Pixel Joint Forum: Having some walk cycle troubles!

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BottleGnomes
Midshipman

Joined: 16 December 2013
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 41

Topic: Having some walk cycle troubles!
Posted: 16 December 2013 at 5:27pm

Greetings! I am new in these parts and was wondering if any of you gentlemen or ladies could give me a hand with my walk cycles! First off I have drawn a man riding a turtle which I am quite satisfied with, but I'm eager for feedback!

Next I have a couple walk cycles that I've been trying out starting with this simple 4 frame walk (contact lift contact lift!):

but when translated into the sprite that I drew over the template, it didn't come out as well as I would have hoped ):

Any suggestions other than just adding more frames or is that the only way I'll get it to work?

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H|F
Commander

Joined: 14 March 2020
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 363

Posted: 16 December 2013 at 5:43pm

Firstly I need to say how adorable the turtle is.

Also only crit I can say currently due to me not knowing jack about animation is that turtles legs kind of rest outward.... Somewhat like a spider but not. I hope you get what the heck I mean.

I think it's legs don't move like cats or dogs or anything but kind of side to side in a more swinging motion.

His legs are cute but I think change the motion and you'll be set.

Love his Lil tail wiggle!

One last thing is I think the grass should disappear it's kind of strange that it's like he's picking it up but it's already there.... And just stays there. He wouldn't try to pick more up unless he finished it

Edited by H|F - 16 December 2013 at 5:46pm

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Noburo
Commander

Joined: 10 June 2014
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 279

Posted: 16 December 2013 at 6:27pm

Outside of smoothing out the animation with additional frames, the reason it doesn't look very good yet is because it is still missing movement in other major body parts such as the arms, torso and head/hair.

Take a look at this walk cycle I made.

You can see just how much arm movement adds, as well as all of the additional subtle movement of different body parts, clothing, etc. I generally find it best to, when starting out animating, over exaggerate basic movement so that you get a better feel for what parts should be moving and in what direction. Do some Google searches for walk cycle templates, and maybe even stomp around and flop your arms back and forth a bit to study your own body movement. You may look stupid doing it, but that's how I learned.

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Mr.Fahrenheit
Commander

Joined: 01 April 2015
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 238

Posted: 16 December 2013 at 7:01pm

Yeah, try to make every part of the body move. The whole should raise, the arms wave, shoulders and hips twist, and head turn.

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BottleGnomes
Midshipman

Joined: 16 December 2013
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 41

Posted: 17 December 2013 at 6:24am

First of all, thanks for all the encouragement! It's fantastic to see that someone can great help on their first post! (:
How does this look to you?

got some of that arm movement in there and it already looks 100x better!

Originally posted by H|F

One last thing is I think the grass should disappear it's kind of strange that it's like he's picking it up but it's already there.... And just stays there. He wouldn't try to pick more up unless he finished it

And I was sort of imagining it as how bad of a mount a turtle would be, walking with grass in its mouth, but still stopping to eat more! Quite a lazy animal, haha.

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Noburo
Commander

Joined: 10 June 2014
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 279

Posted: 17 December 2013 at 6:37am

It's looking better, but now the arms are swinging the wrong way! When you're walking, you arms swing to the opposing direction your leg is moving. Right leg moves forward, right arm moves back, etc. Also, the should movement doesn't make a whole lot of sense as it currently stands. Try this: When each arm reaches it's furthest distance FORWARD, raise the shoulder on that side. When it reaches the furthest point BACKWARDS, drop it down. The shoulder almost moves in a circular motion. If I get some time, I might draw up a wire frame cycle of a walking animation later tonight or tomorrow.

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BottleGnomes
Midshipman

Joined: 16 December 2013
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 41

Posted: 17 December 2013 at 10:07am

How's this?

Edited by BottleGnomes - 17 December 2013 at 10:07am

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Noburo
Commander

Joined: 10 June 2014
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 279

Posted: 17 December 2013 at 2:47pm

Her right should seems to move a lot more than her left shoulder which sort of throw things off. On a side note, it's best to post your art in 1x, as there is built in zoom functionality in the forum, and it allows people to more easily make edits.

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BottleGnomes
Midshipman

Joined: 16 December 2013
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 41

Posted: 17 December 2013 at 6:29pm

Sorry about that! I was just posting it at the intended resolution -

how's that shoulder movement?

Edited by BottleGnomes - 17 December 2013 at 6:29pm

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Noburo
Commander

Joined: 10 June 2014
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 279

Posted: 17 December 2013 at 8:12pm

Much better! In regards to the animating portion, you've pretty much got the overall structure finished. From here, I would add in an extra frame between each existing frame, which will also allow for some more minor movement of hair, clothing and breasts, kind of like in the example I posted earlier. I would possibly also make the arms go forward a LITTLE bit more.

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BottleGnomes
Midshipman

Joined: 16 December 2013
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 41

Posted: 18 December 2013 at 3:56am

Awesome! Thanks for all the advice!

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Mr.Fahrenheit
Commander

Joined: 01 April 2015
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Posts: 238

Posted: 18 December 2013 at 3:59am

The arms should also be a little longer.

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SuperTurnip
Commander

Joined: 29 March 2014
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 301

Posted: 20 December 2013 at 1:44pm

For the walking cycle, might I recommend tilting the torso forwards a little? If you think of walking as controlled falling (weird, I know), a person starts walking by leaning towards where they are headed and letting their body fall forwards, until they bring a leg up to transfer their weight onwards. It's subtle, but without it, your animation doesn't look as good as it could- it's a great start, and there are only tiny details like this until it's a great finished product!

