walk animation critique...

[mobichan]

After seeing another post with Scott Pilgrim sprites, I decided to check out the book.  Turns out I'm now an addict as well, so I decided to work on a little game of my own starring...  Knives Chau!!  I haven't done a walk cycle in a long while and wondered if anyone had any suggestions to make it better.  I'm finding it tricky to animate at 64x64, but I really want to keep my resolution and project small.

[Doomcreator0]

Well I think it's good in general, but the fact the head doesn't move at all kinda messes it up.

[fawel]

Fading the further limbs looks odd to me - it adds depth, but I doubt it would good look in game.  It's inconsistent as well, appearing on her left leg but not her left arm. Dunno though.  She defintiely needs to bob more

[PypeBros]

the feet seems not to follow a flat ground. somehow she seems to move her legs "as walking" while being hung rather than really walking.

the scarf's animation doesn't quite fit the slow speed, either.

[baccaman21]

This is a nice attempt - interesting result with just 7 frames?

However it does have a few issue which you need to address.

The legs don't read on frame 4. The upper thigh is in line with the rear leg. It should be still pointed away. Check out Frame 7 for a perfect example of how frame 4 should read.

The trailing scarf is snapping on frame 4 - you need to tween the scarf on this frame and it'll be a bit smoother... having siad that I think you may need to completely rework the trailing tail of the scarf... (the front piece is lovely) - but I'll get back to that in a minute.

Personally speaking, you might want to simplify the amount of shades you're using in the jumper... at the moment it's fizzing away - and it will make things easier in the long run...

And finally, as others have pointed out... the head is static... you need to bob down on the contact /extension frames (4 & 7) - and rise on the crossover frames (1 & 5)

I must admit - the 7 frames is causing me a headache... only from a logistics pov... as I've pointed out, the cross over and contact frames are crucial keyframes in any walk cycle, and usually they tend to tween between each other with at least a single tween frame... in your case you have contact frames on 4 & 7 and the crossover immediatly follows those frames on 5 & 1... so no room for tweens... which may create a weird head wobble... or limping effect...

Once you've established a good vertical motion on the body and head... then you can address the secondary motion on the scarf... (and hair) - it should be obvious when you come to do it.

You seem to have a grasp of animation... but I'm not sure how you've constructed this walk (bearing in mind the 7 frames/ contact/ crossover conundrum) - but you're definatly illustrating some grasp with the sub alias animating and the secondary motion on the scarf. So I think you should be able to have a good crack at what I'm pointing out?

Good Luck.

[mobichan]

Thanks Bacca for all the advice.  I am not really sure why I stopped at 7 frames.  I guess I just jumped in without planning.  Force of habit.  So, I upped the frames to 8, and made fr#1-4 and 5-8 more inline with each other.  I think it definitely makes more sense now.  I also devolved the piece back to simple colors for ease of editing, so maybe I should say this is WIP again.

One thing I was hoping to accomplish was to get the head turning just slightly.  i tried it with a subtle shadow that appears at fr#6 but I feel like I need to do something with the eyes.  Unfortunately, the face resolution is so small that i'm not sure what to try.  Maybe AA the eye to blur it as she looks away?

Any other advice to the form before I start going detail crazy again?

[baccaman21]

<you're welcome>


Right... nice.

Good choice to devolve the colors, makes things simpler as you say.

Ignoring the head issue for the moment... you've still got leg issues... but they're looking a lot better.

Main problem is that the feet need to move consistently across the horizontal. Currently they're 'easing in' to the lifting frame... or in other words, they're slowing down on the stride.

Do this - On each frame, place a line at the point of the toe, now reproduce that line on the next frame, then work back througout the sequence marking where the toes WAS the previous frame... you'll see that the distance reduces exactly by 2 on each subsequent frame... I feel you've done this on purpose, but you've made a mistake here. The feet SHOULD move a consistent spacing over each frame, be that, 2pixels per frame, 3 pixels per frame, 4 pixels per frame and so on...

Okay? Next up. Small issue with the wrapped part of the scarf is now static and should bob with the rest of the body.

Finally, the head turn. Yes you're right about wanting to do this. Ideally it should move a whole pixel but you can use the subalias anim technique to smooth it out. ATM you're only doing the first part of the subalias and not carrying it thorugh the full pixel shift, resulting in a kind of half hearted result... be brave and move the whole pixel. You should also consider rotating the head out as well as in. The key points to move would be the ear, eye and a slight deformation of the cheek/nose shape... you should be able to this fine... just make sure it pingpongs back and forth opposite to the swing of the arms.

Tis coming on nicely.

[mobichan]

Here's another stab with the feet moving more evenly.  I was trying to play around with timing by changing the distances, but I think I was just barking up the wrong tree.  It works much better now.  But I am still a little unsure about how to handle the distance from the last "foot on the floor" position to the most "forward" position.  It feels like that should cover more distance in fewer frames, since you would bring around your leg to catch your body falling much faster, right?

As for the head, I am running into a wall on this one.  Every subpixel anim I try seems to not look quite right to me.  I think I may just be scared to make it move too much, since I want the walk to feel more naturnal and not too exaggerated.  Any more advice?

Thanks again for the crit.

[baccaman21]

yeah... you're kind of getting there... but you're still just a little off... so close though.

here... I've done an edit with an overlaid leg bones to try and illustrate where I think you're going a little ary...



a few points I'd like to hilight on this edit are:

1. the angle of the foot on the frame preceding the contact frame (#7) - it's tilted upward, this is so that when you come to plant the foot firmly on the ground, you get a nice 'slapping' feel. This helps the anim read and applies equally to runs.

2. The angle of the foot at the opposite extreme of it's contact just before the 'lift' (#4) - it's a little overbent perhaps, but again... it helps with the aim reading... generally I always imagine feet to be hinged in the center of them... it gives an extra bit of 'flip flop' to feet if you view them as bendy like this...

3. On frame 1 i've over extended the knee joint. This is a subtle 'broken joint' and is something I've mentioned before in my previous posts... in this case it helps emphasise the 'pushing' motion on that powering leg.

4. Notice how I've kept the foot more or less moving the same distance from frame to frame.... see how yours accelerates past mine and then slows? Even though we start off in more or less the same place?

5. I've tried to illustrate what I meant in my last post with the rotating head... btw - the head turn frames are on the correct frame now too... so all you need do is plant them on the shoulders and redo the secondary motion on the hair... (I didn't do the returning head turn... )

I'll hand it back to you now mobichan... do with it what you will....


have fun!

[mobichan]

(closer eyes)(wider eyes)

I finally think I understand what you were getting at with the foot movement.  I can see why not planning out the anim early can cause headaches later.  Thanks for being patient (and providing the overlay).  It was a big help.  I'm happy with the anim now.

The last touch I think I may never be truly satisfied with (but I can live with it and move on) is the head turn.  I did 2 versions, but I like the wider eyes better.  The more I practice subpixel anims, the more I am fascinated by them.  There is always something new to learn.

Thanks for the edumacation.