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  • Originally posted by golden_boy View Post
    Try holding a large, double bladed axe like that, in one hand with the head pointing slightly downward, for an extended amount of time. Then try to run with it like that. The quakeguy must have enormous strength in his arms and hands.

    Tbh the original has the same problem, that axe should be held in two hands while running or scaled down a lot.
    That is actually why I animated him carrying it in a manner that you would carry a very heavy object. When carrying something heavy in one hand you will tend to keep it fairly steady when running so as to expend the least amount of energy. I chose to keep the animation one handed because I think it gives a much better silhouette in that pose which makes it easier to read at a distance, and it still retains the Quake guys threatening appearance.

    I may scale it down a bit, but I don't want it to lose it's visual impact in comparison to other elements in the game.

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    • Maybe make the shoulders alternate their heights a bit? They seem stiff to me. The back of your animation seems still. He looks a bit like he has a "stick up his bum", as the germans say. The arms do not seem to go high enough.

      The original axe position seems more plausible as he is holding the heavy bit high and kinda stable. That reduces the momentum(?)/force of the axe while he is running. Your position would give a lot of strain on the wrist.

      Right now the position of the axe appears to also extend the box around the model. Since you never know what maps/mods did with models, in my opinion you should really try to recreate them as closely as possible! Less controversy = more adoption.


      By the way, you are impressing a lot of the faithful people who allegedly hate everything new. Kudos!
      Quake 1 Singleplayer Maps and Mods

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      • Originally posted by Spirit View Post
        Maybe make the shoulders alternate their heights a bit? They seem stiff to me. The back of your animation seems still. He looks a bit like he has a "stick up his bum", as the germans say. The arms do not seem to go high enough.

        The original axe position seems more plausible as he is holding the heavy bit high and kinda stable. That reduces the momentum(?)/force of the axe while he is running. Your position would give a lot of strain on the wrist.

        Right now the position of the axe appears to also extend the box around the model. Since you never know what maps/mods did with models, in my opinion you should really try to recreate them as closely as possible! Less controversy = more adoption.


        By the way, you are impressing a lot of the faithful people who allegedly hate everything new. Kudos!
        I will have a try at giving the shoulders more movement. With so few frames exaggerating the movement too much runs the risk of making it look overly stylised or cartoony.

        Holding a heavy object high up offsets the apparent center of gravity a lot and in my opinion this makes the player look unbalanced. When carrying something heavy often people will allow the wrist to rest near the lower limit of it's movement to rest on the joint rather than putting all the stress into the muscles holding it upright. Stylistically having the axe hang low like this also subconsciously gives the impression of weight, and I want the axe to feel hefty.

        Of course all of these things are my opinion and you are welcome to disagree, that is why I am including all my work files so that anybody else with the know how can edit them to their personal tastes. I'll animate them how best captures the spirit of the game in my eyes, of course one person's vision isn't going to be the same for everybody.

        Not that I don't appreciate the criticism! Every time somebody gives me their opinion on the animations I go back to have a look and make tweaks to see if I like the changes.

        It is really encouraging seeing all the positive interest my work is getting. Thank you all for the support, it makes me want to work all the harder!

        Edit: The shoulders were already moving a lot so I tried to look for other things that might be giving the impression of stiffness, adding a bit of secondary motion to the spine has made the movement look a lot less stiff C:
        Last edited by capnbubs; 03-18-2013, 02:31 PM.

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        • Criticism usually means people are interested or excited. Being ignored is the worst criticism

          ( PS: Did you get my PM? )

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          • Holding a heavy object high up offsets the apparent center of gravity a lot and in my opinion
            I agree, though as GB mentioned the original model suffered from this as well. Id suggest "choking up on the bat", meaning move the head of the axe closer to center gravity; the player doesnt need to be holding the end of the handle when running, only when swinging for full reach/motion.

