first walk, run, climb and jump cycle test

[Gametrog]

OK, first shot at some walking. If you are new at AS like me, this was a GREAT learning test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbhV4InRRhE
(when I posted this youtube was still processing the video...)

Im fairly happy with the initial walk, seems like it would be perfectly fine for short periods.

Then come the stairs. I had already committed to the walk cycle speed, so changing the speed of the stairs, as if my man were to slow down a bit and not hit the stairs at the same velocity, was possible but not easy (for me right now anyway), it just didnt look right. Plus, as soon as I break the walk cycle and head up the stairs, from that point on, until he steps off the stairs was frame by frame, so that took a little time.

There is math that would help on the stairs but it is late and I didnt feel like doing math. But for a project, it would be the thing to do.

Anyway, I was happy with the stairs, I look at it as if he is on an obstical course that does not slow down! : )

Then i tried making him run, which again almost goes frame by frame if you want to build up speed. I got some of what I was looking for but not all (and it's getting later in the night). But longer strides might help, plus there is no background to help the illusion. I was able to copy/paste a chunk of walk cycle and then modify those frames to speed up the process some. when he hits break neck speed, it is an 8 frame cycle with no gaps.

Then comes the jump. If It wasnt so late i would have worked on the anticipation a bit more, I did do some, but some tweaking would be nice. And at the end I would have made him stumble a few more steps but I got to get to sleep!

Let me know what you think.

Erik

[Gametrog]

The first hig-rez version is still uploading or not gonna make it, im not sure. but I also posted using AS feature here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uruLIF97Lg

kinda grainy but it is just a walk test

[slowtiger]

Good work!

If things look odd, it's not a matter of technique but of real animation knowledge now.

The walk is OK, albeit I think the ankle is a bit too stiff. The stairs need more "jump", you could achieve this with lowering the body befor the first step (anticipation), then put more vertical movement into each step upwards. Stairs are footwork mostly, less legwork. In contrast to a normal walk climbing a stair means to make contact with the toes first, both up- and downwards.

The run is OK speed-wise, but you can't make a run from a walk because they're totally different. In a walk both feet have contact to the ground at the same time. In a run they don't - a runner spends most of the time in the air.

The jump would profit from more anticipation and follow through - again it's mainly the vertical body movement which needs exaggeration.

[Víctor Paredes]

first walk, run, climb and jump cycle test

It's an ambicious test for a new one. The good thing is that this works fantastically! I agree with you and slowtiger, it needs some more anticipations and maybe rescale the time on some parts, but the whole thing works great

[PARKER]

This is marvellous, you did it great Gametrog, i hope to see more of your works very soon .

[Gametrog]

I appreciate the input! (by the way I've checked out all 3 of your guys stuff ad there is some very nice work going on).

I did increase the stride on the run and tried to have no contact frames, but still needs work. An easy out would be to just put some Road Runner/Sonic spinning circles for the feet! : )

I would like to have him turn and walk back the other way, say around a phone pole or something. And a nice animated bouncy turn around the pole, not just a flip. Im wondering how difficult it will be to have some fairly complex NON-linear action like that. It seems like it is not easy to "replace" frames, unless I was to build some complex Switch frames, basically I guess I could do frame by frame and hide them in a switch frame. In the end I dont want it to LOOK like a stiff flash animation.