AuthorTopic: Please help improve an animated Fish  (Read 4863 times)

Offline hexcode

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Please help improve an animated Fish

on: October 31, 2016, 11:31:01 am
Hi guys,
This is my first post.

I'm working on a fish. It has a few loops:
  • Swim
  • Shoot
  • Projectile
  • Slap on land
  • Die

I'm struggling with the die animation.... I'm having a hard time working out an appropriate loop. Also, I've emailed the person I'm doing it for but it's not clear whether it dies on land or in the water yet.
Anyway, it would be great to get your feedback on it. Anything you feel could be improved I would be happy to listen to. The purpose of this post is to learn to improve my process. So thank you in advance.





« Last Edit: November 01, 2016, 09:08:26 am by hexcode »
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Offline hexcode

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Re: Please CRITIQUE my Fish - Help me improve o masters of pixel.

Reply #1 on: November 01, 2016, 08:59:52 am
Hi everyone. Does anyone have any suggestions for improvement?
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Offline heyguy

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #2 on: November 01, 2016, 10:13:00 am
Hey, really nice stuff so far! I really like the shooting animation and how the fish's eyes squint. This stuff all seems really solid to me! Maybe for the bubble projectile, it can have a more "squished" look, like it's traveling really fast. Or give it some small baby bubble trails. I think a wobble to the projectile might look good too. Just a few suggestions.

I feel your flop on land animation seems off in some way. Maybe it needs the eye on the other side of the face.

For the looping death animation, maybe you can have the fish struggle for one last breath while the fins extend out and flop like arms. I guess it all depends where it dies. Keep up the good work!

Offline hexcode

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #3 on: November 01, 2016, 12:36:13 pm
Thanks for the feedback

I've added in a shaded, second eye and tweaked the positions.


Created a 6 frame bubble loop with wobble and little bubbles floating off it.


Let me know if you think these are improvements, still open to suggestions :)

BTW, is there a way to host images through the forum?
« Last Edit: November 01, 2016, 12:41:52 pm by hexcode »
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Offline yaomon17

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #4 on: November 01, 2016, 05:06:20 pm
No image host on the forum. Need more of that big moolah  !yus!

Bubble is spectacular now. 2nd eye seems to contrast too largely with the first compared with the contrast between the shadow of the body and the midtone/highlight, though that could be because of the greenish/purple clash making the eye stand out more. The face being the same for the last few frames makes it stand out a bit as well.

I do have a small gripe with the highlight-ish area on the bottom half of the fish. It doesn't seem to fit the form. Also the death is a bit pillow shadey.

Good luck!

Offline hexcode

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #5 on: November 02, 2016, 10:29:55 am
Well noted and thanks yaomon17
I've returned the eye to a white, with a slight light grey just to break up the white a bit. Also added some squishing to the eye and some exaggeration in the movement of the eye. Tweaked positioning of the body again. Made the tail more fluid. Fixed the mouth so it isn't the same in the last 2 frames.

Actual speed


200% slower


Still open for critique !! Love learning how to improve!
« Last Edit: November 02, 2016, 10:32:27 am by hexcode »
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Offline hexcode

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #6 on: November 02, 2016, 11:11:45 am
Also, to address the gripe with the highlight on the underside of the fish:


Added some subtle highlight and shadow sub-pixel animation.
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Offline heyguy

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #7 on: November 02, 2016, 11:56:48 am
Hey! Great updates, good job on the new bubble! It has a energetic feel to it!

I think the new white eyes look better on the flopping fish than the original dark ones. The changes to the mouth are great too. I didn't have a problem with the mouth before but I like the additional detail. I'm not sure I like the slight squashing and stretching on the bottom eyeball though. Maybe because the black part of the eye rests at the same spot for a few frames. Just my opinion though. The exaggeration on the top eye is really nice. I almost didn't notice it popping out a little bit.

Offline hexcode

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #8 on: November 02, 2016, 12:45:25 pm
Thanks heyguy, did something about the eye getting stretched. Maybe I was attempting to be too fancy...  :-\
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Offline MicKo

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #9 on: November 03, 2016, 01:57:48 am
I feel like you could change the frame right before the fish jumps:
Very very ugly edit, but hopefully good enough to explain what I mean.  :crazy:

Offline heyguy

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #10 on: November 07, 2016, 01:31:19 pm
I think updated eyes look better hexcode! And cool update by Micko. Edit is not perfect but I also thought tail flopping could have used a tweak. I didn't want to throw out too much feedback though. Something about the tail flop can possibly be altered somehow to give the animation some more smoothness or dynamism or....something. I honestly don't know what's "missing" because this already looks really good. I feel like your other animations look really, really good though and the slap on land just looks really good. Just my opinion. Great stuff, keep it up! What's going on with the die animation?

Offline hexcode

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Re: Please help improve an animated Fish

Reply #11 on: November 08, 2016, 02:04:31 am
I'm still waiting to hear back from the programmer about how this fish will die.
Thanks so much for the feedback :) maybe I should just try out the suggestion for the die animation earlier in the thread. I could keep pushing it to get better and better, consistency with the other sprites might become an issue tho. I like where it's at right now but agree, there is always room for improvement.
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