Animations ~updated again~

[Xion]

Wow, these are like the first animations I've done in forever...
I don't really do animations, so I figured I'd get some practice.


I was thinking about making a death animation for the second one - all juicy and blood-spattered, and a walk cycle for the first one. I'm fairly pleased with the outcome of both, considering my lack of frequent animation.
Anyway, C&C, please.

[Crazy Asian Gamer]

I still remember that one with the little karate guy I used to reference motion blurring for my avatar, heh.
Anyways, for the first one, there should be a secondary shadow that appears and disappear according to his muzzle flash. The walk is very smooth for the second one. It's also not as great as something I'd expect from you animation-wise, but the piece itself is pretty cool.
Lemme guess, uh... 6 frames? Looks like something that can run on 60 FPS. Good job.

[Xion]

Thanks.

Anyways, for the first one, there should be a secondary shadow that appears and disappear according to his muzzle flash.

I thought I had that...

Lemme guess, uh... 6 frames?

Nah, more like 10. I completely wasn't paying attention to the number of frames when I made these. That'll be my next mission. (Thanks for reminding me.)

The walk is very smooth for the second one. It's also not as great as something I'd expect from you animation-wise, but the piece itself is pretty cool.

Thank you.

As for that Karate guy, I tried making something like a sequel to that, but about halfway through my compy screwed up and I had forgotten to save it. T_T. That style is much harder to do than these two things.

Ack, I just noticed that the green guy's front-fore leg seems to drag. Well, I'll try an' fix that, I will.

[DrDerekDoctors]

*love* the second one in particular. So smooth with sub-pixel movement that reminds me of Metal Slug a bit. Very creepy, if a little monochromatic.

[Silver]

Those are quite some of the best animations I'v seen In a while .
Great job with them xion night ..

[Hase]

oooh yeah. we donīt get nearly enough animation here at pixelation. especially the second one is very cute. and Iīm all in favor of a messy death animation (duh).

[Xion]

Thanks, guys!

I'm not so sure about these colors...especially the yellow. I tried adding bloodsplats to the pointy legs, like they're used for stabbing or something, but it's hard to get that through with this tiny scale. Well, I added some other animation tweaks as well.
C&C.

[edit]

Alright, this makes me smile. It keeps the green palette without looking too monotonous.
[/edit]

[Conzeit]

this is great Xion, I have seen you making some strides and you showed in that gamemaking activity you have good ideas, I'm glad you got into animation.

your results are great too, I'm glad you got into the subpixel vibe right away. I suggest you try some one bit effects and frame redrawing now, I think you got the right basis.

now spread the word, tell everybody how fun and easy animation is


first guy has a simple action and his animation is just the right complexity for the action, no crits there.

is your second guy supposed to be biologic? I guessed so because you mention blood for a death anim, I think he looks pretty damn mechanic though. if you still want to use the more greenish highlights I'd say put them on the head/torso.

I think you should keep second guy's legs with the blueish hihglights, those are really pretty colors and you should expose them as much as you can.

[Matriax]

great animation, very fluid, but think is a litle slow for me 

And about the robot, i will change the ilumination when shot. I will added a litle of "white" for more sense.

A litle edit:

[Niss]

Hell xion the second one is fantastic. Makes me wanna do some animations right away. The coloredit is abour right, the red is maybe a tad bit too saturated. Oh well  - go make more heh?

[baccaman21]

Xion, These animations are excellent. Particularly the spider tank. The motion on legs is great. The movement on the head is great. The colors ae great.

you may want to try bumping the back end of the body up or down as it's looking a little too rigid... maybe that's the effect you;re going for though...

I've just bodged it a bit... to give u an idea...

[Captain Blood]

your results are great too, I'm glad you got into the subpixel vibe right away.

Subpixel technique in animated sprites has always given me a headache.  Is there some advice you can give to learning it better?

