Quadruped Run Cycle (WIP) Please Critique

Tad Ghostal · Sep 2010

I've been working on this off and on for a couple of days and would love some feedback.

Quadruped Run Cycle v1: [ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzpByHqQaO0"]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzpByHqQaO0[/ame]

Intermission · Sep 2010

The tail looks unnatural, it should have some more of a whip to it.

for example when it reaches its peak and it starts to go down it should whip down rather then just moving with the body, dont forget that gravity effects it differently because of its shape and weight.

Looks like a great start though.

Sukotto · Sep 2010

Like Intermission said the tail needs to move more, all you did was move the end of it when the whole thing should be moving up and down like a whip

I can't figure it out, but something looks odd to me about the hind legs/hip. It looks more like the hind legs are jumping rather than pushing to run.

NuZero · Sep 2010

Looks pretty good, given the pace of the animal the movement range seems right. Though I think with Sukotto's observation, maybe bring the hind legs out further when it is fully stretched out and when it brings the hind legs back in, raise them higher.

Also, when the front legs come forward the neck/shoulder area creases a bit.

Tad Ghostal · Sep 2010

Thanks for the response. I've made a few changes, feel free to comment.

Quadruped Run Cycle v2:
[ame]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3CeXRLrh9Y[/ame]

Y_M · Sep 2010

V2 is better, but the head shouldn't bob up and down as much, look at this cheetah, it's head makes very little movement.

The spine also stays much more horizontal and straight, yours looks like it's rubber.

[ame]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxFArfwpjPU[/ame]

This one is also quite good:
[ame]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uB2a2K6HGI[/ame]

Snader · Sep 2010

The hind legs propel the butt of the creature upward, rather than propelling the creature forward. This wastes a lot of energy, so wouldn't be a good way to run. It also looks to have too little airtime to give a sense of speed.

Could you render a slow-mo version, like that dog-skeleton? That would make it easier to look at the movements.

Mark Dygert · Sep 2010

Too much action in the tail, I wouldn't follow that dog example either they animated the tail incorrectly, always try to find real world reference instead of basing it off of a copy of a copy.

Dog running in slo-mo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdikR_mxp6I

An animal tail is an extension of its spine, they normally use the tail for balance so its kind of odd to have it whipping all over the place. They also steady the tail to keep it from knocking into things and getting injured, even danger prone dogs who have overactive tails when they're happy steady their tails when they run.

Also posting animation in a format that lets people scrub back and forth, is awesome for getting detailed critique. My personal favorite is .mov, which means you have to upload it some place I suggest using a dropbox. If you add a frame counter and people reviewing have what they need to make their job much easier.

Jungsik · Sep 2010

your hind legs look a little bit weird!! one hind leg should come a little bit b4 the other one but your hind legs come down at the same time which makes it look a little unnatural for me , the second tut Y_M posted really shows you how the hind legs suppose to come down

other then that it looks awesome......

Quadruped Run Cycle (WIP) Please Critique

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