[WIP] [C&C] WrestleBot Character

[heyguy]

Starting the animation. Here's the idle in wireframes. I hope it's clear and readable for everyone. I'd appreciate any critiques on the weight, movements, overall look of the animation, forms, speed, etc, etc, etc. Obviously the hands aren't detailed yet, this is more of a preliminary animation sketch exploring/experimenting/finalizing his basic wrestling stance idle animation. I kinda like it so far! The 3rd frame (where is left hand reaches its lowest point) I'm sort of "iffy about. Something about the left arm doesn't look right.

What does every one think of this animation for his idle animation? Wanted a simple 4 frames of animation but decided on 5 frames to put more bounce and expression in his movement.



edit:dont think this idle looks like something megaman x-ish. Too many frames?    did megaman x bosses even have an idle animation? Maybe I should try animating straight into an attack animation like when the mmx boss jumps and collides with you? i feel like if i don't simplify the animation somehow, this project is going to take a very  long time to complete. Here's a different version of the animation.

[heyguy]

Starting of simply. Here's the animation/pose for when the bot takes damage. WIP.

[BatElite]

I couldn't see much in way of idle animtions in Megaman X; The bosses don't spend much time idling between attacks.

Anyway,
The first idle has too much movement to display in 4/5 frames. If you're going to use the simple one, you can at least move the arms around a bit:



As for the flinch, you probably can't reuse much of the torso if it's meant to be tilting backwards. The bot looks a lot fatter in the flinching state than in the standing pose.

[heyguy]

That looks great! Haha, here's what I just finished working on. Wasn't sure on how to resuse the forearms and hands. I like yours a lot better! More bouncy!

[heyguy]

Just a small update on the flinching pose. Drew a new frame instead of trying to modifying the previous body. I think it looks more like it's flinching backwards now. Will try to finalize and complete it tonight. The perspective of the feet are giving me some trouble but I'm close to completion I think.



edit: hands are hard

[heyguy]

New updates. I think I'm pretty much done with the flinching pose/animation. His left hand looks a little iffy though. Probably going to start work on other poses, starting with a dash/tackle pose.




edit: small taste of the dash pose

[heyguy]

Update on dash/tackle. I like two and three but I can't decide which. Either way, it might even be cool to add some sort of jet booster blast animation under the robots feet. Still working on the flinch pose too.





edit: simple animation

[heyguy]

Update. Think I'm finished with this pose. I'll probably experiment with a booster animation under his feet. I'd appreciate any thoughts and critiques on the work. I'm going to start creating the jump or throw animation next.



edit: here's a sketch of the mid-air jump pose.

[HarveyDentMustDie]

I think that your tackle pose looks very stiff. Even tho you've draw it from sketch it looks like you've just rotate stand drawing around the center. Also legs have different length in your tackle position.

Here's the sloppy edit to suggest how you can get more movement into it.



You should check some references of how to render and highlight metal surfaces. One of the interesting treads I recently saw here -> http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=18793.0

[heyguy]

Thanks for the edit HarveyDentMustDie. I've used the pose and redrawn it. I've also tried to give the robot a more metallic sheen. What does everyone think? I think the boots and the hands looks a little odd. I've also been creating a wip jump animation. Imagine him jumping in an arc forward Megaman X style. Decided to reuse the torso instead of creating an entirely new frame of animation. Not sure which direction would have been best. I'd appreciate any and all critique.