AuthorTopic: I tried something completely different, advice? Thoughts?  (Read 3260 times)

Offline Eli_Shane

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I've been practicing a WHOLE LOT. I also got some books to help me with the animating, and alas, I am back, with progress. Walks and runs are becoming easier for me and I wanted to share one that i am proud of. Is there anything I can do to fix it up? It's pretty good, but I was unsure if there was something I was missing.
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Offline IrresponsibleFreelancer

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Re: I tried something completely different, advice? Thoughts?

Reply #1 on: August 10, 2015, 06:38:26 pm
I find that the animation does not quite feel smooth enough.  It feels like you split up the creature vertically  where the different pieces are moving at different times.  Also i feel there appears to be a "gobble" on the dinosaur and that doesnt seem intentional.  The back legs should be darker then the front legs not lighter.  One huge thing is that while animating something like this in your animation its slowly transforming away from what you wanted initially.  Reuse your initial drawing so that it doesnt slowly morph.  Duplicate the frame you drew initially and change it by transforming it with the tools or you can do the large motions in sinlge frames then do the inbetweens.  Im obviously not an animations pro but it helps (depending on the program) to put the different body parts on different layer files then being able to just move them and change them when completely necessary.  I did a quick edit just to show you that you only need like half as many frames and that way you have to worry less about consistency of character with same amount of fluidity of motion.  One last thing i couldnt change is the timing of the legs.  The two front legs were moving seperately of each other where on each frame they should have been mirroring eachother.  What i mean y this is that the back leg was about a frame behind teh front one.
Edit:
I recommend starting smaller with less frames and reusing what you got.  Other than that it looks pretty good.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2015, 06:40:14 pm by IrresponsibleFreelancer »
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Offline Ambivorous

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Re: I tried something completely different, advice? Thoughts?

Reply #2 on: August 11, 2015, 01:06:35 pm


EDIT: Whoops I hit post instead of preview.

So, I just mostly wanted to focus on the attachment of the legs to the body and their desired movement.
You'll notice it's not polished and the end of the tail and head could use more of a dampened sine wave motion (and it's only four frames because I got lazy).

I noticed this was a gryposaurus by your filename, so I googled me a dinosaur to see what they look like and guess how they walked.
I image searched for the skeleton as well to tell how they were built up, and I came to the conclusion they once walked on hindlegs and then moved back to walking on all fours, which makes it REALLY easy to guess how they'd walk, because all you have to do is run around on the floor yourself on all fours. Done.
I also looked at how horses and ostriches walk, because they both seems to have similarities.

Ask me if you think this is useful and want any more information.

DOUBLE EDIT:

I added a second version, this time with some damped wave effect on the tail and slightly different weight distribution so that he can keep his head still.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2015, 02:17:53 pm by Ambivorous »
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Offline Eli_Shane

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Re: I tried something completely different, advice? Thoughts?

Reply #3 on: August 14, 2015, 03:01:39 pm
I find that the animation does not quite feel smooth enough.  It feels like you split up the creature vertically  where the different pieces are moving at different times.  Also i feel there appears to be a "gobble" on the dinosaur and that doesnt seem intentional.  The back legs should be darker then the front legs not lighter.  One huge thing is that while animating something like this in your animation its slowly transforming away from what you wanted initially.  Reuse your initial drawing so that it doesnt slowly morph.  Duplicate the frame you drew initially and change it by transforming it with the tools or you can do the large motions in sinlge frames then do the inbetweens.  Im obviously not an animations pro but it helps (depending on the program) to put the different body parts on different layer files then being able to just move them and change them when completely necessary.  I did a quick edit just to show you that you only need like half as many frames and that way you have to worry less about consistency of character with same amount of fluidity of motion.  One last thing i couldnt change is the timing of the legs.  The two front legs were moving seperately of each other where on each frame they should have been mirroring eachother.  What i mean y this is that the back leg was about a frame behind teh front one.
Edit:
I recommend starting smaller with less frames and reusing what you got.  Other than that it looks pretty good.

This was extremely helpful. Thanks so much for the help! The back leg should be darker and the front leg lighter. Got it. I'll come back with an edit and have that done. The timing of the legs seems right to me, I did this and changed it multiple times, but you are definitely right about the transforming. I figured it would be a fat, strong animal with a lot of muscle, so it would be extremely "jiggly" but I don't think that's the approach I got from it. The edit you made was really, really good. I noticed you made it so that the back leg's whatchamacallit? I dunno, either way, something from the back leg appears in the animation and I really quite like that look, so the next edit will have that as well.


EDIT: Whoops I hit post instead of preview.

So, I just mostly wanted to focus on the attachment of the legs to the body and their desired movement.
You'll notice it's not polished and the end of the tail and head could use more of a dampened sine wave motion (and it's only four frames because I got lazy).

I noticed this was a gryposaurus by your filename, so I googled me a dinosaur to see what they look like and guess how they walked.
I image searched for the skeleton as well to tell how they were built up, and I came to the conclusion they once walked on hindlegs and then moved back to walking on all fours, which makes it REALLY easy to guess how they'd walk, because all you have to do is run around on the floor yourself on all fours. Done.
I also looked at how horses and ostriches walk, because they both seems to have similarities.

Ask me if you think this is useful and want any more information.

DOUBLE EDIT:

I added a second version, this time with some damped wave effect on the tail and slightly different weight distribution so that he can keep his head still.
I like what you did here with the just the body and legs, and no details. It makes it easier to focus on the anatomy of the whole thing. I really quite like the walk, but it looks a little bit like the legs are playing ring around the rosee... LOL. The tail is absolutely AMAZING and I will for sure use that idea for the edit. I believe as your moving, your head DOES bob up and down, so it's important to have your head moving a little bit. Your animation looks fluent, fluid, and very easy to see. It's not an eyesore. It seems as though the body is moving up and down, kinda how an eel moves. It looks really interesting and I like the style. I'll try that as well on the edit.
Life is everything. Simple as that.

Offline Eli_Shane

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Re: I tried something completely different, advice? Thoughts?

Reply #4 on: August 24, 2015, 12:55:40 am
A'ight. I remade it and fixed a few things. It's not completely done.
And News, I can't change the back leg color cause I forgot I already made a bunch of sprites for this. LOL! I made it sturdier though!
Life is everything. Simple as that.