Walk Animations

[dyuaru]

Alright so I'm working on a small project right now that requires 32x32 characters and I'm having some difficult on the side walking.

The forward walking looks pretty smooth but the side walk just looks strange.
I can't seem to get the right hand going forward to look natural.

Anyone have any tips on how I should fix this? An edit would be awesome 

Thanks.

[Hawk]

Take tips off of this peice.

[abzdragon]

I think the problem with the side view is that the arms dont look like they are moving the same. It looks like one's going back and one forward then back to the side so it kinda looks like he's about to uppercut someone instead of swinging his arms. When you do the lines for his right arm to sway you dont change the shading so it just looks like one arm, it needs to be more defined.

[dyuaru]

Alright heres the update.

Tried to make the hand movements less dramatic and more subtle. Looks a little better, anything else you think I can fix to make it flow more smoothly?

[Bugguy]

Hawk: Man, stop posting that rpgmakerXP-ish thing and say what's wrong with people's work, damn...   

Dyuaru: I like the front-walking animation, but I think you should put some chin on this guy... his head looks like a ball in the side-walking anim... Also in this animation, he looks a little bit curved, like he was falling because of his head weight...

[Fool]

Alright heres the update.

Tried to make the hand movements less dramatic and more subtle. Looks a little better, anything else you think I can fix to make it flow more smoothly?

Are you on frame restriction?
 His sholder looks  too far on a back and legs should be eigher short or long.
Also might be a bit better if you won't show far arm on a back.=)

Here an edit for 3 frames walk - i don't think i could do any better=)


I think those anatomical details are not benefiting the sprite=)

[AdamAtomic]

You will have trouble at this size with smoothness/fluidity unless you use at least 6 frames, at least in my experience.  Any bipeds 24px or taller I do 6 frames on, and it seems to be a good balance.

[Syn]

The front animation looks good, but I'm guessing you are having trouble on the side animation because of where the arms are in the middle frame or stationary position. That is you have little room to sway the arm backward and a lot of space towards the front. Thus, considering that every frame is at the same speed, the arms are moving faster when going forward then backward. Thus make sure the amount of movement of arm is around the same for each frame, this should make the animation smoother. Also what bugguy said, maybe a bigger chin on the side. I really like btw the shiny look on his head.

[dyuaru]

Sorry had to keep the frame count but hopefully this looks a bit better. I moved the shoulder down and away from the head a couple pixels and tried to make the arm movement in each frame about equal. Also took out the anatomical details on the arms as Fool suggested and made some head movement after seeing Fools edit.

So how is it now?

[Syn]

Looks much better, try doing the same thing with the legs, they seem to go towards to the right too much.

[crab2selout.png]

I might suggest checking out the rather awesome mario(from mario bros.1 NES) or link(from Legend of zelda2 NES) walks which are pretty sweet for 3 frames. They take advantage of their low colour counts obscurring the leg you're looking so might not help too much.

http://www.gsarchives.net/index2.php?category=all&system=nes&game=super_mario_bros&type=sprites&level0=animated
http://www.gsarchives.net/index2.php?category=all&system=nes&game=legend_of_zelda_2&type=sprites&level0=animated
(the link animation on the site is screwed, but if you do some rearranging in an animation editor, you can fix the frame ordering and see it properly)

I guess if you're using the typical overhead perspective RPGs use, then you could move the eyes on your sprite's head down and show off more of his baldspot.

[Hedgehog]

It looks like it has a huge penis that only appears every two frames...
Maybe don't bring his legs out so far.

[dyuaru]

Made some really subtle changes.

Basically made the leg stick out a pixel less and then made the back leg more readable.
Now on to the back view 

[Serendor]

In the previous animations the head seems a bit strange.... the eyes are moving 1 pixel back when left foot is foward, but it doesnt move when the right one is.... to me it seems strange : /

Made a quick edit...



I moved the ear aswell...

[Hawk]

~Bugguy, compare and constrasting two peices says more than just words dependancy on the viewer and the peices being viewed.

~Hedgehog, try to use less disturbing and useless words when describing. There may/probably be younger members here.

~Dyaru, try to slow down the frame movement it will help with frame critique. Now in terms of the whole animation you have a main issue. As you will see throughout the entire animation there is a small isolated pixel area between the feet. Lastly on the neck you should remove a meaningly black outline pixel because it distorts the neck because of it's heavy contrast. Also in stature it looks like the character is leaning forward and the porportions between upper and lower body are construded. Finally, I would suggest you follow Serendor's edit it fixed the leg issue.

[Gil]

Hawk, stop telling us what to do! There's nothing wrong with the word penis.

And stop posting that horrible walking guy image, it doesn't help anyone...

[Vale]

Hawk, stop telling us what to do! There's nothing wrong with the word penis.

And stop posting that horrible walking guy image, it doesn't help anyone...

Seriously. That walkign animation isn't that good. You don't read the leg-bend at all.

One of the biggest problems is, it is a bad character base. I'd say work on the character proportion. You can still keep a cartoony look and have a good base.

[rougewisp]

There's nothing wrong with the word penis.

Personally I prefer phallus, it's a wonderful example of euphony.

Besides, god forbid little Timmy, wandering the intertubes, finds himself on this board and then sees the word PENIS OH SHI-.

It's not like there's a thread full of nude drawings in the general discussion forum or anything.

[Serendor]

well, instead of discussing word for penises etc... we should help Hawk, he asked for our help... then those who want should supply it.

and I think posting that naked guy is quite vital for helping him, if the base is good or bad we should atleast try helping him making a good one out of this

I personally think this model is quite good... only need some tuning

cheers

[Gil]

I think you misunderstood our posts Serendor. We are talking to Hawk, not Dyuaru

[InvaderLupus]

Hawk: please, for all that is holy, ditch that beastly superiority complex of yours. Also, please stop posting that same mediocre work as an example. Instead, find a better sprite to give him an example of, but ALSO be sure to point out exactly why that sprite is better. Telling someone to basically emulate another sprite will never help. Tell them what's wrong, what they can improve, and tips on how to do so. Maybe even edit it to help illustrate your point. If you can't even do that, then maybe you should work on improving your own work, instead of sort-of trying to help others.

Dyuaru: I rather like the side view. I think that in the front view, however, you shouldn't have him twisting from side to side as he walks. It'd make more sense if he was running, but he really should have much side-to-side movement when walking. His body (and head) should be facing forwards all the time.

[dyuaru]

Hm, well that's conflicting with a lot of what other people have been saying so I guess I'll post both side by side. One without the twisting and one with.

I personally think the one with the twisting movements look a bit more lively. But well I'd like to know what you guys think to, so comment away!

By the way thanks alot for the help on this guys, really appreciate it.

[Sherman Gill]

I think the one with the turning conveys more weight and power then the one without. Overall though, I think the turning is better.

[rougewisp]

Personally, I don't bob my head from side to side when I walk, but I think as a sprite it comes off as more dynamic with the turning.

[Generic]

I'd have to agree with Gill about the head bobbing making him seem more husky and stronger. Gives him a bit off attitude, which is a good thing. Out of the two, I'd choose the head bobber.

[Hawk]

Hawk: please, for all that is holy, ditch that beastly superiority complex of yours. Also, please stop posting that same mediocre work as an example. Instead, find a better sprite to give him an example of, but ALSO be sure to point out exactly why that sprite is better. Telling someone to basically emulate another sprite will never help. Tell them what's wrong, what they can improve, and tips on how to do so. Maybe even edit it to help illustrate your point. If you can't even do that, then maybe you should work on improving your own work, instead of sort-of trying to help others.

Dyuaru: I rather like the side view. I think that in the front view, however, you shouldn't have him twisting from side to side as he walks. It'd make more sense if he was running, but he really should have much side-to-side movement when walking. His body (and head) should be facing forwards all the time.

