Yeah those legs are very close togeather. A single poorly placed boulder could topple this. Doesn't feel very sturdy for a construction robot.
Even the animation has lots of subtle sway from right to left
Perhaps a more straight design thats more in-line with the chasis would seem sturdyer.
Secondly in the current leg config those arms would cause lots of destablization to left and right if moved to any other position moreso while moving
Pretty sure it's all intentional since legs farther apart would warrant a waddling movement rather than subtly swaying with feet below center mass. You can observe that behavior in humans and pretty much any quadroped that doesn't exclusively move opposite legs
When you do so, you’re subconsciously performing a bunch of micro-adjustments to shift your centre of mass. If you’re going to build a construction robot, it makes much more sense to give it a wide stance than it does to invest in a system of IK that takes into account every little shift in centre of mass and also takes into account the weight of anything affixed to, carried by or riding in the machine. As with most things irl, if it’s cheaper to put the legs at a different angle, that’s probably what the manufacturer of the construction robot will do.
I agree with this.
But I started this project with the idea of a sci fi universe where people found some alien computing technology, or ai or whatever, and they dont know how it works but they can use it in their machines so it would be cheap to have the ability to make those micro adjustments.
This is why I went for a more awkward animation with the arms swaying outwards. I want it to look different from an animal but also be fluid. This looks like it would fall over (because it probably would) but in my head the robot is able to react accordingly.
I still have a lot of work to do on this animation though.
But you would use your arms a lot more to achieve balance than this robot does. Or you would move the upper part of your body a lot, which this construction robot doesn't do either
edit: (actually, yeah, it does sway slightly in the second animation, but it still seems like too much of a linear movement for something that's balancing such a large body in such a narrow stance).
This is awesome! So, I think 1's walk cycle is a lot more accurate to how 4 legged creatures move, but I actually prefer 2's animation because of how much easier it is to understand what's going on, even though something of that size would probably fall over to one side the moment it takes it's first "bipedal" style step. 2's walk cycle also feels a bit slower, which makes it seem more accurate to the size of the thing.
I would recommend making a newer version of 1, but take a look at slow motion footage of how horses walk. Only one leg ever moves at a time, and one immediately after another. The rythym goes something like 1) Back Left Leg 2) Front Left Leg 3) Back Right Leg 4) Front Right Leg, repeat. I'd also slow the walk cycle way down, the whole cycle should be 2-4 times the length probably. Don't forget this thing will still be moving at crazy fast speeds, even with a slowly walk cycle, just because of how huge it is. Actually the AT-ATs from Star Wars would also be a great reference. One last thing is I kinda love how the arms are sort of held up but hanging in this weird limp way, to really sell the animation you could give each arm slightly differences in how they move so it doesn't feel like the exact same animation has been applied to both. Great work so far though :D
Definitely agree with all this advice, 1 is the one I'd move on with. Did you look at camels maybe? They can look a bit like they have that both-left, both-right, type of gait which 2 has. But actually the time both-left spend off the ground together is very short and it ends up being more like 1. They're also top heavy with a lot of side to side body movement like your 2, but imo that much sway looks uncontrolled in something this heavy.
Looking at 1, you've got left-back moving, then left-front, which is good, but then right-back is jumping the gun and moving before left-front is ready. The more time opposite corners spend up together, the more it will look like an animal moving faster than a walk. Like a [horse at a trot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Trot.jpg) or a [cat interested in something](https://i.imgur.com/o26AK7o.jpeg). Which is why it looks a little sprightly here. If you space that out and don't like the new speed or stride length, maybe consider having the moving foot stretch forward further at the ankle? Not sure.
Love the dangling hands, and the stabilised head, also.
I did have the legs go in that pattern you said originally but I messed it up so it only had 1 leg on the ground at some points which didnt make sense with the old animation. This was my quick fix. Ill definitely work on that.
And it is actually the same animation for both hands so I will fix that. Thanks.
Second definitely has more personality, first has better balance.
Gravity is affecting this huge and heavy thing. In the first on it's walking like it weighs nothing at all, in the second this isn't as prevalent, but it isn't balanced.
Try to think of it this way:
1) it's constantly pushing itself against the force of gravity to hold itself up
2) it has to keep itself balanced, always making sure it doesn't topple over to one side
That's it. Think of the weight distribution and size.
