DKC Atlas Forum

[Qyzbud]

Nice, the *fixed* one looks really good. I'll have a go at modifying your earlier animation, but I can't promise good results!

Will post any progress as soon as possible.

[Geno]

Those plane turning gifs have a very weird quality thing/problem going on.

The sprite looks WAAAAY too dithered (not the parts you edited, the whole plane itself).

[Simion32]

That's because it's a GIF file. The program that saved it probably sucks at saving it with a good palette.

[Phyreburnz]

Okay, this should have been done a while ago... I fixed the order of the Dixie on ledge animation. I had to record her animation on my gba emulator to make sure I got the order correct. I'm going to reupload the PSD in DKLB animation submissions.

dixie-on-ledge-animation-order-fixed.gif (31.6 KiB) Viewed 323304 times

[Phyreburnz]

Here is what I have for the jump puffs (cloud and dust):

cloud-puffs-and-dust-puffs.gif (13.06 KiB) Viewed 323232 times

If the dust isn't quite the right colour, I can change it. I'm going to upload the zipped PSD into DKLB animation submissions.

[Phyreburnz]

This one might be difficult to add into a game. I've made a test animation of Diddy running in the clouds and for that, I made the clouds puff every time he put his feet to the ground. It will probably be most helpful for people to download the PSD and look at the animation I have for it and when the puffs go up. I can do this for all four Kongs.

I tried making the clouds just look like they move backward, but it didn't look as good as when they just puffed from impact of the feet.

run-on-clouds.gif (19.63 KiB) Viewed 323218 times

I'll be uploading each animation of each Kong in the DKLB animation submission thread. This way, you guys (if you want to use it) can figure out when and where to put the puffs. I really have no idea how this would translate in-game.

Here is Dixie on clouds:

run-on-clouds-dixie.gif (19.25 KiB) Viewed 323216 times

DK:

run-on-clouds-donkey.gif (30.77 KiB) Viewed 323215 times

Kiddy:

run-on-clouds-kiddy.gif (18.13 KiB) Viewed 323213 times

[Tonberry2000]

Looking good!

[The Banana Bird]

Those running animations are looking pretty shnazzy

[Phyreburnz]

I'm going back and fixing some of my edits that are a bit off... particularly the turning on Enguarde sprites, since he turns weird.

I've started with Diddy, just because. Does this look a bit more official than my last attempt? I'm still not sure I can get it to look as good as the other turning sprites.

diddy-turning-on-enguarde-2.gif (11.42 KiB) Viewed 322863 times

*EDIT* I've fixed up Dixie's as well.

dixie-turning-on-enguarde-2.gif (11.19 KiB) Viewed 322859 times

For reference, here are the old ones, again:

diddy-turning-on-enguarde.gif (11.42 KiB) Viewed 322859 times

dixie-turning-on-enguarde.gif (10.72 KiB) Viewed 322859 times

[Mattrizzle]

One reason the Enguarde turning sprites look odd compared to the other turning sprites is that the animation is incorrect. Enguarde is unusual in that his animation has four unique frames--none are mirrored duplicates (all fish characters share this distinction). However, you are mirroring his sprite, which results in an odd head-bobbing motion. Also, you have the animation horizontally centered somewhere around Enguarde's tail, when in the games it is centered near the middle of his body.

This is how the animation should look:

enguarde_turning.gif (3.93 KiB) Viewed 322857 times

Applying these changes to the Diddy animation yields the following:

diddy-enguarde_turn-edit.gif (6.35 KiB) Viewed 322857 times

Diddy disappears because one of Enguarde's frames is missing from your current GIF.

[Phyreburnz]

Thanks Mattrizzle. The Enguarde sheet I had was incomplete. I just checked back at TSR and updated it. Now I'll try to fix these animations... again!

*EDIT*
Okay! Let's try this again!

diddy-turning-on-enguarde-3.gif (8.33 KiB) Viewed 322848 times

Now, how does that look? Better?

[Phyreburnz]

OHere are Dixie, DK, and Kiddy turning on Enguarde.

dixie-turning-on-enguarde-3.gif (8.23 KiB) Viewed 322838 times

dk-turning-on-enguarde-2.gif (10.14 KiB) Viewed 322838 times

kiddy-turning-on-enguarde-2.gif (9.46 KiB) Viewed 322838 times

I know it looks like they dip down in the middle of the animation, but that's because Enguarde's face dips down... I guess that's what happens when you try to turn and you're a floppy fish!I tried to keep his dorsal fin lined up with the Kongs' heads as best as I could.

[Cyclone]

They look good. Could you fix the dipping down part of the animation?

