Walk Cycle...

[streakofpiss]

Promised my sister i'd make her a character to appear in her own little show thing! Ended up creating a fully functional flash character... I tried to make this look as professional as possible, also got some great story ideas for her! (The good thing about basing characters on real life people :p !) So here she is in a basic walk cycle...

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1540/kelswalk7fx.swf

So, what ya think? Any crits will be appreciated...

Oh, and ignore the mouth for now!

EDIT: Oh ****, i posted this in the wrong forum... Sorry, is there any chance you'd be able to move it to the WIP forum please?

[KOTK]

That's awesome man.

I don't have any crits though.:cool:

[NOOB!]

well done,but it seems a tad robotic to me,maybe her feet are moving too fast,and her arms too slow.

Also it seems to have that sliding effect,where you just get a movie clip and tween it across the screen,that isn't what you did is it?

anyway,i think its a great piece,just needs a bitta tweeking.

[streakofpiss]

well done,but it seems a tad robotic to me,maybe her feet are moving too fast,and her arms too slow.

Also it seems to have that sliding effect,where you just get a movie clip and tween it across the screen,that isn't what you did is it?

anyway,i think its a great piece,just needs a bitta tweeking.

I totally agree, i'm aiming to go for something along the style of atomic betty or fairly odd parents, but i'm really struggling to get the such smooth, flowing movements...

Anyone got any advice or tips?

Any other parts I could move to make the animation seem less stiff? Maybe the walk just needs more personality...

[jahnocli]

Anyone got any advice or tips?
Try making her blink a couple of times, and experiment with matching the speed of her walk across the screen. I think she needs to move leftwards more slowly...

[Terro]

Reminds me of Dexters Lab, it's looking real good.

[pixelmark]

First off; great look! Very Oddparenty. I noticed that every other frame skids foreward. May be instead do another tween there. Should help avoid the sliding and smooth out the movements. If it is a long tween you should be able to select the tween and convert to keyframes and make adjustments there;)

[vicjperry]

I agree so far. There is a "moonwalk" kind of slide in her step. It looks to me, and I ain't no expert, that she's moving just a bit slow with the steps. In other words, she should be walking a quicker pace according to the placement of her feet.

I realize changing it will mean that she'll fly across the stage. Maybe you could shrink her down to cover more of the stage so you can quicken the pace.

Overall, the graphics are great and I for one, love the thick outlines. Tweak it up and blow our minds!:D

[streakofpiss]

Ok, so i completely restarted the walk to make it look less robotic and more natural... The only thing i've animated so far are the arms and legs; i'm also planning to add in some slight head, hair and body movement...

Sooo, what ya think o' this one?

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1024/kelseywalk223zj.swf

An improvement from the first? Bare in mind this is still unfinished, just want feedback on the arm and leg motion!

[KOTK]

Much better.:cool:

[streakofpiss]

Ok, so i tried to make her walk across the screen... I'm really happy with the way the feet work, make it really look like she's walkin'! But she still looks really stiff... and she's doing big jerky movements with her top half! I think it's the lack of movement in the upper body, and the fact that the spacing between the upper body varies from frame to frame that causes it. Better get to work on fixing it then - damn why does animation have to take so long! XD Hehe, I enjoy every second of it though, even though my animations aren't too good and i'm only just really starting out, i love seeing the final outcome of something i've made. :p

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9668/dhgshyrts2wg.swf

See whut I mean? :(
Anyone got any suggestions that could make this better?

I'm just gonna keep going with this until it's perrrrfect!
(This is animated at 25fps on twos by the way, and the full walk loop is 24 frames...)

[KOTK]

Hm, add some upper body movement and see what we get.:cool:

[vicjperry]

I think her right hand stalls for an extra frame. Pull the hand back one frame quicker. Besides that, she looks great.

[pixelmark]

Lookin' awesome! Big time improvement. I think for the upper body there should be more movement in the shoulders (I think). Maybe the one closest to the viewer (her left) should move foreward and back some. Tough to say really. This has a very nice 2D feel, so I don't think that there should be a bunch of perspective changing. Maybe just a bit of shift foreward and back on the swing. Maybe. I don't know. Looks great!

[streakofpiss]

Ok, so i added some upper body movement, which has made the animation MUCH better in my opinion, but still i think something is wrong, but have no idea what!! I also created a version without lines, personally i like the lined version better, but what do you guys think?? Hehe, also put a lil' smile on her face:

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/702/dhgshyrtsfixed1yt.swf

Any more suggestions anyone?? Come on, this has got to look professional by the time i've finished!