            I hope you take all these suggestions as constructive. I dont think anyone here who has replied to this thread thinks any less than AWESOME, of what you are doing!
            www.quakeone.com/qrack | www.quakeone.com/cax| http://en.twitch.tv/sputnikutah

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            • Changing the axe handle grip position would look weird when going from running to attacking though. :\

              I think I never minded the original animation because the arm and axe are so stiffle together that it somehow seems to work. Also see how he is moving his elbow outwards to balance. The more I think about it, the more realistic it seems.

              Someone get a big hammer and run with it!

              ( I just realised that I find the rounded axe totally heretic! )
              Quake 1 Singleplayer Maps and Mods

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              • I think seeing it in game would help me decide if I like the new ax run poise or not. From here it seems to look good and make sense; The one thing that seems off to me is that he holds the ax from the end of the handle when carrying it. Anytime I've carried such a large tool I would hold it from either the balance center of the handle or at the head. Then when I go to use it real quick (like a sledge hammer) as I bring it on the up swing I let some of the g-force slide it out of my hand a bit then bring it down with both hands.

                or yakno'w...stuff, fok
                Last edited by metchsteekle; 03-18-2013, 03:22 PM. Reason: >mfw a wild 2 posts appear!

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                • ya that's what i was leaning to. As for the attack animations from run -> to swing, even the original skips the wind-up.. (loading orginal to check this)..

                  But capnbubs doesnt really have to conform to the animations of the original!

                  BTW, seems to be a very talented artist ... http://lmgtfy.com/?q=capnbubs
                  Last edited by R00k; 03-18-2013, 03:36 PM.
                  www.quakeone.com/qrack | www.quakeone.com/cax| http://en.twitch.tv/sputnikutah

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                  • Ok!

                    Never spent 3 hours on 6 frames of animation before!

                    I set up a special window configuration in blender just to check it from every angle.

                    Because you people are so awesome I recorded a gif of it for you! C:



                    I decided to keep the axe gripped at the handle because in my mind the character isn't planning to heft the axe for long distances, he is preparing to hack something in the face. I think I managed to get the determined and slightly desperate feel of having nothing but the axe left to kill something with.

                    I went over the whole animation checking for pops in the motion and adding extra small motions to try and make it more natural, such as twisting the hips and spine to shift the upper body mass.

                    It's actually quite a fun challenge trying to squeeze the best motion possible out of 6 frames. I'm happy that this animation is good enough now and anything else I change will just be nitpicking, so I'm going to call it done and move on to the rest of the player anims or I'll never finish this guy.

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                    • Ya thats look perfect! Even a bit intuitive as if he is about to chop up a monster from behind!! ( ItS )
                      www.quakeone.com/qrack | www.quakeone.com/cax| http://en.twitch.tv/sputnikutah

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                      • http://www.myfacewhen.net/uploads/5699-amaze.gif AMAZING!

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                        • Originally posted by capnbubs View Post
                          ...he is preparing to hack something in the face.
                          ^^^^^^^^this^^^^^^^^^^^
                          Name's damage_inc, and killing is my business. Don't worry though, it's nothing personal! Oh wait... maybe it is

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                          • This is awful, I recommend starting from scratch!
                            LOL JK! It's great! WAAAAY better than the original!

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                            • Can't wait to see more!
                              Figured out the problem with the normalmap and offset textures thanks to Splitterface and Seven setting me on the right path. I was focusing so much with narrow determination on the normalmap file itself that I didn't know it was dependant on a file based on the original base texture with the darkplaces naming scheme. Silly stuff... but my logic thought that since the base texture was already built into the model that I would not have to create another base texture. While I did have a file called dog.mdl_0_norm.tga, if there is no file called dog.mdl_0 with the base texture on it it won't work right. Once I renamed the file originally called dogtexture.tga to dog.mdl_0.tga, it worked with the normalmap I made.
                              Last edited by DeadTenor; 03-18-2013, 06:32 PM.

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                              • That looks much better. It looks like you added a bit more form on the shoulders and legs. Nice animations too.

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