running animation

[Shifty McSly]

wow, it's been ages since I last posted here. Anyway, I've started doing some pixel art for a game I've always wanted to make. If I ever actually finish it, it'll be a metroid/castlevania style game.

So at the moment I am animating this guy -  - the main character.

here's what I've got so far for his running animation -

I'm pretty happy with it so far, but there are still a few minor tweaks to be made, including adding in some head/hair movement. Oh, and obviously I haven't added in the lower part of his coat, much easier to add it in later. C + C away.

[Sherman Gill]

Not just his head but his whole body should be moving more in the run

[keiisu]

First of all i'd say your animation is to slow for a running animation.
i think it would be rather at least 2 times faster.
Then, your character doesn't bounce at all. Look at the head, it stays still during all the animation, it doesn't move at all.
The head should go up ad down on a vertical axis following the bounce of the character while he's runnging.
Also since your character's body doesn't move but the feet are moving horizontally sticking to the ground, the legs' lengh is growing.
Moreover when the character is moving a leg backward the animation is smooth but when it's moving forward you can see that it lacks something. maybe one more frame, the amplitude between the positions of the leg of frames 7 and 8 is too large.
Try to focus on local parts of your animation trying to not to see other parts, you may see the problems better.
Anyway, i think pictures speak better than words so i found this link for you : http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml
i hope it will help you to improve your animation 

[sharprm]

Found aria of sorrows sprites:

http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=127&sec=14

Even they have some head/body bounce (for some reason I thought they didn't) so I think you should include it. Keiisu makes a good point about the legs growing. In addition, I think the shin on all frames is too short.

[Shifty McSly]

hmm, well I agree with most of the crits given so far. I initially measured out the leg and arm lengths very precisely by starting with a stick figure, but a couple of the frames seem to have gone awry somehow. There was no head bounce because I just hadn't animated the head at that point. Anyway, here's the latest version, I added one frame to smooth out the leg flicking issue, and removed a couple from other places to increase the urgency of it, looks a lot more like a lively run to me now -

I still haven't touched the head yet, but most of that will be very subtle, your head really doesn't bounce much at all while running. Oh, and keiisu, it will be much faster, this is the fastest my gif animator goes for some reason.
Cheers 

[robotacon]

Looking great. You've got a great eye for animation.
Here's a few pointers.

1. Make sure to actually land the heal on frame 8. Otherwise it looks like he's floating. A run is a falling motion that you constantly catch on every new step.
2. The foot in the ground should be moving at a constant speed. Measure the distance the heal (or the toe) moves and you'll notice that you've got different running speeds between different frames.
3. The head should move along a round or elliptic or at least pretty smooth path. put a pixel where you've got his eyes and watch how it moves.

Looking forward to see this in color

/ Robo

[Elk]

really kewl but wheres the coat in the animation ?

[keiisu]

Oh, and keiisu, it will be much faster, this is the fastest my gif animator goes for some reason.

Which software do you use ?

It looks really better now
I think the rythm is good 
I agree with robotacon's points even if i usually avoid to move the head or the body forward since we are in low res and moving even one pixel may result in unwanted, weird and/or overdone movement.
But maybe it's me who just couldn't find the right rythm ^^
Moreover, for the moment your character is running but doesn't move. If your make him move forward (like he should do at the end i guess ?) you may happen to see less some details and some new problems may appear. Maybe you should make a simulation ;p
 
keep going ;p
i'm sure it will end up with something nice ;p

[Shifty McSly]

Thanks for the replies, I think I've addressed most of the crits made so far, unless anyone finds anything major, this will probably be the final version before I move on to colouring it (and doing the other animations). I've made the foot movement consistent, this guy flies at 8 pixels per frame. The arm and leg movements should line up better now. Don't worry elk, I haven't forgotten the coat, just removed it till the animation is finished 



I also knocked this up in gamemaker, if anyone wants to see the animation moving across the screen .... and at full speed http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=runanim2.zip

[Red_Mist]

really kewl but wheres the coat in the animation ?

Hey I know why he doesnt have a coat! hes the "flasher" and has dropped his coat in an attempt to flee the authorities. The animation shows him "streaking" to saftey!

BTW, I bow before your animation skills. the only thing I noticed was a little bit of strobing. However, giving that I am not at your skill level, my reply is not really a critisism, just somthing that I vaguely noticed...
youve probably allready read this post but http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=5201.msg62325#msg62325 may give you some ideas on how to fix this.