[vicjperry]

Looks much better. The smile is a good addition but KEEP the lines.:D I mentioned about her right hand pulling back late but now as I look at it again, it seems both arms are not in sync with the walk. Something about those arms.:confused:

They are either swinging too early or too late. If you can get the arms to swing with the right timing you'll have a perfect little character.

Beautiful design overall. Can't wait to see what else you're working on. Oh, I just can't picture your intro logo opening up for this cutie.:D :D :D

[pixelmark]

Great job! Keep tinkering with it. Try not moving the face back and forth so much. Definately keep the lines (maybe try only removing the lines from the blue/black of the pupil area (?)). Overall the movement is looking truely great:)

[streakofpiss]

So i fixed some more things, got rid of the outline on the iris, and stopped the head moving back and forth so much! Also some other minor tweaks to the animation... Well, this is probably the best so far in my opinion, but could still do with MORE work!

http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/3060/dhgshyrtsfixed5il.swf

Anything else ya can see? Or am I being too much of a perfectionist? But it needs to be almost PERFECT!

Do ya think this will do?

Do you think the hair should bounce with the head?

[KOTK]

There's something wrong here. Looks like she has a limp. I think it's her legs, her right leg is longer then her lft leg.:Blahblahb ;)

I'm curious on how you did the thick outlines.

[vicjperry]

The arms man, the arms!:rolleyes:

[pixelmark]

Awesome! You have really put a lot into this:) . In my opinion (and I am far from an expert) the legs look ok. I think each might appear to get longer as it bends, but she is walking on a 2D line; seems ok to me. The hair and head move is very nice! There is a bit of a stutter at the top of the arm swing. I am all out of crits here, though. She has come a long way, baby!;)
...I hate to make you banannas here, but perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Depends on your audience, really. Someone may like the first one you did better than the one you have spent all this time tweeking. If it is for a client of some type, I would suggest keeping all of the versions. If it is for a love interest, go with your instinct.

*edit* Ok, I'm an idiot. You started out saying it was for your sister. No weird implication with the love interest thing, sorry. But still the point is, get input from who it is for as you are working on it as "perfection" (especially in cartoons) is subjective!

[streakofpiss]

I'm curious on how you did the thick outlines.

Hehe, i'm not sure if i do it the CORRECT way, but i'll make a tutorial on how i do it soon! :D

[pcdoctor]

Please I'd like a tutorial on how to walk and run.
Along with the fla if possible in mx format.

[streakofpiss]

Well, this is probably the final version, I fixed up most little things like jittering and stuff, and she no longer walks on a 2D line... So think I'll call it a day! Unless anyone can spot anything else majorly wrong with it :blink: ??

And here it lies:
http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/5080/dhgshyrtsfixed0ws.swf

TAH DAH!

I burned it to a DVD aswell just to see how it looked on the big screen... Wow, things look so much better on there, was really happy with how proffessional it looked!

[streakofpiss]

Well, just lettin' ya know i'm about to start a RUN cycle now!! But hopefully this shouldn't take half as long as the walk, doesn't really need to be as perfect...

May have to wait 'til after the weekend though before i begin; going to Donnington Park saturday to watch the Moto GPs! :D

Hehe, anyone else going?

[NOOB!]

your goin to watch the motos Gay Parade? i'll pass on that...

yep looks great,lets see da run cycle soon:D

[KOTK]

Nice.

Mr. Greene, show us somethin'.:p

[streakofpiss]

Decided to make a few changes in design to the character before proceeding onto doing anymore animations... I fixed the head up and made it into an oval, which makes it alot easier to rotate the face, and also looks much better in my opinion! What you guys think?

I also changed the inner outlines of the character to black instead of grey... Which do you think looks best?

Black lines:
http://img47.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blacklines0kz.swf

Grey lines:
http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=greylines1ws.swf

[NOOB!]

i think the grey hides some of the stiffness thats still apparent in some places of the animation;)

[vicjperry]

The grey does look better bud. Adding a blink would be cool. I still think the right hand lags behind. (I know, I'm a pain in the ass!!!):D Very nice work.;)

[liam2317]

That's amazing! I love it, I espically like the black out-line, VERY NICE!

[pixelmark]

WOW! Looks great to me. I like how you are really utilizing everyone's suggestions. The grey inner lines really help contrast with the outer black lines. It is all a great improvement. Congrats!

[KOTK]

*Coughs so hard blood splurts out*

Gonna show us how you did the thick lines?

*Wipes up blood off the floor with paper towels*:D

[vicjperry]

Looks like he used the ink bottle tool????