[Darion]

The second one is great, though I think the head movement is too exaggerated. I know there isn't enough room too make it subtle, so I suggest using AA to create the movement.

The robot is just too stiff right now. I know its a robot, but yours is like ... "static". The whole animation looks rushed, to me.

I am impressed, though. Nice job.

[Xion]

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I'll try to take all you guys' advice into account when I update both images.

your results are great too, I'm glad you got into the subpixel vibe right away.

Subpixel technique in animated sprites has always given me a headache. Is there some advice you can give to learning it better?

I hope ya weren't asking me, 'cause I have no idea. I just try what looks good, with selout and all. I just try to make the pixels move in "half-pixels"...If that makes sense.

The robot is just too stiff right now. I know its a robot, but yours is like ... "static". The whole animation looks rushed, to me.

I guess I could've spent some more time on it, now that I'm looking at it. I see exactly what you mean. I could redo the whole upper-body's pose to make some something more dynamic, and add some more recoil(?).

is your second guy supposed to be biologic? I guessed so because you mention blood for a death anim, I think he looks pretty damn mechanic though. if you still want to use the more greenish highlights I'd say put them on the head/torso.

I started out with a robot in mind, but then he got a bit greenish, and started looking more and more organic. So really, I don't know. But I kinda like that mechanically organic (or vice versa) quality.

Xion, These animations are excellent. Particularly the spider tank. The motion on legs is great. The movement on the head is great. The colors ae great.

you may want to try bumping the back end of the body up or down as it's looking a little too rigid... maybe that's the effect you;re going for though...

I've just bodged it a bit... to give u an idea...

Thanks! Your edit is a bit too jerky, but I see what you mean.

Thanks again, peeps, and I'll see what I can improve with the next update.

[Conzeit]

so...is 2nd a rbot or not?

EDIT: UGH...XD what was I thinking...I shouldnt've posted this hurried when we were waiting for the equipment c.c

I meant biologic, is it biologic or not?

[Xion]

Uhh...No?
Edit:

I meant biologic, is it biologic or not?

Yes indeedy. I've decided on biologic.

[Xion]

I'm greatly pleased with the improvement of both.
Thanks again for all the advice, guys.

C&C please.

Edit: Fairly minor update:
Oh yeah, Animation is fun and easy. More people should try it.

_{...seriously.}

[Conzeit]

Oh yeah, Animation is fun and easy. More people should try it.

_{...seriously.}

LMAO quoted for truth 

me likey that green blast effect you made, only thing is it doesnt really match the jittery motion of the robot, I think it would make sense if the origin was always the gun's nozzle, or atleast a little more erratic and not so set exactly on the initial nozzle position.

I dont really like the way you've exagerated the jittering movement to be honest, it was right on the spot before...sometimes it is not really a good idea to put everything you can into a picture, less can be more. I do like the idea of changing the lighting on the robot when he fires BUT, if you are only going to mess with the shine on his pallete it's not really worth it, I belive the best result is obtained if the ligthsource is COMPLETLY switched to the nozzle with really high contrast, and the flashing is very quick (which is exactly the way it was handled in EWJ1) if it lasts too long or the lightsource change is too tame it has been done so many times before it just looks tacky in my eyes.

the spidery thingy is looking incomplete to me, it shows that it was originally meant to be monotone, and it also shows you want to make it bilogic and a bit richier in colors and pallete. but it is neither here nor there, I think to make it truly biologic looking you'd have to imagine the role it could have in it's habitat, so you could decide wether his skin pattern should be a camouflage, a warning for venom (bright colors) or whatever. obviously the neck wouldnt work at all if it were to be biologic.

honestly, if you dont feel like applying all this critique and moving on to better anims, I wouldnt mind, in fact I think that would be best. I enjoyed the anims the way they were the first time they were posted, and I would love to see more of that.

