AuthorTopic: Animated Rabbit  (Read 10195 times)

Offline MightyVince

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Animated Rabbit

on: August 15, 2008, 12:40:13 am
Hello everybody!

First post in this forum which seems to be a quite fun community :) . Here's a little rabbit I've done in GraphicsGale for a platformer game I'm trying to do. This is my first pixel-art (my first real attempt at visual art too!) so I'd like to have some feedback on the rabbit itself or/and the animation before I continue making more animations for my little fellow here.

-- ORIGINAL --

Still image :

Walking image :

-- LAST EDIT --

Still image :

Walking image :
« Last Edit: August 18, 2008, 05:45:53 am by MightyVince »

Offline chriskot

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #1 on: August 15, 2008, 01:00:39 am
I like the image. For a first pixel-art it is quite good.

I think that the front paws should push back a bit further. Also, you might want to consider making the ears more dynamic, since ears that big a bound to be at least a bit floppy.

Offline missingno

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #2 on: August 15, 2008, 03:14:01 am
I think you could benefit a lot from increasing the contrast in your colors (and/or maybe taking out a color or two). Your darker shades there (which are still pretty light) tend to be pretty close to each other, and when viewed at 1x they all appear to be a single solid color.

Offline Lunar

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #3 on: August 15, 2008, 03:22:49 am
Very nice for for a first try at pixel art.  Has a nice, clean feel to it.

I basicly second every thing chriskot said about the running animation, apart from those minor details it looks pretty good.

You should definatly try your hand at animating the still image.

-Seth

Offline Cure

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #4 on: August 15, 2008, 04:21:17 am
That bunny is in slo-mo.  I'd expect the scene to take place on the moon.  The bunny itself looks fine.

Offline MightyVince

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #5 on: August 15, 2008, 06:04:24 am
Thanks for the nice and constructive comments guys!

I've followed your good advices and made the following changes :

- Removed two shades and increased the contrast in my colors
- In the process, I've redone the shading
- Fixed the paws so it goes further backwards in the animation

As for the speed, it was just something I forgot to correct when converting the sprite sheet to the GIF. It's now up to his intended speed!

I'll tackle the dynamic ears tommorow (or should I say today since it's 2AM here :-[) then I'll make still animations.

Still image :

Animated image :

Offline kitty

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #6 on: August 15, 2008, 07:08:37 am
Welcome to Pixelation! :]
This is very cute!
Don't forget the whiskers.  Animation is all about subtle details.
never pretend to be drunker than you really are

Offline 0xDB

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #7 on: August 15, 2008, 08:08:13 am
Hi MightyVince,

very nice for a first piece.

I felt that the head was a little too static and made an edit that illustrates how I think it should move more (on some kind of tilted elliptic path, that moves with the rest of the body).
I did not only change the head though, as I got carried away a bit.
I also got rid of the strong line between head and body, which made the two seem too much like separate entities not belonging to the same whole body and I added a leg that seemed missing.


It ended up looking like a bunny who thinks he's a little puppy or the other way round but well, maybe this edit still helps in showing how some head movement can make it more dynamic:

Offline PypeBros

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #8 on: August 15, 2008, 09:31:58 am
the still picture seems very good, and the animation is über-cute, but it does not quite look like a moving rabbit.
At first, rabbits do not jump from their 'standing' position. They are more crouching, the belly on the ground before and after the jump. They could also be running, where they group and extend like a spring (or like a running tiger).

Offline Ben2theEdge

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #9 on: August 15, 2008, 01:43:28 pm
The still bunny is nice but the animated bunny has a few beginner mistakes. Overall it looks like the work of a timid animator, avoiding any large motions. The result is very stiff and lifeless. I have two pieces of advice.

1) Give yourself more room to work with when animating; your bunny looks like he is wedged into a box and it's not giving him room to move realistically. Use a much bigger canvas with plenty of empty space on the sides and top, and then crop it when you're done. This will help avoid claustrophobic, timid movements. Stretch his limbs out when he hops, don't be shy!

2) Try working with keyframes. This is an old, kind of lame example of mine: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=4599.msg57614#msg57614 Draw the extreme positions first and then fill in the frames between. Right now you're trying to make the whole animation with one frame that you slightly modify. This will always yield poor results without exception, it's just too restricting for an animator to create compelling motion. If you want a nice animation you're going to have to draw the character more than once. This is true for pixel art, for flash animation, for theatrical animation, and everything in-between.
I mild from suffer dislexia.

Offline AdamAtomic

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #10 on: August 15, 2008, 07:12:02 pm
If you want a nice animation you're going to have to draw the character more than once.

Quoted for emphasis!  Also your bunny is adorable.

Offline MightyVince

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #11 on: August 16, 2008, 12:47:57 am
Once again, big thanks for the comments and advices! I have the feeling I'm getting better everytime I listen to you guys :P
Didn't have the time I expected to have for working on my rabbit (friends dropping by...) but I still managed to work on a new walk animation made from scratch using your advices. I've only done the keyframes (3) in lineart for now but there's a big improvement I think.

