power  :blind:

Offline michelcote

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 56
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #13 on: September 21, 2014, 04:24:53 pm
The blade's motion looks great so far, except for that stutter on frame 5, maybe the hand should be shifted to the right a pixel or two. Looks nice, can't wait to see with some detail added. Also on frame 5, the further hand's thumb takes up the same spot as the tip of the sword's hilt on frame 4 and mucks up the animation a bit. Maybe move the hand down so there's more "change" there from frame to frame. Keep going!  :y:

Offline ||||

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 341
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • The brand with four stripes
    • llll_lijj
    • http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?owner=30996&ob=search&dosearch=1
    • Lijj
    • View Profile
    • rawbetty.com

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #14 on: September 21, 2014, 07:14:39 pm
He definitely looks more powerful, or rather; he looks more BOSS now! Look forward to seeing it w/ detail and cleaned cause the 5th frame looks off around the base of the sword/ and hand (as pointed out by michelcote).

Maybe the head could come forward 1 pixel on every frame, or his back bent forward to go with it, to make him look like he's more pissed; like a charging bull. Though it's probably fine as upright as it is.

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #15 on: October 14, 2014, 09:13:21 am
Hey guys it's been a while. I brought that raven knight run animation to a finish, but I might do it again later in development as I learn more about animation. I was bad and got my layers and such all muddled up which made me lose the form a bit.



Now, I like to punish myself by undertaking things I'm definitely not capable of:





I would assume that the chains would stagger and delay in motion, with ripple like effects. Is there any better way to go about it other than to just, DO it? It would be great if they could be little separate objects laid on top of the form and given different timings- and me not have to do that manually >.<

Offline michelcote

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 56
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #16 on: October 16, 2014, 04:05:44 pm
I think an organized approach would be best. I'd establish the main figure's motions first and animate the chains second. You'll need lots of frames to accommodate both. Otherwise you could use your chain frames to also suggest form (they'd lean diagonally on the legs when pushed aside during a step, perhaps?)
I'd love to provide an edit but I think this is a bit over my skill level. That being said, the design of the thing is great, I love the heads  :y:

Offline Probo

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 317
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #17 on: October 16, 2014, 04:43:19 pm
yeah you could have them as separate objects that react to the motion of the guy, programmed to rotate, squash and whatnot to simulate swinging and drag . thatd save manual pixel work, but it might look better if you do draw them and thatd be a cool learning experience in animation i think!

Offline Mathias

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1797
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Goodbye.
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/9542.htm
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #18 on: October 16, 2014, 08:03:57 pm
For stuff like this, consider Syosa's process.


http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/47940.htm

Offline 32

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 535
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • @AngusDoolan
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/19827.htm
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #19 on: October 17, 2014, 01:01:33 am
Doing it in engine or in after effects or flash could give you that control but the setup on that kind of thing (not to mention learning/ figuring out how to do it) is probably going to take longer than just sitting down and doing some grunt work. I would generally avoid it unless you see yourself using the technique for a LOT of animation.

Easy level would be setting up symbols/layers in flash/ae and animating them swinging once then you can just manually type in where you want animation to start and stop and move the symbols around. You can get more complicated with rigging to give it intuitive controls but that is above anything I have experience with and almost certainly not worth the time.

On the run animation I would say the general impression of it is good but there's some stuff in there that's strange, particularly I would point out the front arm jittering at the front of it's swing and the back arm popping back in front of him when his back knee is lifted. I would also watch that head movement, I get more of an impression that he's moving his head from the neck rather than it being the whole body moving up and down, I would expect the sword to more or less be covering the collar all the time since its resting on his shoulder which is moving along with the rest of the upper body.

Loving the designs overall, this skull guy lumbering along is going to be very cool :y:

Offline PixelPiledriver

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 997
  • Karma: +6/-0
  • Yo!
    • View Profile
    • My Blog

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #20 on: October 18, 2014, 05:20:18 pm
Quote
Now, I like to punish myself by undertaking things I'm definitely not capable of
Don't think like that.  ;)
And don't be scared of follow thru bro.
The more you do it the better you'll be.

The example Mathias posted is great.
Keep in mind that isn't something Syosa made up.
Do animation in passes, just like any other form of art.
Follow thru is a secondary motion.
So you need to block in the primary motion first.

The chain is flat, which is has a cool property, but try wrapping it too.

Take a stab at it and show us.  :o
And knowing that it is, we seek what it is... ~ Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Chapter 1

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #21 on: October 19, 2014, 09:22:18 am
Thanks everybody for the comments; lets see what I can do:

michelcote: Thanks! :D don't worry, it's a bit over my skill level too x]

Probo: Yeah I think I need to man up, my programmer has it tough as it is!!

Mathias: I'm so jealous of people who can animate.

