Frist try at animation. Walk cycle help.

[LuckyF]

Hello everyone.
 Decided to do a walk animation. Sketched it, and now I'm trying to make it good but can't figure out by myself what is wrong here and what should I do about it. I know there's alot of artists here that know alot about animation so I figured I going to find some help here ).

So here's what I've done so far.

[TrevoriuS]

First off, some issues with the actual sprite.
Its way too wide...

Also, the left foot (all this is viewers left) looks wrong, bec ause its angled to the inside (towards the center of the body) while the leg is actually angled more to the outside (so turn left foot more to the left).

Then the hand. It looks flat because all knuckles got equal shading, while the light source comes more from the right than that. So they should decrease in shading, or possible just be made invisible apart from the first one.

Then goes the animation. It looks too much 'off the ground' to me. Seems like she's hanging on ropes in the air.This is largely caused by the back foot being on different height (3 px too high) than the front foot, while the rest of the body doesnt seem to have this.

Then (possibly because of the length of the legs) the steps seem too large for this amount of curvature in the leg (knee bending). Possibly make the steps a bit smaller, and regardless of that, make the foot moving forward 'hang' more. Make that muscle relax and let the ankle pretty much be inactive, this lets the toe pierce through the ground at this point, so to solve that the leg needs to be lifted up more, and we get this extra amount of knee bending I was looking for.

Further, making the arms (+ hands) reach halfaway to the upper leg is recommended for correctness. Soulder-hand length is related to leg rather than torso, so with a short torso and long legs, you should scale the arms according to the leg and thus get long arms. If this looks unnatural to several people, but you wish to kee pa short leg, only slightly adjust the arm to be shorter, so that it gets a balane between the 2).

Hope it helps,
TS~

[LuckyF]

Thanks, Trevorius. I see what you talking about. Working on improvments right now.

[Mike]

I would like to chime in with something.  What exact style of walk are you going for?  Is it a petite walk, a drunk walk, a happy walk, a sad walk, an upbeat walk?  Right now it looks like a standard mechanical walk.  And if I were you I wouldn't worry to much about how arms are supposed to be done.  Try animating the legs first and add the arms afterward.  They don't have to follow the feet exactly hell they can even move slower or faster than the legs.  Just be inventive, but if you need something to help you get through it try doing this.  draw both contact poses first(where feet hit the ground) then draw the passing poses(one leg straight and the other bent, then the down,(putting the weight on one leg to catch the fall) and finally the up.(highest point of the walk, foot on toes, leg slightly body leaning forward with the leg the same)  Of course this is drawing it on 8s with no in betweens.(8 poses)  You don't even have to start out on contacts mind you you could very well plan it out using the downs and ups first.  Oh one more thing, the way the head bounces up and down says a lot about a walk.

[LuckyF]

Mike, I think I was going for simple standart walk.

 Ok, so here's what I've got now. I think I fixed the things that Trevorius said. Exept the hands, going to do them later.
  So what do you think?

[sharprm]

The rotation of the torso doesn't seem symmetrical. Make her turn to the left as much as she turns to the right.

The body should move up when the leg is on the ground and closest to the body. Put your hand on the table. Slide your hand towards yourself. Notice how your elbow moves up? Same thing with 'bobbing' of body during walk cycle.

Search Ptoing's recent posts - he had a nice method for making walk cycles.

Personally I would draw complete outlined body when making walk cycles - how often do you see armless and headless people walking around? Your brain is trained to recognize the complete body walk cycle so you are at a disadvantage drawing some 'artificial' person walk cycle.

[Ben2theEdge]

I agree with sharpm, I'm curious as to what the technique is here.
You'd be better off making a walk cycle that has the entire body. If you only animate the legs and then try to fit the arms in, it will not look realistic because when walking the arms and legs are working together in a very calculated balancing act. I would be LESS concerned with the smoothness of the animation (the number of frames) and more concerned with how lifelike each step looks. You can always add more frames when you've managed to make a convincing motion.

Also if you plan on doing more animating I also suggest that you get Richard Williams' book, the Animator's Survival Guide. Many pixel artists approach animation blindly, just making it up as they go (I was guilty of this myself), ignoring the techniques that the masters have been using for almost 100 years, and there's simply no reason for that when there is such a wealth of knowledge and technique built up already.

Not to say this animation is terrible - the legs have a nice pendulum motion to them and the rhythm of the walk is pretty good now. But I think the method you're using is going to provide you with rather robotic, lifeless results.

[LuckyF]

OK everybody. Thanks for comments. I think I'm done with this one ... maybe I'll try another one later.

Not to say this animation is terrible

I don't think it's terrible  =\ ...

[Fool]

I don't know if you know that thing, but it might be helpful at some point.

http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html

[LuckyF]

Thanks, Fool. But I'm already saw this one.