Sprite sheet (keyframe) :

Animation (keyframe) :


I may still keep the old animation for step-by-step "precision" walking (like in the old Prince of Persia) if it still fits...
« Last Edit: August 16, 2008, 02:53:15 am by AdamAtomic »

Offline ndchristie

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #12 on: August 16, 2008, 04:10:14 am
rabbits hop with the hind legs exclusively.  front legs are for keeping chin off the ground only.  shoulders never above hips.  also, try throwing the weight around like they do with those bouncing ball tutorials - they aren't just about balls!



so this sketch is totally LOL but basically - jumping with the hind legs which push the body forwards.  this also is a hop (walking) - loping (running) involves much more air time and the feet come much farther forwards.

while sketching i was reminded of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSn2aZG9eB8, if anyone is familiar/was young in the 90's :P
« Last Edit: August 16, 2008, 04:19:30 am by ndchristie »
A mistake is a mistake.
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Offline MightyVince

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #13 on: August 16, 2008, 06:42:24 am
rabbits hop with the hind legs exclusively.  front legs are for keeping chin off the ground only.  shoulders never above hips.  also, try throwing the weight around like they do with those bouncing ball tutorials - they aren't just about balls!



so this sketch is totally LOL but basically - jumping with the hind legs which push the body forwards.  this also is a hop (walking) - loping (running) involves much more air time and the feet come much farther forwards.

while sketching i was reminded of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSn2aZG9eB8, if anyone is familiar/was young in the 90's :P

Okay, I think I get it, I'll just recapitulate to be sure... (by the way, your sketch really made me go WTF at first - looks like some retarded pig  :lol: )

Animation-wise, let's say when I'll redo those keyframes :

* the first one would stay the same (I guess the starting position is okay...)
* the second image would be the rabbit leaning forward, his hind legs fully stretched (or almost) and his front legs slightly off the ground. The body would be quite streched and slim.
* the third image would be the the rabbit only slight leaning forward, his hind legs slightly off the ground, getting ready for the next jump (cranked up or whatever you may call it), his front legs on the ground. The body would be compressed and "fat".

That's what I could understand from those "weight transfers" you were talking about (the elastic movement of the body). Or is it more for the muscle of the hind leg compressing and stretching ?

Sorry if I didn't make the keyframes to illustrate it, don't have time right now and I wanna get things straight first (will probably still give it a try tommorow anyways)

Offline MightyVince

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #14 on: August 18, 2008, 05:54:26 am
Watched some videos of rabbits hopping around, listened to your advices and came out with this new, more realistic, walking animation :



A little bit less fluid in terms of framerate but better-looking I think. There's still a leg missing in the background but it'll be done later. By the way, I'll probably use this thread to put my other animations I'll have done for this character. Comments and critiques are always welcome!

Offline McStinkus

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #15 on: August 18, 2008, 08:12:09 am
This looks much MORE fluid, not less.  I think you've learned a ton and appropriated it very effectively.  If only I could learn that fast...

Offline crab2selout.png

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #16 on: August 18, 2008, 08:57:31 am
When animating, don't be afraid to make what feels like large jumps in movement. Your bunny hop is missing a bit of kick when he hops and I think it's because you feel that if there's too much movement between one frame and the next then it will appear jerky and unsmooth.

I made an edit to give some ideas on where to go next with this and some possible secondary motions to add. I didn't add any frames, just edited the ones that were there. I edited a frame so that bunny tenses up just before hopping. I reduced the delay between lifting the front paws and kicking with the back. The hind leg is still a little wonky in my edit. Never quite got the foot movement to look smooth. Did a little edit on the tail so that it moves up more when reaching the summit of the hop. This makes it feel like the hop has more strength. I also made the ears droop. I kinda like the ears in your version better, though. Mine might be a bit too much for the animation.




If your interested in learning more about animations, there's a lot of information available in the forum.

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=4912.0 Links to threads with great animation critiques

Look in the Challenges & Activities section for the wayforward animation contests for some more great tips. You might also try looking through the posts by baccaman and Adam Tierney(he posted the wayforward contests). Adam has in the past posted some really wonderful animation critiques that I found extremely informative. EDIT:Conceit posts lots of fun animation tips, too. There are so many excellent animators here and hidden in their posts, past, present, and future, are so many wonderful tidbits

And finally, you can do a google search for animation principles.

« Last Edit: August 18, 2008, 09:01:05 am by crab2selout.png »

Offline Dex

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #17 on: August 19, 2008, 04:25:20 am
I like Crab's edit a lot more- it addresses the only issues I could find. Great improvement from the original, though!

Offline Lunar

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Re: Animated Rabbit

Reply #18 on: August 19, 2008, 04:52:28 am
Much improved  :y:

Very smooth update.  Crab's in my opinion is a bit better.  I think the ears on yours are better though.

-Lunar