[Qyzbud]

Darn those floppy fish! XD

They look much better, but surely it wouldn't be hard to minimise that dipping effect... Kiddy's animation looks great — maybe you could use that as a guide?

Keep up the excellent work.

[Phyreburnz]

Okay, I think I've fixed it.

dk-turning-on-enguarde-2.gif (10.39 KiB) Viewed 322810 times

dixie-turning-on-enguarde-3.gif (8.29 KiB) Viewed 322812 times

diddy-turning-on-enguarde-3.gif (8.59 KiB) Viewed 322810 times

Since Qyz said Kiddy looked good, I didn't edit his.

Dixie, by far, looks the best. I may work on DK and Diddy for a little bit.

[Qyzbud]

I agree that Dixie looks the best — much smoother turning.

They all look better now, but DK and Diddy are a bit shaky.

Good luck with any further smoothing efforts!

[Crammalamma]

I made a mechanical Necky.

You'll need to reverse the animation because for some stupid reason, Tonberry2k put those sprites in the wrong order.
Same deal with the swimming Rambi.
Also, the Enguarde-and-Kong turning sprites look cool, they make me anticipate my upcoming field trip to the Baltimore Aquarium.

[Phyreburnz]

Thanks, Crammalamma! I've fixed the order.

rambi-swimming-correct-order.gif (14.66 KiB) Viewed 322689 times

green-mechy-order-fixed.gif (7.13 KiB) Viewed 322689 times

mecha-necky-fixed-order.gif (6.95 KiB) Viewed 322689 times

[Phyreburnz]

It's been a while since I've done anything new.... I came up with an idea for factory levels... instead of just having ropes, why wouldn't the Kongs have to climb on wires? And what are wires without a little electricity?

The idea here is that once you get on the wire, you HAVE to go up, or you get zapped. I also know that usually wires are just black... but I thought that would be a little boring, so I changed the rope colours with those of the DKC1 factory floor. I think that makes it look wire-e enough...

sparking-wire.gif (7.06 KiB) Viewed 322624 times

This is just a side-note... I was thinking about trying my hand at modeling an animating again... except this time, I'm thinking about using actual modeling clay and doing stop motion with the figures, and then turning that into sprites. I think that would work well. I haven't gotten any clay or anything yet, I thought I'd just share my idea for now

[VideoViking]

I never really thought of that, Phyre. You know, if you were to turn it sideways using RotSprite, the wire can even be used to climb longways, giving it a much more realistic experience. Or (in the case of my game), it can act as a solid physics line where the electricity is always active, and if you land on it/grab it/jump through it, you'll get immediately zapped.

*considers the wire rope and the charges it could deliver*

[Phyreburnz]

I didn't need rotsprite to rotate it. If you're doing simple rotations (90, 180), you can do it in photoshop without it blurring.

Here is a link to the normal vertical wire sheet, and here is a link to the horizontal wire sheet.

[Qyzbud]

Great idea, Phyre! I'm sure you noticed the banana I gave you, but I felt it necessary to praise your brainchild in word form.

I think the electrified-wire-as-rope concept is a really solid one; they could be used in factory/walkway settings, and perhaps others.

I'll share more thoughts as soon as possible!

[Phyreburnz]

Okay, so this is just a test. I got some modeling clay and I tested making a character swim. I'm going to re take pictures and redo the animation, I just wanted to show you guys what I'm attempting.

Here is Snorkl swimming. Again, this is just a test.

snorkl-swim-test.gif (3.41 KiB) Viewed 322571 times

The little guy is just a bit too short, so in the next bit of pictures that I take, I'm going to make the sprites a little bit taller.

Here is my process. I've made a model, which doesn't need to be too detailed, since it'll be drastically scaled down, with a few different colours, and I took a few pictures of it to make it look like it is swimming. I took these pictures, got rid of the background, put them in order, and scaled them down. For me, this is WAY easier than attempting sculptris. I like tangible things when it comes to modeling!

[Tonberry2000]

I think the electric wires would be good for the steel girder/scaffolding stages too. Maybe make some telephone poles to go with the theme, haha.

I like your clay model conversion, but I'm having some trouble reading what it's supposed to be. It's very tiny. The Duck float is a great touch though.

[Phyreburnz]

Okay, here is a larger version of Snorkl. I think these are the finished ones.

Now, I know that he only has the snorkel on one side of his head, but it seems silly to animate both the snorkel and non snorkel swimming sides, so when he turns, the snorkel turns too!

Here is his normal swim animation. I'm thinking he should maybe be a stable character, since he's obviously a bad swimmer.

snorkl-swim-fixed.gif (6.33 KiB) Viewed 322535 times

Here is the turn animation.

snorkl-turn.gif (6.21 KiB) Viewed 322538 times

Here is his death animation.

snorkl-die.gif (6.1 KiB) Viewed 322538 times

Let me know what you guys think.

