AuthorTopic: Pixelated anatomy studies + more animation  (Read 23889 times)

Offline Scribblette

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Re: Pixelated anatomy studies

Reply #30 on: July 09, 2009, 02:01:43 pm
Oh, that. Yes, that's a certainty - the main character won't be symmetrical at all. This part is just the basic anatomy & animation bit. I'll have plenty on 'him' once I can get the basics right. :) WIPs in the morning.
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Pixelated Anatomy|Foliage

Offline Scribblette

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Hips, counter balance and inversed logic? - updated with images

Reply #31 on: July 10, 2009, 01:01:14 am
Something is just not making sense to me. I struggled for ages until I figured out what it was - in short, to me it looks as if Robotacon's edit is being viewed from below - as if it were walking on a glass ceiling. The arms and leg movements seem to be inverted. See his below left, mine on right.



I'm not sure, though. Input appreciated.

AFAIK, forward-down view = right hip twists forward, right foot lands forward, right shoulder swings back.

I thought that from a perspective a little above the sprite, as the shoulder goes back, it goes 'up'. Likewise, the hip going forward would go 'down' a pixel.

If I have this wrong, I am very very confused, as the hip would then be going up the same time as the shoulder, resulting in my anatomy lines (on the far right) having no counter balance.

Apologies if I'm somehow not comprehending the blatantly obvious.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2009, 02:43:26 am by Scribblette »
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Pixelated Anatomy|Foliage

Offline robotacon

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Re: Pixelated anatomy studies [+ new stick animation]

Reply #32 on: July 10, 2009, 08:48:27 am
You're totally correct.
I misread the perspective and thought it was straight on and not from above. That's why I thought the shoulders was rolling too much.

I still don't understand the perspective but your current version looks better.

Offline Atnas

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Re: Pixelated anatomy studies [+ new stick animation]

Reply #33 on: July 10, 2009, 04:56:35 pm
Actually they are straight on but Scribblette's trying to animate it from top view? At least that's what I'm seeing.



A while ago a friend I knew from my days using rpg maker asked me to design a template for an RPG. On the left is the rpg maker default character and the right is what I got before I stopped working on it. It's sketchy, but note the perspective difference between the two. I think, if you want to include the animation you're describing you'll need to bump up the perspective a few degrees.

There are two commonly used methods of foreshortening. Non-perspective and perspective. I drew three example cylinders, the first two are drawn with non-perspective foreshortening and the third with perspective foreshortening. Which method you prefer is, in the end up to you. I've found that 2d games are very... flat in the sense that they are mostly based upon a grid which does not change as it recedes into the distance, or as it approaches the foreground. But what's important are the symbols, so 3d likeness is a sort of low priority when you factor in everything. However, a lot of jRPGs are more passive and so the artist can afford to be less concerned with making things immediately readable. I don't think I've seen many jRPG styled games using perspective foreshortening, if they use foreshortening at all? But since you're trying to go for top view animation I thought I'd present you with some variations on this.



What I'm saying is, your templates up till the black guy, but then resuming at the stick figures, are all somewhere around the first cylinder. Somewhere between the first and the second cylinder is a happy spot where there's enough angle for good depth and not enough angle to obstruct information. Keep in mind, you can also apply the last cylinder not only to size, but to levels of detail. This has it's uses, like obscuring the unimportant parts of a figure. From my experience the head and chest are more important than the feet and legs of a figure. So it can help you out if you're having a lot of trouble with the lower legs/feet.  ._.;

Edit: rewrote foreshortening paragraph for accuracy
« Last Edit: July 11, 2009, 04:46:16 pm by Atnas »

Offline Scribblette

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Re: Pixelated anatomy studies [+ new stick animation]

Reply #34 on: July 13, 2009, 03:46:57 am
btw, Robotacon, pretty please don't let my confusion put you off throwing in your edits. They've been marvellously helpful - perhaps moreso when they're based off of something I didn't communicate properly, because then I get to stumble around figuring out everything in the vicinity before understanding it absolutely. :)

Atnas, that's right. I messed up a bit - I wanted the perspective per RPG Maker, yet a thread around here had Helm explaining the advantage to having your character look you in the eye. I'm somewhere between wanting the character to look down, yet be able to look you in the eye without looking like they have a funny crick in their neck - between your first and second cylinder there, as you were saying.

...I always thought that the HK and RPG Maker sprites had a shoulder go up one pixel when it swung back, yet on closer inspection now it seems they don't - they stay steady. Huh.

Hrm... drawing is complicated enough as is, and I was hoping to be able to do many different poses (skydiving etc, which brings its own angle issues)... I'll come back to this shortly with the black fellow.
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Pixelated Anatomy|Foliage

Offline Scribblette

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Whee, muscle babies!

Reply #35 on: July 13, 2009, 06:45:16 am


The animated meatbags are from earlier attempts, here for contrast.

Skeleton 2 (up) is simply Skeleton 1 (down) + shoulderblades to see how legs would need to be different per perspective/angle. Skeleton 3 is attempt to compensate for that, but has wobbly knee issues I'm looking to resolve.

Foreshortening on horizontals is also an issue. Stick figure is just flat on. The darker silhouette didn't work out in the legs especially - not enough space to shade in the same style as the female.

Honestly, I'm finding their faces - as a raw template to mostly cover NPCs - just lacks... cuteness. Maybe they need to be a lot more super-deformed - or maybe they're just better off without a visible mouth.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2009, 04:11:24 pm by Scribblette »
Now reading: Animator's Survival Kit, Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain, Fun With A Pencil. No time to pixel!
Pixelated Anatomy|Foliage