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WIP (Work In Progress)
Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : WIP (Work In Progress)

Author	Message
BottleGnomes Midshipman Joined: 16 December 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41	Topic: Having some walk cycle troubles! Posted: 16 December 2013 at 5:27pm
	Greetings! I am new in these parts and was wondering if any of you gentlemen or ladies could give me a hand with my walk cycles! First off I have drawn a man riding a turtle which I am quite satisfied with, but I'm eager for feedback! Next I have a couple walk cycles that I've been trying out starting with this simple 4 frame walk (contact lift contact lift!): but when translated into the sprite that I drew over the template, it didn't come out as well as I would have hoped ): Any suggestions other than just adding more frames or is that the only way I'll get it to work?
	IP Logged

H\|F Commander Joined: 14 March 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 363	Posted: 16 December 2013 at 5:43pm
	Firstly I need to say how adorable the turtle is. Also only crit I can say currently due to me not knowing jack about animation is that turtles legs kind of rest outward.... Somewhat like a spider but not. I hope you get what the heck I mean. I think it's legs don't move like cats or dogs or anything but kind of side to side in a more swinging motion. His legs are cute but I think change the motion and you'll be set. Love his Lil tail wiggle! One last thing is I think the grass should disappear it's kind of strange that it's like he's picking it up but it's already there.... And just stays there. He wouldn't try to pick more up unless he finished it Edited by H\|F - 16 December 2013 at 5:46pm
	IP Logged

Noburo Commander Joined: 10 June 2014 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 279	Posted: 16 December 2013 at 6:27pm
	Outside of smoothing out the animation with additional frames, the reason it doesn't look very good yet is because it is still missing movement in other major body parts such as the arms, torso and head/hair. Take a look at this walk cycle I made. You can see just how much arm movement adds, as well as all of the additional subtle movement of different body parts, clothing, etc. I generally find it best to, when starting out animating, over exaggerate basic movement so that you get a better feel for what parts should be moving and in what direction. Do some Google searches for walk cycle templates, and maybe even stomp around and flop your arms back and forth a bit to study your own body movement. You may look stupid doing it, but that's how I learned.
	IP Logged

Mr.Fahrenheit Commander Joined: 01 April 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 238	Posted: 16 December 2013 at 7:01pm
	Yeah, try to make every part of the body move. The whole should raise, the arms wave, shoulders and hips twist, and head turn.
	IP Logged

BottleGnomes Midshipman Joined: 16 December 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41	Posted: 17 December 2013 at 6:24am
	First of all, thanks for all the encouragement! It's fantastic to see that someone can great help on their first post! (: How does this look to you? got some of that arm movement in there and it already looks 100x better! *Originally posted by H\|F* One last thing is I think the grass should disappear it's kind of strange that it's like he's picking it up but it's already there.... And just stays there. He wouldn't try to pick more up unless he finished it And I was sort of imagining it as how bad of a mount a turtle would be, walking with grass in its mouth, but still stopping to eat more! Quite a lazy animal, haha.
	IP Logged

Noburo Commander Joined: 10 June 2014 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 279	Posted: 17 December 2013 at 6:37am
	It's looking better, but now the arms are swinging the wrong way! When you're walking, you arms swing to the opposing direction your leg is moving. Right leg moves forward, right arm moves back, etc. Also, the should movement doesn't make a whole lot of sense as it currently stands. Try this: When each arm reaches it's furthest distance FORWARD, raise the shoulder on that side. When it reaches the furthest point BACKWARDS, drop it down. The shoulder almost moves in a circular motion. If I get some time, I might draw up a wire frame cycle of a walking animation later tonight or tomorrow.
	IP Logged

BottleGnomes Midshipman Joined: 16 December 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41	Posted: 17 December 2013 at 10:07am
	How's this? Edited by BottleGnomes - 17 December 2013 at 10:07am
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Noburo Commander Joined: 10 June 2014 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 279	Posted: 17 December 2013 at 2:47pm
	Her right should seems to move a lot more than her left shoulder which sort of throw things off. On a side note, it's best to post your art in 1x, as there is built in zoom functionality in the forum, and it allows people to more easily make edits.
	IP Logged

BottleGnomes Midshipman Joined: 16 December 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41	Posted: 17 December 2013 at 6:29pm
	Sorry about that! I was just posting it at the intended resolution - how's that shoulder movement? Edited by BottleGnomes - 17 December 2013 at 6:29pm
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Noburo Commander Joined: 10 June 2014 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 279	Posted: 17 December 2013 at 8:12pm
	Much better! In regards to the animating portion, you've pretty much got the overall structure finished. From here, I would add in an extra frame between each existing frame, which will also allow for some more minor movement of hair, clothing and breasts, kind of like in the example I posted earlier. I would possibly also make the arms go forward a LITTLE bit more.
	IP Logged

BottleGnomes Midshipman Joined: 16 December 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41	Posted: 18 December 2013 at 3:56am
	Awesome! Thanks for all the advice!
	IP Logged

Mr.Fahrenheit Commander Joined: 01 April 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 238	Posted: 18 December 2013 at 3:59am
	The arms should also be a little longer.
	IP Logged

SuperTurnip Commander Joined: 29 March 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 301	Posted: 20 December 2013 at 1:44pm
	For the walking cycle, might I recommend tilting the torso forwards a little? If you think of walking as controlled falling (weird, I know), a person starts walking by leaning towards where they are headed and letting their body fall forwards, until they bring a leg up to transfer their weight onwards. It's subtle, but without it, your animation doesn't look as good as it could- it's a great start, and there are only tiny details like this until it's a great finished product!
	IP Logged