UPDATE 13.02.2014
I exchanged the animated GIF Images with Links, so it’s less Bandwith and Performance consuming, when you open this thread. I also don’t wanted to open a new thread so i adjusted it a bit.
I was able to improve the runcycle and now i have a new problematic situation.
I have now some animations:
idle, walk, run, melee attack, ranged attack, reload, alerted, damaged, idle in combat.
Everything is fine except one thing: The Arrow.
I have a Single Arrow which is put on the bow on the ‘ranged attack animation’. it also lays on the Bow in the ‘idle in combat animation’ and in the ‘reload animation’ the arrow is taken out of the quiver.
so in all the other animations it’s fine to have it parented to the quiver, but for these 3 animations i need it parented to the Right Hand and/or Bow.
It’s for the Unity Engine so i need all aniamtions either seperate or all in one long set of keyframes, but all animations with the same set of parenting. so i can’t simply switch the parenting of the Arrow. Does anyone have an idea how i could achieve this? Or maybe an other solution?
From 12.02.2014
Hello,
i built a Character which is a mashup between a Rabbit, Wolf, Human. The upper Body is Human Like, the Head Looks like a Wolf with some details of a rabbit (front teeth and ears). the legs are most likley something between a Human and a rabbit (or satyr, pan, aso). He looks like this:
The project Name is just “Archer”, but it’s a Crystal Mine Enemy type. so the bow, teeth and ears are built with crystal elements of the Crystal Mine Enviroment, where the enemy will show up.
I built a Runcycle with 9 Keyframe steps at 30fps (1-4 then it repeats on the other side 5-8 and Number 9 is exactly like number 1 to make it a perfect loop).
So now you know the facts :yes:.
Here is my current Runcycle and i want to ask you if you have any suggestions to improve the runcycle, because i was told it does not look so good:
I just want to mention that the actual animation is faster, i just slowed it a bit down for the GIF animation so you can better see the motions. The texture is also not 100% complete, but i guess, thats not so much relevant for the animations.
OK, what you have there is a good start at a walk cycle. In a run cycle, both feet are off the ground at the high point.
To improve:
Rotate his hips along with the legs – leg moves forward, hip rotates to move the leg even further forward.
Rotate the shoulders opposite the hips. I see a bit of shoulder rotation, maybe a bit more.
You might consider bobbing his head a bit.
To turn it into a run cycle:
Lift both feet off the ground during the high pose. This will also involve him pushing off with his trailing toe in the pose before the high pose.
Definitely bob his head.
Counteranimate the arm holding the bow so the bow is carried in a steady manner rather than simply thrown around on the end of his arm. The bow has a certain amount of weight, and when he is running with it, the constant back and forth rotation would get pretty tiring, prety quick. It wouldn’t be such a big deal in a walk cycle, though, unless the thing were very heavy, which bows are not.
Regarding the texture, rather the design… Wolves and rabbits run on their toes, that’s where their feet have natural pads for supporting their weight and interacting with the ground. Unlike humans, their heels never touch the ground. So a shoe designed for such a creature would have a sole under the ball of the foot and the toe (where the animal foot pads are) and would not extend up the back of the foot to the heel.
You might want to tighten that quiver strap, too, so it makes sense that the quiver hugs his back while he’s moving. Right now the strap is loose at the bottom, so the quiver should bounce around while he runs.
Regarding the texture, rather the design… Wolves and rabbits run on their toes, that’s where their feet have natural pads for supporting their weight and interacting with the ground. Unlike humans, their heels never touch the ground. So a shoe designed for such a creature would have a sole under the ball of the foot and the toe (where the animal foot pads are) and would not extend up the back of the foot to the heel.
That’s really funny that you say that, because it’s exactly what i said to my teammate, when i got to the point of modeling the pads. However it was on the original Drawn Concept so i transferred it to the 3D Model. SO now it will be kept that way and i don’t think it’s a big problem. just a bit fancy.
Thanks for your advice, i will try to adjust the runcycle. I also think i bit less arm motion on the left arm would help and also that both feet are in air during the high pose.
EDIT
You might want to tighten that quiver strap, too, so it makes sense that the quiver hugs his back while he’s moving
It’s already bend pretty tight to the chest. It’s just the angle i guess. i need it a bit loose at the bottom part so it does not clip through the belly when he bends forward. Maybe i can adjust a bit the weight paint (apply a bit to the chest or hips), but maybe i will not change that part on the quiver. Thanks anyway for the advice. i will see if i will change it :-).
Alright i worked a bit on the animation. There is now more impact when he gets back to the ground (head moition). The feet are now a bit longer in the air and also higher. the arm with the bow now moves less. I also increased the shoulder motion from 2° to about 3,5°.
I was able to improve the runcycle and now i have a new problematic situation.
I have now some animations:
idle, walk, run, melee attack, ranged attack, reload, alerted, damaged, idle in combat.
Everything is fine except one thing: The Arrow.
I have a Single Arrow which is put on the bow on the ‘ranged attack animation’. it also lays on the Bow in the ‘idle in combat animation’ and in the ‘reload animation’ the arrow is taken out of the quiver.
so in all the other animations it’s fine to have it parented to the quiver, but for these 3 animations i need it parented to the Right Hand and/or Bow.
It’s for the Unity Engine so i need all aniamtions either seperate or all in one long set of keyframes, but all animations with the same set of parenting. so i can’t simply switch the parenting of the Arrow. Does anyone have an idea how i could achieve this? Or maybe an other solution?
