Animation Tests

For these tests I have been looking at various run and walk cycles. I am really interested in the movement from Kingdom hearts. I like that Sora (the main character)'s run is very exaggerated in terms of how far the arms and legs reach forward, and how he looks very light on his feet.

I feel that I have emulated the movement quite effectively. I worked especially hard on the key frames, measuring the height of the model's poses up against Sora's. The Kingdom Hearts Run cycle is very bouncy, and has that old game appeal where they are animated to leap really far, but don't actually make it that far with each step. I think this was very common in old games where due to the very tiny pixel sprites, the animation was minimal, but I think this has been reproduced here as a mix between a homage to old games and exaggerated Disney animations.

This animation is a quick test with my downloaded test character, of him retreating in fear. I think that I have done this fairly effectively using the key frame shapes and timing the back steps well.

This animation is an extended version of the above one, to show a continuation of the movement of the character, and how the action of stepping back would result in the secondary action of the character moving forward. I think it is fairly effective, but I think I should probably make the transitions much quicker and more snappy, and have him hold the poses for slightly longer - this would emphasise the acting of the character, and let you focus on the body language a bit more.