All language subtitles for 17. Realistic Running Animation Production

Hello, everyone. I'm Li Zhenting from Wingfox

Today we'll deal with running animation, as you can see

Running is very common in games when it comes to human characters

whether they are MPCs, Mobs or Boss

They all take on humanoid forms

In short, running is inevitable in games

Thus it is a must to make the running animation properly

because it stays in players' sight

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Generally, this is the field of vision for our game players

Basically you can only see his back, this is a kind of 2.5D game

In 3D games, we can turn around like this

So the action of running is very important in animation

That's why I must cover it in the series of classes

OK

Without further ado, let's get started

As this is just a normal running

so 20 frames is enough I think

You can either cover it in 18 or 22 frames

It depends on you, but for me, 20 frames

unless you are making sprinting animation

I will talk about it in the next lesson

I mean, after I finish the normal running part

First thing first, don't spread the legs too wide

Another point is that, similar to walking with heavy steps

if you want a man to run viciously like Hulk

keep his legs far apart and shoulders swinging

But for a heroic figure, like a superman

make the pose as handsome as possible to show his strength

Today my preference is to make him look handsome and smart

At the first frame, let me lift the model up, as is my custom

You can decide on your own or follow my way

Make him lean forward, which is quite natural

One leg in front of the other, you may wonder

You may wonder if we can start from the pose closest to the ground

Of course you can, it is totally up to you

But it's better to start from this posture in my experience

But there is no such limit

as long as your final result is desirable

Oops, the body is lifted up too high, I think

OK, well

Remember to put the leg in, closer to the body

as if the leg slides over here when he is in the air

Many just keep the leg straight all the time

The leg should pose like this, as you can see

It is highly recommended that you do like this

OK

Now let me set the sliding key for the legs

for I need to deal with his the body

The body pose in the running is quite simple

But you should remember

a man shouldn't sway greatly from side to side

it is acceptable for women

You won't get satisfying result if a certain body part moves too much

It is important to make him look stocky and solid

such a kind of feeling

Moreover, it's very easy to make the running with heavy steps

Apply the theory of walking with heavy steps to it

Just put two and two together

One more reminder, don't arc his back like this at the first frame

What we can do is to lower the body a little bit

Don't arch his back, remember

The arm should pose like this

Then move on to the next arm

Yes, that's the thing

Actually, it's recommended to start from the finger pose

or you'll not feel the thing, a feeling of running

How to pose the fingers

Make a fist, right

Make the hand clench a fist and then copy and paste it

Adjust the arms next

Such is the pose made at the first frame

which is actually a little different from my last version

Slight adjustment is needed here

I can't assure that I can make the pose the same

every time, neither can you

When this pose is done

the following step is quite easy, just copy and paste it

Adjust the pose of feet

Copy them here, and set a free key

Rotate the body to this side

as you can see

This wasn't the least bit difficult to do

Such is the initial pose made for the loop

The remaining two poses include

the pose at the lowest position and of applying force

and repeat the process one more time

The action of running covers the three major steps

Needless to say, the leg going forward must touch the ground

Lower his body slightly

and raise the foot in the back

Set a free key on the feet

OK

Poses on the body and the legs are completed

More exactly, the pose on the waist, this part not included

Similarly, straighten these two parts up

Lift them up

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Great

It is acceptable that you bend this part even more

as long as his body is kept balanced

Alright, like this

It's unnecessary to make each pose according to the reference

As there are so many images online

showing especific steps for running animation

it's hard to get the full effect from the reference

In my experience, I have the faintest idea about

those pictures by solely observing them

Literally I know what the pose looks like in each frame

but not why it poses like this, I have no idea

Nobody can tell me the exact reasons

I hope you can get what I mean

Therefore, you need to understand the pose by yourself

with the help of a mentor, I mean "understand"

