Esoteric Software

[OK_Rabbit]

Hi all! Just finished adding motion to one of my drawings with Spine and wanted to share the finished piece

It's my second Spine animation, so definitely learned a lot in the process! I'm very happy with the results and LOVE using Spine. Creating these kinds of "living drawings" has definitely rekindled my love for animation recently!

ghost-idle-draft1-30scale-bones.gif

[Nate]

Looks really cool! You've got some great pseudo 3D going on!

You didn't explicitly ask for constructive criticism, but here goes anyway: the up/down movement is very straight, like she is on a string. Humans don't normally float via magicke of course, but humans aren't rigid, they are squishy, and so it might help to have her posture react subtly to the floating motion.

It looks like you have some offsetting already, but I think more could be done to hide the loop. Some of the movements are secondary motion and so they make sense to be tied together. Maybe it would help if the floating eye movement didn't match the up/down quite as much? I'm not sure how else to hide the looping, maybe Sinisa has some ideas.

Probably the GIF was too large for the forum. I've adjusted the settings, should be good up to 4MB now, though your image is 8MB!

[OK_Rabbit]

Ahh, you're right about the image size! I updated original post with a file that's under 4MB now. I had wondered if that might be the case, but had dismissed it initially since the error I got didn't specifically mention file size exceeded.

Thanks for all the feedback! I see what you mean about hiding the loop I'll experiment with it more in the upcoming weeks to try to implement the changes you mentioned to improve that

And, thanks for the compliments on the pseudo 3d. That effect is my favorite things about Spine animations, I'm so amazed it's possible to get so much depth from 2d drawings!

Comments and critiques certainly welcome if anyone sees areas I can improve upon, or thing I should keep in mind while creating the next

[Harald]

The character looks awesome! Very cool 3D effect, so captivating!

[Sinisa]

Hey OK_Rabbit!

Really cool animation! For a second Spine animation, this is amazing! Congrats!
If you want to improve it, there are a few polishing tricks you can do.

First, always start with the hips. Its a good practice to try to get a circular, or figure-eight motion in the Idle animations. So your hip bone doesn't just go up down in a straight line. It can be really subtle.

Second, offsetting the body parts. So your legs are just following the hips. Right now they are moving parallel together. Try to delay one leg for example, and change the pose slightly.

Third, the secondary animation like the eye. Try to make different timing. Right now it is moving the same rhythm as the whole body. Try to vary this a little.
The same goes for the overlap and follow-through animations like the headband and the chains around the arm.
Try to think of it as they are made of different material, the force of the character moving will influence them differently. For example, the headband will not move the same as the chains around the arm.
Overall you have a great thing going on here! I'm loving the art style and pseudo 3D is great!
Hope this helps,
Keep sharing!

[OK_Rabbit]

Hi Sinisa,

Thanks for all the very specific feedback, much appreciated!

You know, I didn't notice that static hips and synchronized timing as a problem at all previously, but it seems like such a glaring omission now that you and Nate have mentioned it

Anyhow, I think I understand what's needed in all the points you mentioned, so will work on improving for a hopefully much better animation loop New version coming soon(ish).

And, thanks Sinisa and Harald for compliments on my work so far

[Jamez0r]

Second animation? Geez. It looks great!

[OK_Rabbit]

Thanks JamezOr!

To be more accurate, I do have previous experience with animation in other programs, this is just my second Spine animation Working with loops, meshes and pseudo 3D is all new to me, but the latter two seem very intuitive. Loops and good timing are more challenging though I've been watching all the "Call of Guardians" Twitch streams - super helpful (and very inspiring)!

I think I'm going to need to re-do (or at least modify) the rig for the hips, torso, and dress on this ghost lady though. I've been thinking about it all morning, and it just doesn't seem possible to get good motion on hips the way it is currently