How to animate a nice Jump

[emanhattan]

Hey so Im making a game and I´ve been working on the main character/enemy animation for a few days now.

Today I decided to start animating the jump phase of one of them and I just never felt like it came out looking natural.

here it is. The one that looks kinda sketchy is the one Im talking about.

so... can you give me any advice to make this look more like an actual jump?




p.s. I left some other ones  too in case someone wants to give me critique or suggestions about them.

[rtil]

i have suggestions for the jump and the walk actually

i think the main problem with the jump is you're not redrawing any of the torso and the head. i suppose you could get away with the head, but when the body anticipated a jump the spine bends, not leans over. .it looks like he's going to pick something up then he suddenly leaps in the air. i also don't think his legs should bend so much on the jump, or at the very least not be in identical poses.

for the walk, you put absolutely no bounce in his step. the only people who walk without moving their heads up and down are fashion show models, and they train to do that. a natural step has a lot of ups and downs in it - especially if you're carrying something that heavy.

[lenko]

In a game, never put anticipation for a jump. it ruins the flow. if you think about super mario world and even more recent platformers, the characters just jump straight up and never crouch beforehand, because antic. hinders the gameplay.

its technically 'bad' animation but you never notice. gameplay>graphics

also nice fighting stance

[SHADOWFOX2]

for the walk, you put absolutely no bounce in his step. the only people who walk without moving their heads up and down are fashion show models, and they train to do that. a natural step has a lot of ups and downs in it - especially if you're carrying something that heavy.

Hey don't forget about us former band members!
We had to learn how to march without bouncing and play while we did it.
I dunno though, I'm not the animation and anatomy expert, but I kinda like the way you made it.
That may be the best way to distribute the weight of the hammer while he walks.
Whenever I'm doing heavy lifting I would definitely try to reduce the bounce so I don't feel the weight everytime I go down...

Also why aren't you in the TBA game?

[f0d]

I dunno though, I'm not the animation and anatomy expert, but I kinda like the way you made it.
That may be the best way to distribute the weight of the hammer while he walks.
Whenever I'm doing heavy lifting I would definitely try to reduce the bounce so I don't feel the weight everytime I go down...

i strongly disagree

the whole point of animation is to give life to the drawing. the only way a drawing feels truly lifelike is if it has a palpable sense of weight. this would be true even if he were walking normally, with a hammer it should be GREATLY exaggerated. much slower and more deliberate

as for the jump, you should probably have more in betweens when he bends his knees. to give the spring in his step, his legs must be straight when hes in mid air, or at least flailing. your legs are never that stiff in mid air. also what lenko said about anticipation is also true. im not sure the remedy but maybe his walk could be slightly crouched, this would give more weight then when you pressed jump the transition to the up position would look more natural.

[rtil]

In a game, never put anticipation for a jump. it ruins the flow. if you think about super mario world and even more recent platformers, the characters just jump straight up and never crouch beforehand, because antic. hinders the gameplay.

its technically 'bad' animation but you never notice. gameplay>graphics

i never thought about that but it makes sense. it would suck if you hit jump and had to wait even a fraction of a second for it to happen

Also why aren't you in the TBA game?

i am, i still got to make an FP though. i'll whip one up quick before the deadline

[emanhattan]

Thanks for the feedback everybody. you have all been real helpful.
K. for the jump

-Separated the legs a bit more on mid-air.
-reduced/improved the number of frames at the start

keep in mind this is just the "skeleton". When making the real deal I will be more cautious on details like that thing with the spine bending.

so... better or worse?

[rtil]

the "skeleton" part of the animation is the most important part - if you don't nail it now, you're never going to. the legs and the body are still too stiff. i would recommend re-drawing each frame for the roughs. use simpler shapes if it's too much work to re-draw the current ones.

[farfenwaffle]

Your new jumps have the left (red) leg being too stiff.  I had seen it move the feet and that's about it. I would recommend that you do something about it. try to include the arms in this skeleton too, because you need to see where the arms will be in order to have you character look balanced. sorry if this does not make much sense