AuthorTopic: [WIP] Platform sprite  (Read 4172 times)

Offline Ben_Hurr

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[WIP] Platform sprite

on: October 27, 2007, 12:05:24 am
Now maybe you guys could help me out here.
At the moment I'm working on sprites for the main character of a platform game, but I can't seem to shake the annoying phenomenon of having the characters torso appear to 'slide' up and down while they're walking.

What we have here is a run cycle. (more of a jog really)

Do you see what I see?

Any ideas on how to fix it?

Offline Sherman Gill

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #1 on: October 27, 2007, 12:08:03 am
You get that effect because that's what is happening.
I think most of the torso movement should be rotation, which is mostly shown through the movement of the arms, so, yeah. Get rid of the jiggle and see how it looks with arms?
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Offline Ben_Hurr

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #2 on: October 27, 2007, 12:36:37 am
Might be a plan.
But then how would we get the bob when you walk? =/

Edit:

Without the bobbing, and no arms yet. Hm.
Further Edit:


Changed the color of the closest leg to get an idea where the character's hips are.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2007, 01:53:17 am by Ben_Hurr »

Offline Sherman Gill

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #3 on: October 27, 2007, 03:00:07 am
Might be a plan.
But then how would we get the bob when you walk? =/
Head movement?
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Offline sharprm

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #4 on: October 27, 2007, 03:07:37 am
The whole body moves up and down when you walk, the head is bobbing because it sits on the body. It does this because the height
of the leg (from ground to top of leg) is greatest when its straight. With running I think you can get less bobbing, but not for your sprite, its not in the air long enough. The bobbing version is better, just make the head bob too.
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Offline Ben_Hurr

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #5 on: October 27, 2007, 03:14:41 am
Don't worry, the head will bob with the body, and have arms. I just wanted to fix up the legs and torso first, otherwise there'd be ALOT of redrawing in the near future.

Thanks for the help guys!  :D
« Last Edit: October 27, 2007, 03:26:48 am by Ben_Hurr »

Offline robotacon

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #6 on: October 27, 2007, 06:49:57 am
I feel like you're missing a frame between frame 3 and 4 and a frame between 6 and 1. Which not surprisingly will bring the frame count to eight.


And c'mon, alot of redrawing in the future? Why don't you just stick the head on top of the body so we'll get a feel for what it looks like. Now I had to guess where to put it  :mean:

Also it's pretty strange to think you should first animate the legs and then animate the arms. The natural way of doing it would be to at least draw one or two key frames and THEN work on the legs and the arms independently for a smooth result.

Offline baccaman21

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #7 on: October 27, 2007, 10:44:02 am
The leg animation is nice.

But before you get concerned about the bobbing do as others have suggested and work up the arms.

You're absolutley spot on by trying to locate the hips, and you'll notice they're rocking back and forth this is perfect. But what you need now is the arms, working in opposites to the legs, with the shoulders roacking forward and back wards in opposition to the hips... then worry about the torso...

This method of constructing an animation is absolutly fine, it's one of a few methods. But, you need to be aware of how all the motion of the other elements effects the overall look of the others... The arm swings effect the legs, and both effect the 'twist' and 'bob' of the torso, which in turn effect the motion of the head... Remember, the head also moves forwards and backwards as well as up and down and rotates too... all of these movements working in opposites to everything else in order to keep the thing balance.

Right now, the edit that robotcon has made withe the head spliced on the neck is just showing the 'bob' - you could have a twist, and a rocking motion too...

What I've done in the past is create 3 head variants - one looking slightly out of the screen, one looking slightly in to the screen and the other looking straight ahead. This gives you the option to have the character swinging his head from left to right in opposition to the shoulders. For example, if the right arm is forwards, the head will be turned towards that arm (looking right) - this creates a TWIST motion that helps to accentuaten the whole of the upper rotation of the torso. It works, trust me. (this is evident in the PACMAN run loop in my sig - [and pacman doesn't even have a torso])

Another thing to help with this is the position of the head forewards and backwards. When the legs are at the furthest extreme apart (the contact pose) then the head will be at it's most fowards and down... inversely, when the legs on the crossover point (this is when the torso can be at it's highest) then the head will be at it's highest and furthest back. Obviously with all the relevant tweens in between.

