[WIP] Need opinions on running animations

[McStinkus]

Here are three run animations I came up with for a vg character.  These were all created using the select and rotate tool in Gale so they are still quite ugly. Before I gussy them up, I have to decide which is best.  Note that toes don't touch or anything yet and bodies don't swivel yet either.  So torque aside, which of these do you folks prefer simply in terms of leg movements  Any feedback will be great. 



sorry about the weird stuff in the thrid one.  Thats an unused hand I may insert later but forgot to remove it for here.
In gale I run the delay set at 3/100ths or equivalent to get the speed I want.  IE and firefox have weird display problems with this.
And if you feel like CCing something near finished here's his standing pose:

again please excuse the unfinished nature of the above.
I think I like the second one the most, played fast it looks most dynamic and ninja-ey.
Thanks all.

[chimico]

the standing looks great to me! and reminds me of spiderman from marvel vs capcom... if it's been of inspiration to you, you got a great result. i imagine here on pixelation there are other discussions about this, but why such a huge number of frames? i mean, lots of smooth frames are always good, but doesn't your effort turn out quite useless with a higher speed?
you may have some reasons i haven't thought about, otherwise i'd suggest to plan each frame instead of wasting it, and to interpret the movement instead of emulating the the speed real life goes. in general, draw more frames for the moments of suspension and interval between two opposite motions, and less for motions themselves.
i prefere the first one, because in 2 and 3 the feet going back get too unnaturally up. the 3's feet going forward are a bit nicer to me, but are less ninja...

uh, maybe because of the pose, the katana is enormous to me; but if you like it as it is, i'll do it too. nice character.

[$ymbol]

His run needs a 'bounce,' doesn't it?


I like 2 as well, though His feet Don't look like they touch the ground.

[Conzeit]

well, yep

I think ninjas benefit from floating around like they're dashing for most of the run, and then have a sudden knee-jerk as they touch the ground and gain back their momentum

I believe it's also customary to leave their shoulder area almost static...but the hips should still show some movement.

[digitaldust]

Conceit: I'm not so sure... If I was gonna run like that i would at least get some slight horizontal movement with the shoulders.

[h4x0r]

"Note that toes don't touch or anything yet and bodies don't swivel yet either."

Hes mostly saying which leg movement, he hasn't done vertical or horizontal movement or any body movement in general yet, just the leg animation...I like 2 as welll...

[McStinkus]

To respond, Whichever of these I choose to continue forward with (with your help) will have the hips rotate, some torque in the shoulders and a good deal of recoil and bounce both up and forward in the step.  Of course to keep it ninja-ey the upper body should have the appearance of remaining static against the motion of the hips while still moving in a decent fashion.  It is very hard for me to picture what this is going to look like in any detailed sense.  But I'll figure that out when I come to it (or ask for more help).  Chimico: you have touched on my biggest problem understanding animation.  I have trouble interpretting the movement as you call it and making it more dynamic.  I believe I can understand what you mean but I have trouble implementing this idea.  Especially in a cyclic fashion with unrealistic movement in this case.  Things like sword swipes, his back dash, jump and others make a little more sense to me in order to time.  Big sweeps when the motion is fast (with some motion streaks if neccesary) and more frames when slowing or static, right?  I just can't picture whats fast or not here.  would his legs be faster at either end of the spectrum at just before contact or while hes pushing forward of the ground?  I've tried watching ninja scroll, yuma, and I'd like to watch some naruto (but from what I understand on youtube they all run with their hands back and body leaned into the run). I think its something one must practice but I'd love a good edit or some direction.   And I like the katana huge, its sort of a cartoony daikatana.  but if when I animate the slashes its no good for gameplay or too massive i'll shrink it.  Thanks for taking your time to help me out

[AlexHW]

first anim, the feet travel more in an oval shape.. i think that makes more sense for a ninja who is kinda floaty/quick..
the others in comparison have a kinda motion when they come forward which gives an impression that they are dragging even though they arent.

[McStinkus]

I gave it another shot:  lower frame count more motion in between frames.  I tried to time it so that the speed of the leg increased from the furthest extention down to contact paused at the end of the step and then increased in speed again until the loop started over.  its subtle but it makes a difference I think. 

and here's one with twice the frame rate, half the delay, but I don't think I like it as much

again browsers are slowing this down, but in theory they are running at the same speed
the posture is sort of generic but, i guess thats what I was going for. CC? Edits?
Also, I apologize if I should have editted this into my original post.  If so, please let me know and I'll do that in the future.

[EvilEye]

 You might want to check out Shinobi 3. Especially stage 2. The enemies have a ninja-run stance.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01EKvse4KSU&feature=related