Walking Sequences

[bluemonkmn]

I'm no judge of stance animations, and I don't know what makes one good, or if they can be great, but it looked alright to me .

[Vincent]

About the stance animation, I think it could be improved a little by following the head movement.  I'll try to explain what I mean.  If you look at the head movement it is quite even and goes back and forth slowly during the whole animation.  I think the whole body should follow the same rhythm.  I think that a normal stance animation is determined mostly by the attitude of the character (aggressive, passive, panicked, etc) and the breathing.  The attitude determines where the limbs are positioned and the breathing determines the rhythm and the range of some limb movements.  In your case, I think you should follow the head movement, because the stance of your character is pretty neutral.  He doesn't seem stressed or about to attack or flee.  The head movement is pretty relaxed and fits well with what I see.  I think you could improve your animation by making all limbs follow the head movement, which means, pretty slow, even and without a great range.

And about the C# video on neural networks: the guy reminds me of Sheldon in Fun with Flags!!! Haha! 

[durnurd]

And about the C# video on neutral networks: the guy reminds me of Sheldon in Fun with Flags!!! Haha! 

This.

[v6v]

About the stance animation, I think it could be improved a little by following the head movement.  I'll try to explain what I mean.  If you look at the head movement it is quite even and goes back and forth slowly during the whole animation.  I think the whole body should follow the same rhythm.  I think that a normal stance animation is determined mostly by the attitude of the character (aggressive, passive, panicked, etc) and the breathing.  The attitude determines where the limbs are positioned and the breathing determines the rhythm and the range of some limb movements.  In your case, I think you should follow the head movement, because the stance of your character is pretty neutral.  He doesn't seem stressed or about to attack or flee.  The head movement is pretty relaxed and fits well with what I see.  I think you could improve your animation by making all limbs follow the head movement, which means, pretty slow, even and without a great range.

And about the C# video on neural networks: the guy reminds me of Sheldon in Fun with Flags!!! Haha! 

If you have the time, can you draw a basic picture?

[Vincent]

Okay, I'm very bad at drawing.  I won't even try, it's that awful.

So I took a screenshot of your video, cut out the character in segments (I guess it's pretty much how you did it) and reassembled them quickly to make gif animations.  They're not perfect and you can smooth them out (only 3 images per animated gif here), but I think you can get the idea even if they are a little jumpy.  The movement is pretty even all along the animation.  It is subtle and slow in the base stance (relaxed), more obvious and faster in the fight stance (breathing heavily).  See the attachments.

[v6v]

Okay, I'm very bad at drawing.  I won't even try, it's that awful.

So I took a screenshot of your video, cut out the character in segments (I guess it's pretty much how you did it) and reassembled them quickly to make gif animations.  They're not perfect and you can smooth them out (only 3 images per animated gif here), but I think you can get the idea even if they are a little jumpy.  The movement is pretty even all along the animation.  It is subtle and slow in the base stance (relaxed), more obvious and faster in the fight stance (breathing heavily).  See the attachments.

My only gripe with the fighting stance is that the hero is looking downwards Vincent, but the rest of the body is in a perfect position, the standing an fighting stances look good otherwise, I'm going to model my next two stances after those.

The first one is around the area of what I need, nothing specific while nothing showing any specific emotion. I'll use the second as a fighting stance, seeing as players like variety!

I really hope I can get people to use my animation program to help me with these once it's out, I'll get a new one out as soon as I finish tuning this wwalig animation I'm working on.

[Vincent]

I'm glad you liked it.

About the looking downward in the fighting stance: it depends on the style of combat you want your character to use.  If you go for something like boxing, kickboxing or mixed martial arts, the default fighting stance is to lower the head so your chin gets about at the level of your shoulders.  This way round attacks like hooks and roundhouse kicks will probably hit your shoulders or have so little space that they have a hard time reaching your chin.  I could explain why protecting the chin is so important but I think this is not the point here.     Also, when you fight, you usually don't look your opponent in the eye, unless you want to play some mental game.  You usually look at the chest area and don't focus on anything in particular.  This way your peripheral vision allows you to see leg attacks and arm attacks coming at you.  If you look your opponent in the eye, you are exposed to lower attacks because they are a little out of your vision range.  If you focus on something in particular, your eye will follow this target and forget about the rest.  Ok ok, I'm going too far again.     But anyway, you can trust me on this, I've got 24 years of several martial arts behind me to back it up.   

So, it's just to say that I made the character look down on purpose because I gave him a boxing like fighting stance.

[v6v]

Ok ok, I'm going too far again.     But anyway, you can trust me on this, I've got 24 years of several martial arts behind me to back it up.   

So, it's just to say that I made the character look down on purpose because I gave him a boxing like fighting stance.

I wouldn't question any man with 24 years of martial arts experience, well, not without expecting a broken arm or leg afterwards

It makes sense when it's explained! I understand now.

[Vincent]

Great!  But that doesn't mean you absolutely have to keep your character looking down.  If you think it looks weird, straighten it up.  It's just a game after all.  :p

[bluemonkmn]

Consider another question - is your character going to be fighting in hand-to-hand combat or not? If not, maybe this isn't the right stance anyway.

[v6v]

Great!  But that doesn't mean you absolutely have to keep your character looking down.  If you think it looks weird, straighten it up.  It's just a game after all.  :p

How did you put the animated GIF together? I can't find decent software to do this, I would love to share what your poses look like officially in the animation program

Consider another question - is your character going to be fighting in hand-to-hand combat or not? If not, maybe this isn't the right stance anyway.

You have a choice, whether to run or fight, that's what makes the game so fun.

[bluemonkmn]

You have a choice, whether to run or fight, that's what makes the game so fun.

What I mean is, will it usually be hand-to-hand combat or some other kind, like with a weapon or vehicle or mind control ?

[v6v]

You have a choice, whether to run or fight, that's what makes the game so fun.

What I mean is, will it usually be hand-to-hand combat or some other kind, like with a weapon or vehicle or mind control ?

Arg, I almost forgot, I'll need to remake my animations to deal with weapons, sorry for the misunderstanding

[Vincent]

Hey, sorry for the late reply.

I use photoshop 7 to make gif animations.

[bluemonkmn]

It's also possible to make animated GIFs with GIMP.