- I've dug this up from one of my old posts to try and show you this is in action.

One final point, what I've explained is one way of doing a walk loop. There's been some discussion on this thread about head bobbing, and torso's moving up and down and so on... but you can break these rules to create other interesting walks... There's the 'double bounce' walk for instance that gives a nice jaunty feel... there's also a fun trick you can do by inverting the head height to opposite to what I've described, so that the head is Higher on the extreme (contact) frame and lowest on the crossover... it's a peculiar motion but nice all the same...

There's a great section on animating walk loops in the book I mention a lot in my signature...

Don't worry, the head will bob with the body, and have arms. I just wanted to fix up the legs and torso first, otherwise there'd be ALOT of redrawing in the near future.

Oh, and If you're worried about redrawing then you're in the wrong game... animation is all about redrawing... especially using this method as you'll discover - it's like sketching... you can't work on one section of a still life till it's finished and then move on to another until that's finshed and another and so on - because everything relates to everything else... what you'll end up with is something that incohesive... Point being, you have to rework it as new elements are processed and rendered because they WILL effect the rest... it's the nature of this medium.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2007, 10:50:42 am by baccaman21 »
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Offline Ben_Hurr

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Re: [WIP] Platform sprite

Reply #8 on: October 28, 2007, 12:53:38 am
The leg animation is nice.

But before you get concerned about the bobbing do as others have suggested and work up the arms.

You're absolutley spot on by trying to locate the hips, and you'll notice they're rocking back and forth this is perfect. But what you need now is the arms, working in opposites to the legs, with the shoulders roacking forward and back wards in opposition to the hips... then worry about the torso...

This method of constructing an animation is absolutly fine, it's one of a few methods. But, you need to be aware of how all the motion of the other elements effects the overall look of the others... The arm swings effect the legs, and both effect the 'twist' and 'bob' of the torso, which in turn effect the motion of the head... Remember, the head also moves forwards and backwards as well as up and down and rotates too... all of these movements working in opposites to everything else in order to keep the thing balance.

Right now, the edit that robotcon has made withe the head spliced on the neck is just showing the 'bob' - you could have a twist, and a rocking motion too...

What I've done in the past is create 3 head variants - one looking slightly out of the screen, one looking slightly in to the screen and the other looking straight ahead. This gives you the option to have the character swinging his head from left to right in opposition to the shoulders. For example, if the right arm is forwards, the head will be turned towards that arm (looking right) - this creates a TWIST motion that helps to accentuaten the whole of the upper rotation of the torso. It works, trust me. (this is evident in the PACMAN run loop in my sig - [and pacman doesn't even have a torso])

Another thing to help with this is the position of the head forewards and backwards. When the legs are at the furthest extreme apart (the contact pose) then the head will be at it's most fowards and down... inversely, when the legs on the crossover point (this is when the torso can be at it's highest) then the head will be at it's highest and furthest back. Obviously with all the relevant tweens in between.

- I've dug this up from one of my old posts to try and show you this is in action.

One final point, what I've explained is one way of doing a walk loop. There's been some discussion on this thread about head bobbing, and torso's moving up and down and so on... but you can break these rules to create other interesting walks... There's the 'double bounce' walk for instance that gives a nice jaunty feel... there's also a fun trick you can do by inverting the head height to opposite to what I've described, so that the head is Higher on the extreme (contact) frame and lowest on the crossover... it's a peculiar motion but nice all the same...

There's a great section on animating walk loops in the book I mention a lot in my signature...

Don't worry, the head will bob with the body, and have arms. I just wanted to fix up the legs and torso first, otherwise there'd be ALOT of redrawing in the near future.

Oh, and If you're worried about redrawing then you're in the wrong game... animation is all about redrawing... especially using this method as you'll discover - it's like sketching... you can't work on one section of a still life till it's finished and then move on to another until that's finshed and another and so on - because everything relates to everything else... what you'll end up with is something that incohesive... Point being, you have to rework it as new elements are processed and rendered because they WILL effect the rest... it's the nature of this medium.

Very helpful, I do say! I'm only concerned about redrawing because I've redrawn this character at least a dozen times over for this one animation!  ::)
Good practice either way though, am I right?