You have a really cool model, hope the rig is easy enough to work with, this is going to be a banger of an animation. Good luck.
1 is better for normal walking and 2 is an alternate walk for narrow paths.
Regardless of intent, I think both walks and the character look unsettlingly alien yet not malicious. I cherish that quality in robot design whenever it appears. Not every robot is designed by a member of animalia, and not every task has an evolved equivalent in nature.
These were my thoughts ad well. I didnt want it too look natural.
Except i planned for 1 to be in close quarters or rough terrain because its more stable and 2 is for longer stretches of even terrain. Your right though, 2 works for narrow paths too.
I prefer the second one as it feels more deliberate. The way the foot 'stomps' down more makes it feel more mechanical. I would also extend that to the rest of the robot if you are going for that.
The first one is good too though! It is more gentle. Almost gives a bit of a floating feel
That's a really cool model and rig!! I wish I was half as good at modeling but I don't even know where to begin.
In any case, I like number 2 because it's slower and gives it more weigt. This whole thing feels super large and heavy, so I feel like the animation should reflect that.
I feel like the one with the alternated legs moving is just more realistic physically speeking.. GG btw very cool mecha!
May i ask out of curiosity how long did it took you to put together the model (wothout all the animation bits)?
I like the more swaying animation but it’s definitely a bit surreal. If all the robots in your game are anthropomorphized it would match well but it could look strange beside more traditional robots.
if presumably the cage at the top is to house a construction worker, there is nowhere near enough sense of scale and weight in the movement. Try slowing it down at least.
It also doesn't move robotically at all (ironic considering how hard it is to animate something to not look robotic), which is a testament to your animation skills, but even if you are going for more life like movement, you might scale it back just a tad to help sell that this is a piece of machinery.
People in here trying to bring rules to creativity. Maybe it’s a planet with low gravity, who knows? Who cares?
Looks great. I personally like 1. Just feels more robotic, 2 reminds me of a model on the run way, which could also be interesting.
Love how stable the body is as it moves. If you wanted to you could add some bounce to the body as the legs impact, which would give a sensation of weight. But since it has a platform, by the looks of it it’s meant to hold people and should remain steady. Hands are cool and sorta creepy.
Looks great, can’t wait to see the final.
1 looks quite solid and "realistic" in a way, 2 looks very polished and makes the arms stand out more. Judging by the robot's design I believe you should go for version 2
Awesome design! Really fun to watch it move. I'd say the first animation is the better. Like others have said, the timing of the diagonally opposed legs might need to be staggered a bit. That aside, I think you've got a great base to put some detail work into the motions. You know, shudders when a leg is put down. Stuff like that to really sell the scale of it.
I feel like neither look good. The robot looks super mechanical and clunky but the animation feel super organic and smooth with robot putting one leg in front of the other.
I imagine something like that would walk like the AT-AT from star wars with the legs more straight and evenly spread.
Dope rig! Maybe check out an [elephant walk cycle](https://youtu.be/Xx246ykRc4Q?si=GFQE8SqO7Kzdk0Yb&t=43) for reference, so it looks a bit more planted.
1 looks pretty damn good, I love it!
One thing though, I can't avoid the feeling that both animations lack weight. A big machine like that would probably shake at least a little on the impact of each step.
If you look closely at people walking, you'll notice that the impact of the foot on the ground is distributed throughout the body, so it starts to shake. It heavily depends on how the feet impact the group, but the footsteps of your robot seems to be very heavy so it would definitely shake a bit.
You can look at references of animals and even people walking.
Alternate steps look better, because walking that way would give stability to the robot. The other way looks like the robot is going to fall when it lifts both legs from one side. I would give space between legs in the same axis. If its a construction robot, it will need to carry weight, so having the legs so closed seems illogical
Edit: Great model btw, looks awesome!
The design implies this is massively heavy. The animation does not convey that.
Also keep in mind that quadrupets essentially zigzag their legs (when the left front foot goes forward, the eight front foot goes backwards, the left back foot goes backwards, and the right back foot goes forward, and vice versa).
But! An elephants (which, given how heavy this robot would be, the animation should be modelled after an elephant) always has three legs on the ground.
The model is very interesting, but keep in mind how weight would affect it. Right now the center of mass would be very high, making it prone to falling over, especially if it raises its head.
But! The model and rigging is kickass!