32: There will be multiple animations of this boss, but you're right; the time it would take to do that would be about the same as me just doing it the old fashioned way.
As for the raven knight, thanks for the crits; I'll get to them on her second pass :]

PixelPiledriver: Can I pay you in ramen and art to be my mentor?
Yeah the chains are a bit flat, but so is the general plane of the form they're on- in my head at least. I think they'll come alive once I make them dance.
for now, here's the rough:

Offline Conzeit

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1448
  • Karma: +3/-0
  • Camus
    • conzeit
    • View Profile
    • CONZEIT

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #22 on: October 20, 2014, 03:53:45 am
that slash ends in a pretty similar way to the spinning attack you did and the one you mentioned from Dark Souls, the main thing missing is weight. in dark souls if you remember they did it by having a wave of mystic dark...stuff(liquid?) erupting from the place where his sword landed.

you did the cloth moving as followtrough, better do the followtrough of the main action first, leave secondary actions for after that.

You know how it goes, PxPd has explained it to you, first frame when the slash is done just have him cowering past the point of the slash and then slowly get back up to the pose you have him in right now. obviously anything that adds weight is good, make him tremble a bit, draw a DBZish shockwave, dust clouds, etc.

never a bad idea to look at the best examples of our medium either (or nature/reality but go fetch that yourself :p)

SF3 Grapplers should have something. in a quick search I got
Hugo's hi punch
http://www.zweifuss.ca/colorswap.php?pcolorstring=HugoPalette.bin&pcolornum=7&pname=hugo/hugo-hp.gif
http://www.zweifuss.ca/hugo/hugo.htm

Q's second super
http://www.zweifuss.ca/colorswap.php?pcolorstring=QPalette.bin&pcolornum=0&pname=q/q-sa2.gif
http://www.zweifuss.ca/q/q.htm

they do weight pretty well

Offline yaomon17

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 660
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • YaomonKS
    • taiya.sun
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/28472.htm
    • yaomon17
    • valedev
    • playvale
    • View Profile
    • portfolio

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #23 on: October 20, 2014, 07:00:00 am

Calling on my PPD stream watching experience to help me with this edit. I tried to add some weight via adding more frames before and after and exaggerating the figure more right before and right after the slash. Not too sure if good or not :\

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #24 on: October 20, 2014, 09:57:01 am
Conceit: Hopefully the update is +weight. It's all so simple when shown to me; but since animation is so not my realm, this kind of stuff doesn't come to my head at first. I'm thinking of this attack creating a shock wave that affects the brick tiles on the ground and have it actually be a game mechanic that stuns players if it hits them, so maybe that will help too!

yaomon: This was really helpful! Man, I gotta start watching him stream... I imagined the beginning of the animation cleaner in my head so I kept that as is, but the rest makes so much difference.


Offline HarveyDentMustDie

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 469
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • I dream too much.
    • View Profile
    • Deviant Art

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #25 on: October 20, 2014, 08:53:03 pm
New version looks great. I really like that sword "narrowing and stretching" effect. :y: :y: :y:

@yaomon17 Can you share a link for PPD stream?

Offline yaomon17

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 660
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • YaomonKS
    • taiya.sun
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/28472.htm
    • yaomon17
    • valedev
    • playvale
    • View Profile
    • portfolio

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #26 on: October 20, 2014, 09:40:19 pm
New version looks great. I really like that sword "narrowing and stretching" effect. :y: :y: :y:

@yaomon17 Can you share a link for PPD stream?
https://www.picarto.tv/live/channel.php?watch=PixelPiledriver
Its here and he is live now! I followed him to get an email when he goes online.

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #27 on: December 09, 2014, 06:11:51 am
So, it's been a while. My programmer has been having some practical things getting in the way of cool stuff like games, so I haven't been as motivated to work on this project recently. But it is not dead. I decided to revamp the main character animation. Heavily inspired by conceit's anim in here:

http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=16312.0

I liked the weight it had, as I've decided one of the character differences will be speed, with the female character being a bit faster than the dude.



I like it ok, but I'm so blind when it comes to animation so any critique is encouraged. Not sure about his hood. it's definitely underutilized.

Thanks for tuning in  :-*

Offline ||||

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 341
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • The brand with four stripes
    • llll_lijj
    • http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?owner=30996&ob=search&dosearch=1
    • Lijj
    • View Profile
    • rawbetty.com

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #28 on: December 23, 2014, 09:15:46 pm
It was good to look at this thread again; been some time.

I like the way the heavy swing's developed.

I have a minor crit on the new quick lady...
Just that the arm swings outward too much maybe. A small lift at the ends or either a small dip in the middle may do.

(still not home and no photoshop or GG on my pal's cpu; so I can't try to see for myself if that's a good solution)

Offline Ryumaru

  • Moderator
  • 0100
  • *
  • Posts: 1683
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • to be animated soonly
    • ChrisPariano
    • View Profile

Re: Castle Fade: Animation

Reply #29 on: December 24, 2014, 12:52:37 am
That's actually the dude, wanted him to have a forceful look; also that arm is doing a lot of work as his other would be holding the hilt of his sword. I might dial it down a pixel or two, but this one happens to look pretty good in game for right now. ( pretty sure every animation will get redone thrice by the time it's all said and done)

This is the WIP of the lady, the only thing I've really gotten to is the leg movement though: