Beach wave (updated)

[Dusty]

I thought I'd try my hand at some real animation. Did no cutting and pasting on this one like I usually do. I did overlay the water on sand tiles with some transparency, so colors might be a little off the charts, I haven't checked.


Things I think I need to address:
contrast
the wave movement isn't consistent, the wave seems to slow a bit when it starts to crash(trying to fit the movement in the 32x32)

Curse the forums... they decided to go down just as I pressed post

UPDATE: I think I addressed the smoothness issues:

[Agent green]

Looks good but before a wave breaks isnt it like a hump, not just a dark area. IMO there should be sparkly highlights on one side and leave it the same as it is now on the other side

[.TakaM]

when I was working on the waves for my tiles (still haven't finished >_>), I got a lot of good advice and references, check it:
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=1668.0

[Akira]

Waves on the shore pull out after they've crashed in. You're animation doesn't really convey this. see .TakaM's tile for a nice example of this:


now your current animation still isn't smooth. you might have to increase the framerate or increase the frames.
some things to consider
Waves on the shore:
Once the water is pushed in it is sucked back out.
Once a wave hits the shore it travels more slowly due to the friction of the ground underneath.
This is what actually causes the wave to break, the top part of the wave is travelling faster than the bottom part and the wave curls over and breaks.
Waves off the shore:
Motion on the top of the wave can be modelled by a sine wave.
These waves do not have crests unless there is something like a sandbank underneath.

Don't know how useful this stuff will be for you. I suggest sketching out the motion with a couple of colours before adding detail. This will help with the smoothness issue.

Are you imposing any constraints on this animation?

[Dusty]

Well this isn't a wave crashing into the shore, just the wave forming, cresting, crashing, but no shore. This is fully in the water, I haven't done the bit where it falls into the shore yet.

[tocky]

You've got a static texture going on underneath (sand? maybe?) which is wierd. everything should be moving. It looks like maybe it's viewed through a grimy lens or something.

[Akira]

a reference: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2673454611664267643&q=north+shore+oahu
In that case there needs to be a longer period between waves. the formation of the wave is pretty good but the wave seems to stall and it looks weird.
Sorry, got confused and went overboard, not a good mix