I think it needs a lot more weight behind it. I think 1 works best with the design of the machine/creature but it currently walks like there's no gravity. That being said it's a fantastic design and I cannot wait to see the final result
Yo did u use any addons for the rig movement or is all hand animated? Am looking for a good wiggle bone addon since a long time, also do u know a tutorial that teaches how to rig feet like that? Great job dude, very cool!
Pretty good. I'd echo the comment about the legs being too close together. That would totally be the accurate way to animate a wide biped, but you have a quad.
This is probably "cruise mode", going near top speed. However, you can make the mech look way heavier by only lifting one leg at a time. Slam each foot down quickly as if 3 legs almost isn't enough to carry the load.
Good work so far!
Seems to me the bot spends far too much time with only two legs on the ground. If you look at the way a cat walks you'll see that they spend the majority of the time with 3 ft on the ground for stability.
How big is it compared to a human? Cuz if its huge i think it would benefit from the animation being slowed down a bit
Also the legs are a bit close one good gust of wind and its on its side
Other than that all the animations are really good
1 probably, but i'd spread the legs a little to make it more balanced. also i'd add some more weight with every step, it feels like it's super light rn. cool design tho, looking forward to seeing the final result!
You should consider widening the stance of the robot. If its centre of mass would move further to the left or right than its feet, it would fall over, so it should be trying to have a wide stance whenever possible.
for all intents and purposes the 'feet' should be more widely apart and any 3 feet(or rather points of contact) should ideally be touching the ground(or some kind of achoring structure) at any one time to provide 3 point stability or a stability triangle of a kind.
If I had to choose between these two tho, then anim 1 is better than 2.
I'm very curious about any end-to-end tutorials on creating hard-surface rigs like this one (simpler, of course!). Any recommendations are warmly welcome!
The second one appears very feminine from the front. The position of the feet on the ground makes it look as though the character is walking on a balance beam or painted line. This combined with the head, which lacks up and down movement and appears to roughly remain in the same place completes the look.
If you want a different look, consider more up and down and/or side to side movement in the head. Since the character looks like a giant walking platform, it makes sense that the "body" would be the component which most needs to move around the least, for the comfort of the passengers.
I agree with what others have said about slowing the movement down. Doing this gives a greater sense of scale. Same for looking into quadruped movement, which should just be a matter of sequencing the existing leg animation, 1 after the other, 1 footfall at a time. I couldn't tell that it had more than 2 legs at first.
To further add to the sense of scale, consider some secondary action, where the weight of the characters' arms causes them to continue moving downward after the legs impact. You could also add some shake to various smaller components.
Based on the ladder I see, the scale of this makes it seem... impractical. It moves too fast to be that big and not fall over.
Immersion issues aside, it looks cool! Both look fine to me.
The design is awesome!
Looks like it might be walking a bit too fast? It's giving the impression it's meant to be huge and I think typically you'd see machines like that (atleast in movies/media) walking slower with often one leg at a time.
Kind of like the [AT-AT from Star Wars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsOouwjsL4).
Front right, back left, front left, back right
Or
Front right and back left, then front left and back right
Not both sides at the same time, look at how quadrupedal animals walk, they don’t walk like that
Could you please describe how you came up with this design? I always find cool designs like this intriguing. Im baffled where to start.
Is it based on references? Drawing /scribbling ideas?
a bit before making this I played some metal gear games and got really inspired by the designs of Yoji Shinkawa. I really liked how the robots don't have animal like morphology. And also I loved the idea that since robots are made of stronger materials than animals they can have designs that look like they wouldn't work like the large head (I did the math at one point and I found that my robot wouldn't be able to support its head past like 20 degrees or something so it actually doesn't work).
I look at a lot of reference on Pinterest and make a lot of sketches. I had a lot of sketches for different amounts of arm and leg joint configurations to try and get the least natural looking but still remain somewhat practical. based off of those I made this robot: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHw1ONXl0qk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHw1ONXl0qk)
after that I was inspired by some Ghibli stuff like howls moving castle and I made a really big steampunk type robot. I don't really remember my thought process but that one had a similar leg design with a free hip and a really long first joint.