[Krizmo]

omg. Tht is so good Xion. It really inspires me to do some pixelling But not right now 'cause I'm still a tad bit drunk. Good job, I love these animations

[Xion]

Aight, back to these.

Walking animation. Heavy WIP. I know the upper half sucks, but I dunno what to do with it...or with the arms that aren't on it yet.
C&C very welcome.

I belive the best result is obtained if the ligthsource is COMPLETLY switched to the nozzle with really high contrast, and the flashing is very quick (which is exactly the way it was handled in EWJ1) if it lasts too long or the lightsource change is too tame it has been done so many times before it just looks tacky in my eyes.

Thanks for the advice. I might revisit that later, but for now I think I'll take your other advice:

honestly, if you dont feel like applying all this critique and moving on to better anims, I wouldnt mind, in fact I think that would be best. I enjoyed the anims the way they were the first time they were posted, and I would love to see more of that.

Oh, you're absolutely right about the 4-legged alien dude. I was acting on a series of whims, rather than thinking of it as an actual creature.
Thanks for the crits.

omg. Tht is so good Xion. It really inspires me to do some pixelling But not right now 'cause I'm still a tad bit drunk. Good job, I love these animations

Thankee.

[Crazy Asian Gamer]

To be honest, I'd say that the upper body movement is hard only because the bottom half movement isn't very... well... natural... for a robot.
Not only does the knee bend... err, not enough, but the robot groin area is weird in how it moves the robotic thighs. Also, it appears a bit too fast to me. Slow it down a bit, bend the knee joints, and give the robot a little bounce. Follow it up by just predicting how the arms would act by thinking about the forces involved in walking in that manner.

[Conzeit]

yeah, main thing is the high speed and lack of torso movement, the stiff knees make him look like a penguin. put some strength into his...stomp for the lack of a better word

though maybe you were going for an awkward peguin like walk.......in that case I think it's ok :p

[Dhaos]

Dang, sweet stuff xion. That alien dude is great, nice movement, and quite creepy.

For your walk anim, remember that when walking your body lowers and raises itself with each step, and to some degree moves forward, depending on how forceful the movement is. You could also add some delays within the robot's segments, giving more weight to the bot. Basically the thigh might move 1 px before the calf/foot, etc...

Anyways keep it up, your doing very well

[Matriax]

Wow, great improvement in the robot animation.

Oh yeah, Animation is fun and easy. More people should try it.

XDDDD yes sure....(more sarcastic)

I'm very bad in animations, and for animate persons(anatomy) .... well i never animated a character ,  and after view you animation here, are very impresive for me 

What program you use for make the animations? you learn to make animations with any tutorial? yo can post process?...  for me is very interesting.

[Flame]

Awesome stuff and it is a pleasure at looking some well done animations 

[Xion]

Ah, thank you.
@ Matriax: If you never try, you can never succeed. It's like you've failed before beginning. Really, I encourage everyone to give animations a try. Especially characters. I've learned alot from the crits in this thread, and I hope that my next animations will be even better.

What program you use for make the animations? you learn to make animations with any tutorial? yo can post process?...  for me is very interesting.

Actually, I use GGale, and Take1. I use GGale to make the characters and animate. I really suck at the keyframing thing, so I pretty much just animate as I go. Once all the frames are done, I go back and add minor details, tweak the animation, and do t3h palette tweaks. since i only have the trial version of GGale, I export the anim then go into Take1 to do additional tweaking, add transparency, and fudge with the timing. Tada!

Well, I'm sure I'll find a shorter way soon.



Really, animation is fun if you don't have too high expectations for yourself. Try something simple at first, like a small, walking cartoon character w/ simple shading.

[Matriax]

Well, yes i make a lot of animations, and try make , but is very dificulty for me , and sometimes is imposible.

A long time ago i made and animation with "microangelo" in pixel-art, i going to post a thread to post the animations, i made an animation with 600frames XDDD, but well is a small animations .

Thanks for explain you steps, and information