Standing and idle animations?

[thespaceinvader]

Better. Test it and provide timings and pngs please. I'm going to start getting stuff committed again tomorrow.

[Atz]

Fiddled with the anti-aliasing on the mace a bit and tested it in game, and I'm happy with it. Here are the PNGs. Timing is 600ms (base frame), 200ms, 600ms, 100ms, 100ms.

[enchilado]

Tests for the up-down movement of the Footpad's head and chest (are there guidelines as to how humans should move when breathing?):

(head moves 2 pixels above default position)


(head moves 2 pixels below default position)


(head moves 1 pixel above and below default position)



Which one of these looks best? I was imagining the Footpad's breathing to be fast, but not light. Please note that in the finished version the arms and possibly the legs would also move; these are merely tests for how the head and chest will move. Pending feedback I will play around with the arms on the third version.

[thespaceinvader]

Don't do animations this way. Plan the whole movement before you do any detail work, otherwise it's quite likely not to look coherent.

[enchilado]

I hadn't worked out each individual frame, but I was planning in my head to make the club hand go down and tilt inward slightly as he breathed out and pull back/tilt out as he breathed in. The sling hand I planned to bring up and inward as he breathed out and outward as he breathed in. I guess that sounds like they'd be going in opposite directions, but it sort of makes sense (to me, anyway) - the club hand is held in a different position, and is also holding a heavier weight.

How do you plan out your animations? I've never really done them before, so I'll readily accept any further advice.

[Reepurr]

How do you plan out your animations? I've never really done them before, so I'll readily accept any further advice.

The generally accepted thing -correct me if I'm wrong, tsi- is to "block" them out first. Here's a good example of a blocked standing animation: http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 00#p460447

(Also note that the javelineer's body gets bigger and smaller as his lungs expand and contract.)

[enchilado]

Ah, even at that stage it looks amazing. I'm not sure how the Footpad's chest would expand, though - he's got a much lighter frame, so the expansion would be less, and his torso faces straight toward the viewer, which means that a slight expansion would be more difficult to do.

I'm tired right now, but I'll have a go at the blocking out method in the morning.

[Sleepwalker]

Personally I don't block out standing/bob animations, as many features of the sprite will look the same over many frames. I just select+move body parts and redraw the gaps/reshade. Though it is probably advisable that you do block if you are new to animation.

On expanding the chest: There's some tricks to use when one wants to make slight movements. You don't necessarily have to be restricted to the length of single pixels. But it involves use of colorshades, so you can't block those out... If you or anyone else wants an example I just posted one in my animation thread. Scroll down and have a look at the bob animation there. You can see what I'm talking about on the boots and the shoulders of the rider. The shoulders seems to be moving back and forth over two frames but they have actually only moved one pixel, same with the boots.

[enchilado]

I think animations look much better if you don't cut and slide, though. Anyway - how does this look?




(I think it looks a bit too much like he's bashing himself on the head)

[AI]

That looks like a defence animation, not a standing one.

[enchilado]

Hm, I hadn't realised that. Should he not bend his legs at all, or just not hunch his shoulders so much?

[Reepurr]

Hm, I hadn't realised that. Should he not bend his legs at all, or just not hunch his shoulders so much?

I don't mind the leg-bending and shoulder-hunching as much as I mind the fact he's trying to shield himself with his club and sling (or rather, that's what it looks like anyway...)

Personally, I feel that knee-wise, he could actually stand to move a little more - it's barely noticeable, and he's a pretty fast guy isn't he?

[Zoomo]

Hi, I'm a hobbyist spriter I've played Battle for Wesnoth for a long time. I've always wanted to contribute and then I was thinking one day that the lich always looked like he was about to laugh. so I made a idle for him. here it is (please note that 2 and 3 would be looped a few times)

[Rigor]

)))))) can u do that for the rather static ghoul too? or an eyeblink for adepts while at it? or...

[Zoomo]

Do you mean like this?