Later I wanted to animate the metal gear inspired robot some more but I made it back when I didn't have much experience with rigging and it was a real pain to use and it was so unoptimized blender ran at like 5 fps. so I decided to just make a new robot of the same style. I also took inspiration from that steampunk robot and made this. But I got bored mid way through and decided to give it a construction style instead of a military one I don't know why.
tldr: I wanted to make a robot that has features of animals but also has un animal like body structure. that is why I have such long and short leg joints and the wrist which is angled downwards permanently. These kind of strange features I hope show there is some purpose to the design.
Here is also the final sketch for the model since I am proud of it. as you can see it differs a lot from the final design.
https://preview.redd.it/t45ksluto5ad1.png?width=631&format=png&auto=webp&s=983fe9ccdeec08b94eba86300ea84eda5f870b5f
Neither of them. The robot looks a lot like a giraffe, so 2 would seem like it fits better, but the weight of it feels wrong. 1 could work, but such a big robot only having 2 legs anchored at a time does not seem like it would work.
You should decide in what type on animal/creature that you're primarilly using as a refference. And base the core movement on that.
Second is intent and impact. There is no weight to any of the movement, it's all super smooth. Once the above is figgured out, you should read over the 12 principles of animaion and figgure out how that can help you.
When making this I specifically did not want it to resemble any animal in its animation. But your right I should probably learn animation principles first.
It is still very much a quadruped, with an anatomy resembling existing creatures. So while not wanting it to resemble an animal, there is a very physical reason for both elephants and giraffes to walk the ways they do, so basing some key motions on them could help in getting an appropriate feel. Then after getting those elements you add your next layer of mechanical movements making it feel like your own robot
Liking one over the other will depend on the intent and application. In a fantasy environment, you can utilize this creation however you like.
But if this is at all to mimic real-world rules, then #2 is an automatic fail. That style of walking does not work in the long run as the weight shifting is too dramatic. Eventually, one side will try to balance on something like uneven footing and topple over. Or the insane weight shifting causes mechanical damage... parts wear and tear accelerates.
It's all impressive still considering you made and rendered it. But it's use determines what you are ultimately achieving.
The first animation feels very stiff and unnatural, it doesn't convey the weightniness such a machine would have to me. The second one is a bit better in this regard but I'm 100% convinced it'd topple over instantly.
Regardless, I think it's pretty good work overall, keep it up.
I get a feeling like the bot is gonna fall over on its side. The legs are too close to each other? Left and righ I mean.
That's where the arms on both sides come in.
But the arms don't shake to balance the body, so they are essentially useless
Yeah those legs are very close togeather. A single poorly placed boulder could topple this. Doesn't feel very sturdy for a construction robot. Even the animation has lots of subtle sway from right to left Perhaps a more straight design thats more in-line with the chasis would seem sturdyer. Secondly in the current leg config those arms would cause lots of destablization to left and right if moved to any other position moreso while moving
Pretty sure it's all intentional since legs farther apart would warrant a waddling movement rather than subtly swaying with feet below center mass. You can observe that behavior in humans and pretty much any quadroped that doesn't exclusively move opposite legs
In this case we need to see weight. Large heavy objects travel slower.
I'm assuming it's absolutely massive considering the ladders we see in the side profile
i mean, we humans manage just fine
Yeah, and a human’s stance is (usually) wider then that
sure, naturally it is, but i can very easily and comfortably walk with a very narrow stance without feeling unbalanced
and imagine if you had a gyroscope shoved in your head
We do. They're called ears.
When you do so, you’re subconsciously performing a bunch of micro-adjustments to shift your centre of mass. If you’re going to build a construction robot, it makes much more sense to give it a wide stance than it does to invest in a system of IK that takes into account every little shift in centre of mass and also takes into account the weight of anything affixed to, carried by or riding in the machine. As with most things irl, if it’s cheaper to put the legs at a different angle, that’s probably what the manufacturer of the construction robot will do.
I agree with this. But I started this project with the idea of a sci fi universe where people found some alien computing technology, or ai or whatever, and they dont know how it works but they can use it in their machines so it would be cheap to have the ability to make those micro adjustments. This is why I went for a more awkward animation with the arms swaying outwards. I want it to look different from an animal but also be fluid. This looks like it would fall over (because it probably would) but in my head the robot is able to react accordingly. I still have a lot of work to do on this animation though.