Here is the sprite sheet. The sprite sheet is significantly lighter than my original animations. I changed the colours to make them brighter and more vibrant. I also have the colour palette.

[Phyreburnz]

Thoughts, anyone? I'd like some feedback on whether or not you guys like this. Would you like me to animate it with the brighter colours?

[Phyreburnz]

I've gone ahead and made an animation of the other enemy that I really wanted to create, Skooba.

Please, give me some kind of feedback. It would be much appreciated.

swimming-skooba.gif (5.78 KiB) Viewed 322510 times

[Cyclone]

Thoughts, anyone? I'd like some feedback on whether or not you guys like this. Would you like me to animate it with the brighter colours?

He is a little odd looking and it's hard to tell what exactly he is. He is holding a rubber duck right?

As for you latest animation. I think the movement and colours are much better.

[Phyreburnz]

Here is Snorkl with the lighter colours. I might still just completely end up redoing his model and animation.

snorkl-swim-lighter.gif (7.14 KiB) Viewed 322505 times

He is a Kremling wearing one of those swimming donut things that's shaped like a rubber ducky. Sorta like this:



I still need to get my other lamp and find a better way to shoot the animations... it's such a pain selecting things in photoshop... very time consuming.

[Qyzbud]

The lighter colours are a must — Snorkl looks much better now!

Just wondering, though... what's the point of the mask/snorkel if he's got the floatie? Surely his head's way above the water!


Skooba is a really cool idea, but the animation could be a bit more convincing. I like it so far, though!

[Phyreburnz]

Well, I haven't done very much... or anything, for that matter, on the claymations....I may do more with that later, as time permits... and when I find a slightly easier way to do it. However, I do plan on making (for the moment) one more custom edited animation for each Kong. I have had the idea of including monkey bars as an additional way to get across gaps. My plans are to just slightly edit Kiddy and Diddy's horizontal rope sprites to make them grab monkey bars, instead and somehow, I'll edit the crap out of Dixie and DK's sprites and find ones that will work for that, too. I've worked on Diddy's but an animation isn't quite ready just yet. Diddy and Kiddy won't take much time, I don't think. It's DK and Dixie that may take a bit longer.

The monkey bars are finished and I do have a sprite sheet of them, but I don't plan on uploading them until I have everything done... I mean, why upload the item when nobody can use it yet, right?

Now I would love to animate some Kremling to swing across the bars, too. What I envision for the monkey bars is for a special move for Diddy since all of the other Kongs have their special thing that only they can do (DK's hand slap, Dixie's twirl, Kiddy's water bounce). What I am thinking for this is having monkey bars typically lead to some kind of special thing, be it an item or bonus. All of the Kongs can use the monkey bars, but only Diddy can attack on them. I was thinking of having him modify his cartwheel to grab onto the bars with his hands and feet, thereby killing the enemy in the way. I thought that would add a nice special ability for Diddy and a cool new feature. When I get Diddy's regular monkey bar animation done, I'll upload it. It may be a little while because I'm moving back to college this weekend.

[Phyreburnz]

Here is Diddy on the monkey bars. Next up for me to edit is Kiddy. Remember, these ones don't have very much editing other than the directions the hands face. Dixie and DK will be the difficult ones. These are easy because of their horizontal rope animations.

diddy-swimging-on-monkey-bars.gif (20.29 KiB) Viewed 322259 times

Ideally, the animation would be faster, but unfortunately, the frame rates don't save. I've had this problem before. I had it set to "no delay" and it looks better.

*EDIT* Here is Kiddy on the monkey bars.

kiddy-swinging-on-monkey-bars.gif (20.71 KiB) Viewed 322255 times

[Qyzbud]

Subtle edits, but very convincing. Great work!

[Cyclone]

I like them. Good job.

[Phyreburnz]

There is quite a bit of editing in this one, and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it as the "final" or if I'm going to edit some more... but for the time being, at least, here is DK on the monkey bars.

dk-swinging-on-monkey-bars.gif (36.01 KiB) Viewed 322236 times

I think I am going to try to fix this one up some more... When his left arm is the one swinging, I think it looks fine, but I'm having a difficult time with his right...

*EDIT* Revised!

dk-monkey-bars-revised.gif (32.3 KiB) Viewed 322234 times

[Super Luigi!]

I'd say the second one is better, although DK seems to suddenly jerk forward when reaching with his right hand. If that issue is fixable, then your animation would look perfect to me after you do so.

