artisticdude's Art

[melinath]

My worry with that one is that he looks like he's about to topple over backwards.

Keep in mind that movement is a constant balancing act. To walk, we have to constantly be putting ourselves off-balance. We can't freeze at every single part of the motion and be balanced. He's fine, because he's moving - he's in an unstable state, but that's because that's how it works.

(That is to say, he's fine if it looks good in context.)

[Zarel]

Or buy a better photoshop, as it comes with ImageReady, a program made for animations.

No, it doesn't. Old versions of Photoshop used to come with ImageReady; new versions no longer do.

For modern versions of Photoshop, I think you're supposed to buy Fireworks separately for animations. It's a ripoff. :/

(I have Photoshop CS4 but not Fireworks.)

[melinath]

http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

[Frogger5]

And artisticdude, if your interested, I also need an animator

For the Seljjian guys? (Sorry about the spelling, but I can't look it up in the editor).

Once they are good and ready was what I meant. right now I'm sting working on them.

Edit: Sorry I misread your post. Yes i meant the Seljjians, (and you did spell it right).

[artisticdude]

@melinath: so you don't see any glaringly obvious mistakes in that frame? If not, I'll go ahead and see if I can compose a somewhat-decent GIF in photoshop (I'm gonna try out GIMP soon).

@Frogger5: Hooray, I may not have passed my spelling exam the other day, but I finally got something right! Anyway, I could help you out if you want when you're finished with the base frames. But I've got to warn you that I'm no great shakes as an animator (look how many pages of this thread have been devoted to the animation of this guy).

BTW, I just want to state that I have now reached 100 different frames for this master swordsman, or sword master (I honestly can't even remember the correct name now) scattered all over my hard drive. My computer is like my room: messy in an organized way.

[thespaceinvader]

Again, you're focussing heavily on single frames.

If you find it difficult to make animated gifs, why not try my technique: lay out your animation as a line of stills, going in the right direction, on one image. If you're interested, it's easier for me to explain what I mean by sending you an example from my work on the Drakes, once I get home from work.

I find this can make it easier to visualise where thigns need to go, because working on individual frames, one after the other without a good indicator of direction can make life confusing. It also makes life a lot easier if you want to re-use animations, since you can movwe all the bits around in one big sheet, rather than having lots of individual frames - you could say it's rather like a sprite sheet technique - except wesnoth doesn't use them.

[artisticdude]

Again, you're focussing heavily on single frames.

Oops. I keep forgetting to look at the animation as a whole. Thanks for the reminder.

it's easier for me to explain what I mean by sending you an example from my work on the Drakes

Sure, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[thespaceinvader]

See attached.

This is the plan for the Drake Fighter's melee attack. Note the various rotations of things which need to rotate scattered around, which I tend to do in advance (using flips and rotations, and minimal redrawing, a set at (from vertical) 0 degrees, 30 degrees (1 px across to 2px up straight lines) 45 degrees (1:1 lines) and 60 degrees (2:1 lines) is usually enough (this is more obvious in some of the other drakes (see the slasher one, the second - I didn't include only this one, because it's a different sort of animation, designed to strike without the unit sliding at all)

[artisticdude]

Thanks again, tsi. While I work on that, here's a GIF with the frame everyone liked best added in.

[thespaceinvader]

Needs far less motion blur on the rotation frames, but definitely looking better. Something still bothers me about it a little, though.

EDIT: partly, the motion blur simply isn't big enough. It squeezes the attack in too much. It should be a lot higher above his head. I think I'm also a little weirded out by the fact that he's essentially windmilling his arm. Having tried the motion out a couple of times myself, I don't do that - preparing for the motion is the most economical way of moving, which is to move the sword in a straight line, not swing it.

IYSWIM.

[Zerovirus]

That stuff should totally go in the frankenpack, tsi.

I think you need like 1 or 2 more frames, to make the motion blur more smooth.

[thespaceinvader]

All the new drakes probably need chopping up for frankenpacks - they're too new for anyone to have done it yet. If people want my sprite sheets for the purpose, they're pretty much welcome to them, although they'll need to get in touch.

[stimj]

He clicks his heels o.O

To me, that doesn't seem too natural (or manly). When you switch foot position, typically you don't lift both feet at once.. I mean, you're talking about a guy in full armor here and he's jumping in the air just to move his feet. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of suggestions on what to do differently, maybe try leaving his left foot on the ground and rotating his right leg up from the hip. Dunno. Maybe some others have other suggestions or maybe I'm just crazy. Always a possibility.

EDIT:: I was thinking something more like your second option above - just more exaggerated.

[melinath]

Having tried the motion out a couple of times myself, I don't do that - preparing for the motion is the most economical way of moving, which is to move the sword in a straight line, not swing it.

IYSWIM.

I agree that the motion blur is too constricted - should be more out by the tip of the sword. However, I think that the motion problem comes from the basic nature of this animation. The way I conceived and blocked it - which is what artisticdude has based his animation off of - is that the unit shifts back and preps, then leaps forward and strikes. I'm not saying this is economical, physically possibly over long periods of time, or good swordplay, but that's where the basic motion comes from.

Still, trying it out again, I think that TSI may be right that the sword is a bit windmilly. I think the problem is the second frame - the object I'm holding when I try it out doesn't end up pointing down at the ground that much, and my right arm is not that straight. Definitely something to check out.

However, the basic circular-ish motion remains... swinging an object around like this creates a big motion (which is good) and IRL lets you use the momentum from the backswing on the forward swing.

@Zerovirus's comment: I think more frames would be okay, but I think a lot of it is a matter of speeding up the frames that already exist.

[artisticdude]

Hmm, maybe I could have him plant his left foot on the ground while he raises his right leg, instead of jumping. Will work on the motion blur, but I'm afraid I don't quite understand the 'windmilling' part. I thought, since the motion was initially too small, plus the fact that he's wielding a broadsword, would provide enough momentum to make such a huge swing reasonable, or at least remotely believable. But since I want this guy as close to mainline as I can possibly get it, could someone perhaps include a rough sketch or something to give me an idea what I need to do to fix the windmilling? As for the frames, I don't think you're going to notice the jerkiness in-game, it's just the lousy GIFs photoshop produces (I'm still looking into getting an upgrade for that darn program, so maybe my GIFs will improve soon). Sometime I'm going to have to test out the TC on this guy, because for all I know it may not work at all (though it should). I think I might also try to create a .cfg for him some time and test the animation to see if it is too jerky, and what frame duration to use. But for now, I've made few adjustments to the shading on a couple of the frames and added in the actual recovery frame. Sorry in advance for the GIF.

PS: Yes, I know the shadows are awful. WIP.