Well, yesterday I spent an hour and a half in traffic jam and a spent that tima watching people on the sidewalk. They walk prety much the same as I did in my animation (only the torso don't rotate that much). So I'm sattisfied with the result for now.

Ben2theEdge
 I've read that book and my method is pretty much the same.

[robotacon]

Also if you plan on doing more animating I also suggest that you get Richard Williams' book, the Animator's Survival Guide. Many pixel artists approach animation blindly, just making it up as they go (I was guilty of this myself), ignoring the techniques that the masters have been using for almost 100 years, and there's simply no reason for that when there is such a wealth of knowledge and technique built up already.

I second that proposal, the Animator's Survival Guide is by far the best book I've come across when it comes to animation.
I've got lots of books on the topic but Richard Williams' book has the best examples and explanations for why things work like they do in animation.

Also, this might sound weird but Scott McCloud has a book called Making Comics which talks alot about telling a story but also about body language and things like that.

[sharprm]

LuckyF - aren't you being a bit defensive? Your animation isn't terrible, its quite good, but its not perfect! Here is Ptoing's post by the way:

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?PHPSESSID=54ebf05f8be475e26683f03309130c4f&topic=6233.msg73689#msg73689

[LuckyF]

Thanks, I already found it.
 Defensive? I don't know ... it's just a natural reaction =\

[Ben2theEdge]

I think my comment was misunderstood - I DON'T think this animation is terrible!

[robotacon]

1. Make sure the foot travels on the ground at a constant speed. Perhaps this isn't true for all walks but for a computer game it's a heck of a lot easier to implement than to keep track of how far each frame travels.

2. You twist the body on each step but only with her right side. She only twists out towards the viewer, she also needs to twist away from the viewer.

3. You should delay the foot leaving the ground and put it down faster. Currently it's the other way around, like she's walking slightly downhill.

[Mike]

I gotta be honest, brutually.  This animation doesn't really work well.  I can tell that it may be Lara Croft and she may not have a feminine walk, but your cycle doesn't even hint at a different gender.  The leg spacing is far far to wide.  It would do you well to reread Animator's Survival Guide.  It says in there that women typically walk with their legs closer together and have little head bounce.  There are of course exceptions.  If you don't want to take the critique then why are you here?

[edit]
Whoops, didn't see your newer version there.  That is much better and actually feels like some weight is being put on the foot on the down position, not much but some.  Still it is a bit bland...not much character really.

[LuckyF]

I got a new version now ... but I don't want to post it without hands, and I don't have time right now to work on them. Well ther's no head either )

Mike, the thing is I want to hear the critique but when someone says something like "bla bla bla ... your method sucks, your animation sucks ... bla bla". There's not much of a use from these kind of comments. It just pisses me off.
 
 There was good replies here that was useful and helped me, and I thank you guys for them.

[LuckyF]

Hello again. Got a liitle update. I think it's better now )

[joe123]

LOoks like she has a limp...

The torso moves too much really, and the legs don't move in unison with the torso.

[h4x0r]

I personally think the walk animation is great...for a man.  I'm not trying to be sexist, but that walk animation isn't very womanly.  I mean, look at the idle image...she swings her hips at least when she walks.  Women also take shorter steps when they walk, yet I'm 6'2 and they always tell me to walk faster...  Anyways, that's my 2 cents.

[Conzeit]

yeah, the big thing with female walks is to reduce the torso movement, and leave all the balancing up to the hips

[LuckyF]

 Well the thing is .. I saw a female walking like this ) Made her walk across the room for half a day   But thanks for the coments I'll look into this.

[Conzeit]

I see what you mean, but I think trying to keep up with all the details you missed the spirit of the thing.

Weight shifting at the hips is the big thing you're missing, you probably missed it because it's sorta hard to envision in side walks, it's much easier to do in front walks. You have your model handy? if you do watch the way she finishes her step. That moment when she puts one foot down, and gets ready to lift the other is THE big thing. that's what makes all of us drool. Basically it's just the butt shaking from one side to the other because one glute relaxes and the other tenses.

 I think the best refference for this is probably one of those rapper vids with girls walking in semi-slo-mo....sad but true :p

[Iceman]

Nice walk m8 :-)  well done.

The legs are dropping too "hard" and you need to smooth that motion a little more IMHO.

Heres a simple B&W sketch/Onion skin walk for a woman I did for you to show you the fluid movement you need.



I think your aiming for a more sexy, female walk with the bottom being thrown out/swung more, but keep at it as your doing well.

Cheers!

[alkaline]

One thing though iceman - she is leaning too far forward. a straighter posture and the walk will be better.

[LuckyF]

Thanks for the coments everybody. Updetes will come, I just work very slow ))
 Iceman is it Poser your used for this render?