[Phyreburnz]

I'm getting tunnel vision from working on this for so long... I need to take somewhat of a break, because I'm having a hard time being able to tell if I fixed all that much...

dk-monkey-bars-revised-2.gif (36.02 KiB) Viewed 322222 times

Okay, to me, his arms look pretty good. It does jump a little tiny bit, but I don't know how much more I can do (at least right now). His feet need some adjustments. There are two jumpy frames and I'm going to have to take some feet and replace the problematic ones.

I don't know, the more I look at it, the less problems I see! Feels like I'm going crosseyed!

[Phyreburnz]

Okay... I think I've done it... I'm pretty sure I've ironed out all of the kinks. Let me know if you think it needs fixed more or if it looks good!

dk-monkey-bars-final.gif (34.46 KiB) Viewed 322205 times

Also, it definitely looks better when viewed in the correct speed... As I've said before, the animation frame rates don't really upload correctly. Ideally, he would go a bit faster.

[Super Luigi!]

Definitely smoother than the last version. The only minor problem I can see is that DK's left hand sort of falls onto the monkey bars. But then again, I would fall to if I let go. So personally, I'd say your animation is perfect.

[Phyreburnz]

I'm a bit stuck at the moment on Dixie. I'm having a hard time thinking of a preexisting animation to modify... I tried the Squawks one, but it doesn't work at all... not enough movement. I used DK's jumping frames to start out and then add in other things to make it work, but Dixie's don't look like they'd fit... I'm thinking maybe trying here skull cart hill frames next. I am still working on this and it may take a while. I just wanted to give a little bit of an update.

[Phyreburnz]

Okay, so I'm pretty damn proud of this so far. What I did is used Diddy's animation as a base and cut bits and pieces of Dixie's sprites that matched as closely as possible. I think this looks pretty damn good. I know there are a few problems, but I doubt I'd be able to fix ALL of them...

dixie-swinging-on-monkey-bars-with-hair.gif (18.97 KiB) Viewed 322047 times

I may end up redoing DK's in a similar way, except using Kiddy's as a base.
So, what do you think, so far? Her hair is a pain in the ass. So I don't know what I'll do to fix it...

[Qyzbud]

Woah, great job so far, Phyre!

I can see the essence of Diddy's animation, but thankfully it doesn't just look like Diddy with cut up bits of Dixie pasted on top.

You've definitely done well here... it's going to be a challenge to iron out the kinks, but it's a very solid start.

[Super Luigi!]

I think you're doing your best, Phyreburnz. Since your best is always the best, I'd say your animation is near perfect. That's what I think.

[Phyreburnz]

I've fixed her hair. I think this looks better.

dixie-swinging-on-monkey-bars.gif (20.49 KiB) Viewed 322010 times

I think this is as good as I can get it. Now I'm going to redo DK's in a similar way.

[Super Luigi!]

Definitely better, Phyreburnz. Good skill and luck redoing DK's animation!

[Phyreburnz]

I think this is way better!

dk-swinging-on-monkey-bars-fixed.gif (23.42 KiB) Viewed 321992 times

[VideoViking]

Very interesting! Can this animation be used for climbing horizontal ropes?

[Phyreburnz]

I would have to mess with his hands to make them grasp differently, but yes. I'll work on that tomorrow, maybe. I might have to wait until next weekend.

*EDIT*

Here is the idea that I had before. My original though with the monkey bars was to give Diddy a special power like Dixie's floating, DK's hand-slap, and Kiddy's water bounce. Diddy will be able to cartwheel on the monkey bars to attack any enemies. No other Kong can attack on the monkey bars. They can all walk across, though.

diddy-attack-on-monkey-bars.gif (20.65 KiB) Viewed 321987 times

This is basically a backwards cartwheel with just a few of the sprites at the beginning and end that have been edited. I may have to edit his feet to make them look more graspy...

I would like to work on a Kremling or something that would be on the monkey bars... I'll have to look and see what I can do. If all else fails, flying enemies could block the way where you can't jump off to get them...

[Qyzbud]

You're doing a great job with these, Phyre!

It's excellent that DK finally has a method for horizontal suspended traversal — one that looks very adaptable for rope use, too.

Good thinking — and execution — with Diddy's maneuver, too; the Kongs have always been rather vulnerable when climbing, so this is a great skill to have. Diddy is probably the most nimble and dexterous of the Kongs — and he has a tail to assist with this move — so I think it's a perfect addition to his repertoire.

[Super Luigi!]

^What he said.

But as for my own thoughts, your DK animation looks amazingly awesome, as well as hilarious. If I was controlling DK, I'd tell him to traverse those monkey bars for a good five minutes, just so I could watch his animation over and over again. Diddy appears equally advanced as well, although I'd only want him doing that for three minutes. I would feel I was making him suffer if I had him cartwheel continuously for five minutes.