First experiment with making animals, looking for feedback

[bonobo]

Everything froze as I was trying to post this, thank goodness for the autosave!

 

I posted this image in my wishlist thread after having the idea but I guess this is a better place for it to be seen and evaluated and stuff, so here it goes again!

 

I downloaded and then dismissed blender after a quick look, since making animals in it will be nowhere near as immediate as I would like, too much to learn! Instead I got a pack of plasticine and made this gibbon as a quick experiment, and made a stop motion animation of it doing something relaxing from each angle. (I found the plasticine too floppy when warmed up to do anything other than lying/crouching poses, and will be ordering some pipe cleaners to form a metal skeleton for the other actions)

 

Here is the one completed set of test sprites, and the in-progress photos of the other frames which are currently being processed in photoshop (do excuse scruffiness, this is my worksheet). If you have any advice or criticism regarding them I would greatly appreciate it! I know there are some problems, like I think they're a little too big for the species they're supposed to be, and a bit too dark, and that each angle needs the same numbers of frames, but what else? Is it obvious what is going on in the animation? Are they too dark? Do they suit the game style, is the model disproportionate at all? Head could be a bit smaller, I think. As I posed it and took more photos the model's details got more and more squished, I don't think you can tell at all in the tiny versions, can I get confirmation of that? Overall, what do you think of the idea of stop-motion creatures and would you be interested in seeing more animals made this way?

 

(this is now take 3, seems to freeze up whenever I attach the picture, so uh, have a link instead I guess?) http://i.imgur.com/LhyfpDa.jpg

[(Designer)Vondell]

This is a really interesting way to make new animals and it honestly looks very good at game size! This is essentially the same thing 3D artists do, making a model, posing it, arranging it into an animation, etc. Just with a physical model!

 

I can imagine that it's gonna be a very long and complex process but these previews look really nice.

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

Wow, that is a lot of work. I agree, he looks great!

[bonobo]

It's honestly not that time consuming! I thought it would be, since you always hear about stop motion movies, how it takes weeks to make a few seconds of animation. This is much rougher though, so it only took like half an hour to take all the pictures, and then about an hour to clean up, colour correct, and resize the finished ones. Ordered the pipe cleaners, so I'm looking forward to making some less floppy animations! Might redo the resting ones since I've gotta remake the model around a skeleton anyway. Hmm, any of you know where I might find the official sprites, so I can get a better idea of what sort of animations I'm gonna need to make, how many frames for each one, that sort of thing? Do I remember right that I can access them all via Ape? It's been a while! Like, a decade or so, just a little while.

 

Thank you both, glad you think he looks ok!

[P.Rex]

That's incredible, I've never seen a ZT animal done through claymation before. Though drawing the shadows on each frame must be a real pain... that's really the main disadvantage for not rendering. I had to go through that same Herculean task with my Moschops. >.<

[bonobo]

I'm surprised no one's done it before, with this game being as old as it is (blimey, has it really been 13 years). Thanks, glad it looks ok! I hadn't considered the shadows, I guess for the next version (when my pipe-cleaner bones arrive in the next week or so) I'll set up a lamp to cast a nice shadow in the right place, and just cut that out of the photo in the same way? Or are the shadows separate from the animal sprites?

 

I love the moschops! It's yours? Cool! I'd love to see some more ancient synapsids, they're such an interesting and diverse bunch, dunno why dinosaurs get so much more of the limelight.

[(Professor Emeritus)Professor Paul]

It's because they aren't as popular that you dont see them. Blue Fang only seemed to go for the obvious choices that everyone would know. There are so many animals that should be made!

[bonobo]

Yeah, I guess. It's a shame! How else will all the other fabulous beasts gain popularity if people only stick with the already popular ones? I was just thinking the other day how cool it would be to have some of the really ancient giant sea invertebrates, like the 'sea scorpions'? Or from a little later, the titanic armoured fishes? Just as cool as any shark!

[(Professor Emeritus)Professor Paul]

There are a lot of new ways of making animations (most of which go right over my head) that weren't available back when ZT started over ten years ago. You'd need new animations for a lot of them, but when I look at what people like Vondell are doing it makes me think that there is still life in ZT yet.

[bonobo]

Yeah, fair point, it's easy to forget what was available back then. Like, with stop motion, I was surprised no one was doing it back then, but digital cameras and camera phones were nowhere near as pervasive at the time. I'm glad there's still plenty of life left in these games! I guess the generation who grew up with them is finally old and experienced enough to get into making stuff!