Samurai Subpixels

[artisan]

trying my hand at subpixel animation this is my first try at it... and its a horribly long process



the image itself is a remake of something i started but never finished ages ago you can see the old wip here http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6007/samoldcs5.gif
but to be honest you dont want too...

neways coms and crits? i plan to make it a mock up.

[dragonboy]

that looks cool, how does sub-pixel animation work?

[AdamAtomic]

All those crazy red lines are not working for me at all, just looks like artifacts/mistakes

[crab2selout.png]

http://www.gsarchives.net/index2.php?category=all&system=snes&game=super_metroid&type=sprites&level0=animated
An example of a decent subpixel animation. Used on Samus to suggest light breathing while idle.

You're not really doing the sub pixelling correctly. The bottom of the eyes grow two pixels at one point and there really isn't sub pixel on the top of the eyes which move up and down harshly compared with other parts of hte animation. Overall, this is just really distracting, but not in a good way. It comes across as blurry and the ideal of pixel precise placement is getting lost.

And if this is going to be a sprite over a non static background, then it's a really bad idea to subpixel the outside of the sprite.

[artisan]

improved?



no more red after studying more into the topic...

i think its possible to make look better however not without adding extra colours to give a true representation of where the pixels should be and so i am trying to make do with the colours i have.

any thoughts on the tiles atm... they are very early but any sugestions on them are good... i want the wooden archway to stay somewhat the same as i want the background and tiles to be very simple style while keeping the sprites looking almost wacky and animated.

[ndchristie]

the point of subpixel is essentially not to be noticed.  i mean, it's more complicated than that, but you're trying to smooth between 2 already very close frames.  this means:

little/no difference in value

little/no difference in hue

little/no difference in saturation


when i take my glasses off (normal people: cross your eyes) i still get MAJOR color changes when looking at your sprite.  he should remain effectively the same, only slightly moving.  subpixel is an art of subtlties.

[AdamAtomic]

no more red

There are still a ton of red artifacts!

[Conzeit]

hrm....the thing about Subpixel...when done right it's not like you're averaging two pixels and putting a buffer shade in the next frame...am I getting trough?


You should have an image in your head a bit more detailed than your current resolution in order to do subpixel, otherwise its wasteful

You know how they say how subtext is the lines between the lines? I guess that applies to subpixel too, if there's no detail in there OTHER than what you're already showing with the pixels you have...the subpixels seem kinda pointless.

that shows in the way he moves, too...he just bobs up and down..there's nothing to the movement of the animation...I'm not saying it's not carefully done because it is...but you know, it seems like it lacks a point in the movement...subpixeling is after all deforming the character, and if he just sort of morphs one pixel up, one pixel down....it strikes you as weird....

so..eh whatever. That's my 2 cents

[artisan]

im still trying to make this better, there is even less red bits now and i think i smoothed it up some more.... is it improveing or is it not?

@ Conceit: what i want to show is the character slightly bending his knees and breathing, hence the chest moves in and out and he bobs up and down.

The problem is there is little difference between the two main frames ie the difference is 1 pixel or 2 max on like the arms for instance, as you can see this isnt very smooth...



and so that is the reason i want to use subpixel animation, it seems to make my character much more "organic" and alive and the animation much more smooth and almost wacky.

[PypeBros]

now it makes much more sense. i'd say the problem with your helmet is relative move of the different parts. E.g. the "V" and the thing on the left of the helmet seem to have their own movement, regardless of the head/helmet. maybe working on a less detailed helmet first, and then bringing in animation of the details could help.

Good work on the saber and the vest, but you could perfect that "spot" he's got on his belly, which is still just moving straight atm.