New animations

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Boucman
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Post by Boucman »

while unit animation is played, the unit moves forward, hits at time 0 and then slieds back to its hex.

no anmation so far really have the walking back part, but nothing prevents the artist from doing it. It would certainly look better


as for your archer melee, I like the idea of having him jump to his opponent. just a couple of details

when you jump forward, you usually don't keep your legs together. it looks find here, but when the unit will be sliding at the same time, it might look a little odd... try to make him jump with one leg forward and one leg back

what direction(s) is this destination supposed to cover. my guess is NE and NW but it might fit SE and SW too...
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slightcrazed
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archer attacks

Post by slightcrazed »

..just wanted to note that when firing a bow, most of the bend in the string comes from the arm holding the bow pushing OUT, not the string being pulled back. I think ranged animations that involve a bow should follow the basic steps that a real archer would use. The bow starts in a slightly downward pointing position, with the other hand on the string but not pulling on it. The hand with the string is pulled so that it is under the chin, and at the same time the bow hand pushes up and out to tension the string. Most of the tension comes from the bow hand pushing out. Not the string hand pulling back, although the 2 do work in conjunction.

Just thought I'd throw in my own 2 cents. The orc ranged animation in this thread is what made me think of it. It's good, but it really looks like the orc has no clue what he is doing with that bow.

Slight
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Jetrel
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Post by Jetrel »

Ok, last modification, I was just looking at it and I remembered something that a art teacher told me once, 'the human eye hates straight lines', and the last frame had a straight line under the head (see posted image), So I got rid of part of that frame (which I don't know why was there in the first place).

Does it look better to anyone but me? Or was it just because I knew that it was there that it was bugging me?
That looks much better - the head tilting down was another thing that needed to be taken care of, and now it has been.
I haven't seen any animations walking back yet (including elvish pilligers princess one) or heard anything about it, so I'll wait untill jetryl says something about it.
The big thing that the orc archer will need is a quick hop after he lands. We have one key point in the animation - the moment of impact - around which everything else is structured. Basically, right now he jumps into the air, strikes, and then flies backwards - the problem is that he changes direction without something to cause him to do so.

The fix is to not to change anything about what you've done, but to add a few frames of stepping back at the end of his animation. What we'll do is move the "impact point", which is also the moment he turns around, to a slightly later time than when he swings the weapon. This will result in him flying forward, swinging his weapon, landing, and then skipping/hopping back to his starting position.

:| It's at times like this when I really wish I could take video screenshots. A pity that snapz pro costs so much.
no anmation so far really have the walking back part
The new orcish grunt animation does have it, and you're right that it does look a lot better.
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Ranger M
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Post by Ranger M »

Orc archer melee: I am going to move the point at which he slashes at his enemy forward to when he is closer to the ground, and change the legs so that they move as he is in the air because this would make sense. I will also add a section in which he leaps back.

Orc archer ranged: Should I change this?

BTW: I always got the feeling that orc archers don't actually know what they are doing with bows, which is why they change to crossbows, but in most animations I would agree with you.
Boucman
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Post by Boucman »

RangerM, did you ever see an inexperienced person use a bow ?

I agree that orcs are bad archers, however, the way your original animation was was not realistic

it's very hard to pull a bow with your arm, and even a complete beginner will pull the string using a shoulder movement.

the difference is that before releasing the arrow, a good archer will have his holding arm straight and his pulling hand next to his ear,

a beginner archer will have the holding arm half folded and the pulling hand on the torso

if you give the orcish archer that sort of movement, it will look clumsy but possible...
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Ranger M
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Post by Ranger M »

well, I have actually used a bow (once), although I have never actually seen a beginner use one, but when I did I remember bending my arm and using my sholder, but then again I could just be odd, or wrong somehow.
a beginner archer will have the holding arm half folded and the pulling hand on the torso
Sounds familiar

bent holding arm and pulling hand on torso. (this may not have been obvious in the animation)
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Jetrel
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Post by Jetrel »

Ranger M: Can you post all of the frames for the archery animation and death animation, as PNGs, in zip files? They're nearly ready to put in-game, and I can take them the rest of the way.
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Ranger M
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Post by Ranger M »

Ok
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Ranger M
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Post by Ranger M »

I have just added a jump back frame to the orc archer.

Any comments? (apart from the shadow being odd)

BTW it is 17 frames, is this a major problem?
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Thrawn
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Post by Thrawn »

except for random dot in the corner in one frame, it loooks nice.
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Tomsik
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Post by Tomsik »

I want to see it in game. :)
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Ranger M
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Post by Ranger M »

I want to too, but don't have write permission to the file IN MY OWN LAPTOP :evil: (my dad is in charge of my root user)

If anyone could add this and show it somehow I would love it. :D

I couldn't see the spotswhen I was making it, as the background was dark and light blue (checkered) will put them on a white background and change it.
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Zhukov
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Post by Zhukov »

17 frames...:shock:

Is that some kind of record?
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Jetrel
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Post by Jetrel »

Zhukov wrote:17 frames...:shock:

Is that some kind of record?
Yeah, pretty much, and I _think_ the animation is basically perfect.

Hot damn.

If you could post the frames for it as PNGs in a zip file, that would be great.
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Ranger M
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Post by Ranger M »

Yeah, pretty much, and I _think_ the animation is basically perfect.
Yay :D

edit: to many attachment, will delete some when I have time (school is in the way, again) and then add the attachment.
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