For example, the frame when the COM is at its lowest

is similar to that for walking

The foot needs to touch the ground before going up

Once the foot touches the ground, the body is compressed

This foot goes forward and the crotch should go this way

to keep the body balanced

Let me show you the details with the aid of Tulin whiteboard

Pose like this to balance his body

Like this

You must be familiar with it, right

For example, the whole body is in the shape of a "C" at this frame

while at the middle frames, in such a shape

The changes in the shape actually shows how the force acts

Don't you think so

At the first frame, the leg poses as the line shows

Here the leg poses as this line says

and how about his leg at frame2

I'm sure the leg goes forward like this

and moves backward like this

and then, here

then go as back as possible

The whole process

More practice, better understanding

Let's play it and have a check

Alright

One problem is detected w

I haven't add sideways move to his body

as you can see

Let's check by playing it in a slower speed

Do you think the body is compressed too tightly

It's OK now after adjustment

Alright, the poses for both sides

Then we need to work out the frame for getting forces

which is actually quite easy

Let me show you

Stand on tiptoe and swing the leg back

Then click the crotch

As this leg goes forward, the COM should be twisted like this

Pull the COM forward and up

the position of the COM

Then the body goes up

From this side, you can see the posture of his leg

but how to pose his body

Here comes a key point which is ignored by many

Lower this part and also the upper one to trigger force

Got it

The body must have a tendency to turn upwards

which is a vital part

Then set free key for it

It doesn't matter whether you set a sliding key here

For this pose, I just set key frames manually

I am used to setting it manually

Set a free key and drag it here

Got it

Few frames are needed for a walking animation

but you need to chase perfection

This is the result calculated by the system automatically

It is quite demanding

to aim for perfection

There is no quick fix

Don't be impatient with it

Definitely not

There is nothing easy in making animation

A layman might say animation is a piece of cake

It is quite misleading, I think

Please shun these liars

In my 7 years of experience, I never feel it easy

The more I learn, the more confused I get

I feel there is always a lot more to learn

I redefine what a good animation is once and once again

In the second or third year, you may feel good about yourself

But over time you may discover that you are just a freshman, like driving

You may drive very fast in the first few years

and hope to catch up with any driver

the further you drive, the slower you are

We need to be in awe of everything

We need to know our limitations

to do something perfectly

OK. Let's continue

Lift this part up a little bit, for he is leaning forward

The priority is balance

OK

Try stretching his leg

All right

As mentioned, a sliding key is unnecessary for the feet

You can add the inbetweens here

This leg is pulled too straight

You can supplement a frame here

It is all up to you to set a sliding key or supplement one

Very flexible

as long as the final result looks desirable

I put more focus on the overall effect

See, these frames

The leg swings back, which acts as a buffer

Let's have a look, stay patient

With all these done, copy some frames to both ends

as there's no ease-in or-out in the beginning and end

so that their movements are stiff and tight

Now let's come to the foot

Oops, I remember that I have done it

Let's find out what is going on

It is a little bit too high

It seems that this foot goes up a little higher

Lower it slightly

Therefore, we need to lower it at these two frames

Here I need to add some inbetweens

His foot moves too fast at these several frames

we need to adjust the foot at the two frames

A shorter distance, see, a transition here

Make some adjustments

How about the other foot

Also, adjust it

Make sure that you adjust the pose of legs properly

otherwise you will feel uncomfortable with it

Do you think so

The ultimate goal is smoothness in his movement

Alright, I am not satisfied with the leg

because of too much movement for transition

Make it smaller

Pay special attention to the range of motion

Now it looks much better

Let me show you the one I made for a comparison

You can see his leg seens to stiffen in our case

The reason lies in the position of the COM, it is too high

When the body goes down, the COM shouldn't be that low

The lower the COM is, the more wildly the leg swings

We can fine-tune these parts

which may make up for the animation effect

As you can see, much better

Slightly adjust this foot, too

Act as complements

Moreover, for the arms, delete the orginal frames

before adding new ones

In this case, the model jumps higher than

the one I previously made

It's totally up to you to decide the range of motion

if you need a larger range of movement for the upper body

then do not spread the legs too wide

If there is smaller movement for the upper body

you can spread the legs wider

On touching the ground, the leg should be turned outwards

Press it down, and then pull it inward

Let's play the animation to have a look

The effect comes out

Smoothness is a must for the animation

Then let's talk about the head

How to pose the head

Another follow-through

Following animation, remember

His chest seems to move faster than normal

We need to set a time lag for it

The same with this part

Always remember to keep his arms and body stable while running

Quite stable

Stability is a must

Let's move on to his arms

Add an animation layer to the arms.

By the way, I won't divide running animation into several lectures

as we can cover all the details in one video

As the arms use the strength in advance

they are certain to reach the front before other body parts

Arms are in place before others when swinging back too

This is what we get from the side view

What's next then

Collapse the layer

and add this pose to the arm as you can see

When moving forward

the arm is pulled closer to his body

in order to create such a feeling

Let me show you the result

The same is true of the other side

The arm reaches the expected place in advance

Good, but the hand seems to be lifted up too high

Lower it down

Then collapse the additional layers

and add some rotation to the arm

Let's have a look

Collapse it

Obviously, the range of movement is smaller than

that of the previous version

The COM in the first pose is put a little higher

Other poses are OK

Do more practice by referring to what's shown in the class

Follow me

Practice makes perfect, one day

you will get it done even with your eyes closed

That's enough

Remember the relation of the arms to the chest

There is a time lag between the movement of the arm and the chest

The same rule is true of the other side

Do remember it

No matter what methods you take, you are aiming for a good result

So much for today, we'll talk about sprint animation next time

All right, see you next class