Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

[Howard Day]

Ahhh, yes. That is an issue. I shall see what I can do.

Okay - added some color to the bot's shadow... Not nearly as easy as I thought it'd be. Joy.

And in the scene -

[CrazyMLC]

The hull, especially close up, seems rather shapeless. I think it might look better with some accenting bumps on it.


And the legs also have a similar problem...


EDIT: Blast! Photobucket strikes again! Sorry about the jpg.

[Gil]

I just realised that Larwick would love this It's like Rustbug: the movie or something.

I love reading these posts. Thanks for the full renders, very delicious to look at. I'll start dishing out comments if I see something go wrong, but for now, I think you're on top of it.

[Howard Day]

Ah, Rustbug. Believe me, I was not trying to copy that.
CrazyMLC: I'm gonna leave the shape as is. For reasons already brought up by Ben2theEdge, the more detail I add, the more difficult it will be to read the shape of this think against the background. As it is right now I feel like it's at the bare minimum of readability - any more detail and it'll just be lost. That's my feeling on it, anyhow.

[ndchristie]

About the firing - it's a little odd.  Basically the flash shouldn't move with the recoil, and the recoil should be pretty much instant.  Right now it's a bit slow, and the flash somehow changes position like it's a solid object.

here's how i might do it with 3 references i found after (turns out on film the flash pretty much happens with the gun still in place, this might be the way to animate too)


http://www.break.com/usercontent/2007/2/Slow-Motion-Muzzleflash-227935.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GljxcqqNeYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOvqG_eTxq4

[CrazyMLC]

Guns really only flip up when being fired because of the way the wrist reacts to the force of the gun pushing back, and because the pivot point of the gun is on the handle, meaning the point that is actually firing is above the pivot point, meaning the gun will alway shoot up a bit.

For the muzzle flash its really just a flame being ejected out of the muzzle, right? I would imagine it would leave a trail of fire.

[ndchristie]

I took the more classic recoil motion (which relies on the way the wrist moves) because it is recognizable, but that's really not what I'm talking about.  What I'm talking about is the fact that the energy blast is made up of particles which are not attached to the gun, and would flare out from where they were emitted and not drag back with the gun in recoil as they are currently.

[CrazyMLC]

Yeah, I was just pointing out the mechanics, and if you look at the graphics of the spider-bot the hinge holding the gun is below the barrel, so the gun should, in theory, tilt up a bit, unless the hinges really tighten up for shooting or something.

[Howard Day]

ndchristie: Thanks for that. I'll see what I can do to adjust the fire animation. More lag on the muzzle flash. I'll also be putting together an idle animation tonight.
CrazyMLC: Yeap, the gun recoil needs some work, too.

And here's what I did today, so far: New background
And re-vamped the first background

So, gonna head out for a bit, then check back in with some new animations...hopefully.
EDIT:
Boom.
Okay, and he idle animation: - and everything together!

[Jakten]

Wow Howard this is absolutely astounding, I could watch this mech all day the walking animation looks fantastic!

Watching your most recent firing animation the kick back seems weird. It looks okay on the machine but the guns should kick back sooner I think. I think it might make it look like it has more force.

Can't wait to see the idle animation!