Read before you speak:

~Bugguy, compare and constrasting two peices says more than just words dependancy on the viewer and the peices being viewed.

~Hedgehog, try to use less disturbing and useless words when describing. There may/probably be younger members here.

~Dyaru, try to slow down the frame movement it will help with frame critique. Now in terms of the whole animation you have a main issue. As you will see throughout the entire animation there is a small isolated pixel area between the feet. Lastly on the neck you should remove a meaningly black outline pixel because it distorts the neck because of it's heavy contrast. Also in stature it looks like the character is leaning forward and the porportions between upper and lower body are construded. Finally, I would suggest you follow Serendor's edit it fixed the leg issue.

Plus in terms of editation I see no reason when there is a perfectly good example that has already been displayed.

~Dyuaru, choice 2. Though I still say that by the angle in which you have created his posture it looks as if he is leaning forward or the porportions are distorted. Lastly, if you are going to move most of the head try to change about the top of the head glare as well, because realistically speaking no source of light is displayed the same at any time in regards to a moving object. True the angle may be the same, but the actual terrain/surface display will never at any one time be the same as that of a previous time. Feel free to take this into account

[AdamAtomic]

editation

This is the least real word I have ever seen used by anyone ever, and I live in the United States of America.  You know who my president is.  And yet I stand by my claim; "editation" is the most preposterous, fakest term I have ever heard.

[EDIT - dictionary.com agrees with me.]

Also, please please pretty please use 6 frames!  I know you gave a vague answer about why you couldn't, but at this size you are going to have choppy, unsatisfactory movement even if you do fix the glaring motion errors that the other posters have already pointed out.  If the programmer is telling you "no" then explain to him that it will TOTALLY BE WORTH IT - even cell phone games will give characters 6 frames half the time!

[dyuaru]

Well main thing is I'm getting paid a little bit to work on this and I would have to renegotiate the terms if I changed the frame amount and it might be a bit too much trouble.
I'll see what I can do though, I've used 4 frames for most of the animations I've done and haven't really tried going even further and doing 6 frames.

Is there really no way to make it look smooth without going to 6 frames? The classics did it 

[AdamAtomic]

The classics were frequently only 16 pixels tall though, which helps a ton.  If you're dead-set on using 4 frames I would take your lead from tsugumo's recent thread, and start by doing block-shading on every animation frame.  With just 4 frames you're going to have to really sell the volumes and anatomy of this character for us to buy the movement.  When he steps forward, make his thigh brighter, for example - this helps us establish depth and priority to that surface.  When he steps back make it darker - use value to tell us what is really going on with his movement; with this small number of frames there is no reason to use copy-paste-nudge, and that's not gonna sell the motion anyways.  Good luck!

[dyuaru]

Pixel pushing as they call it. Just made some parts a little easier to see as AdamAtomic suggested. Not sure how to make it any brighter with my current color count.

[Panda]

Enough thread derailing.
If you are not happy about the way someone posts, please PM or report a mod about the thread instead of jumping at that person.
Please respect the original poster and his/her thread.

But it is not the first time you've been warned for this, therefore both Hawk and Gil will receive a strike. 2 more and you'll be out.

Hawk, you should ignore other people's posts and stop being so defensive to avoid arguing. Instead PM a mod and we will solve it. If the way you post appears to cause some chaos around, please try to consider a different way to do so. Also being more elaborate on your posts will help (instead of throwing some mediocre animation and saying "learn from this").

Gil, Please stop jumping at people like that as if you were always right. It is not the first time you've done so, you should watch what you post.

[Syn]

Actually, I think that three frames are okay. Not to say it couldn't be a smoother animation, but that depends on you and the situation. If you plan to create a bunch load of graphics, no point in staying so long on a piece unless you have the time and ressources to do it. A game is more the pretty graphics. But like I said, it's up to you.