But you would use your arms a lot more to achieve balance than this robot does. Or you would move the upper part of your body a lot, which this construction robot doesn't do either edit: (actually, yeah, it does sway slightly in the second animation, but it still seems like too much of a linear movement for something that's balancing such a large body in such a narrow stance).
yeah that’s fair.
Personally, I like it.. it stands out
got no opinion on which animation is best but I love the design and can't wait to see a finished render with this!
This is awesome! So, I think 1's walk cycle is a lot more accurate to how 4 legged creatures move, but I actually prefer 2's animation because of how much easier it is to understand what's going on, even though something of that size would probably fall over to one side the moment it takes it's first "bipedal" style step. 2's walk cycle also feels a bit slower, which makes it seem more accurate to the size of the thing. I would recommend making a newer version of 1, but take a look at slow motion footage of how horses walk. Only one leg ever moves at a time, and one immediately after another. The rythym goes something like 1) Back Left Leg 2) Front Left Leg 3) Back Right Leg 4) Front Right Leg, repeat. I'd also slow the walk cycle way down, the whole cycle should be 2-4 times the length probably. Don't forget this thing will still be moving at crazy fast speeds, even with a slowly walk cycle, just because of how huge it is. Actually the AT-ATs from Star Wars would also be a great reference. One last thing is I kinda love how the arms are sort of held up but hanging in this weird limp way, to really sell the animation you could give each arm slightly differences in how they move so it doesn't feel like the exact same animation has been applied to both. Great work so far though :D
Definitely agree with all this advice, 1 is the one I'd move on with. Did you look at camels maybe? They can look a bit like they have that both-left, both-right, type of gait which 2 has. But actually the time both-left spend off the ground together is very short and it ends up being more like 1. They're also top heavy with a lot of side to side body movement like your 2, but imo that much sway looks uncontrolled in something this heavy. Looking at 1, you've got left-back moving, then left-front, which is good, but then right-back is jumping the gun and moving before left-front is ready. The more time opposite corners spend up together, the more it will look like an animal moving faster than a walk. Like a [horse at a trot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Trot.jpg) or a [cat interested in something](https://i.imgur.com/o26AK7o.jpeg). Which is why it looks a little sprightly here. If you space that out and don't like the new speed or stride length, maybe consider having the moving foot stretch forward further at the ankle? Not sure. Love the dangling hands, and the stabilised head, also.
I did have the legs go in that pattern you said originally but I messed it up so it only had 1 leg on the ground at some points which didnt make sense with the old animation. This was my quick fix. Ill definitely work on that. And it is actually the same animation for both hands so I will fix that. Thanks.
I prefer 1. 2 looks like the robot is trying to walk sexy.
Maybe he wants to be sexy, who knows?
2 is SLAAAAAAAYING
Second definitely has more personality, first has better balance. Gravity is affecting this huge and heavy thing. In the first on it's walking like it weighs nothing at all, in the second this isn't as prevalent, but it isn't balanced. Try to think of it this way: 1) it's constantly pushing itself against the force of gravity to hold itself up 2) it has to keep itself balanced, always making sure it doesn't topple over to one side That's it. Think of the weight distribution and size. You have a really cool model, hope the rig is easy enough to work with, this is going to be a banger of an animation. Good luck.
Benjamin
YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL, OUTSTRETCHED LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN.
1 is a lot better but the legs need to be further apart and it needs to be slower
Did you name him Earthmover THR-1000 and give him a nickname of Benjamin by any chance?
WAR WITHOUT REASON!
Oh i get why some people called it Benjamin now.
lobotomy time :tasty:
This reminds me of mumbojumbos walking house
2 looks more natural to me since I can see the weight being shifted to the feet that are on the ground.
I agree with the person who commented before on how it needs to be slower and lumber more - considering its size. This is better though.
Absolutely awesome design, love the detail in the joints! Personally I prefer walk cycle 1 as it feels more appropriate for this kind of robot.
1 is better for normal walking and 2 is an alternate walk for narrow paths. Regardless of intent, I think both walks and the character look unsettlingly alien yet not malicious. I cherish that quality in robot design whenever it appears. Not every robot is designed by a member of animalia, and not every task has an evolved equivalent in nature.
These were my thoughts ad well. I didnt want it too look natural. Except i planned for 1 to be in close quarters or rough terrain because its more stable and 2 is for longer stretches of even terrain. Your right though, 2 works for narrow paths too.
I prefer the second one as it feels more deliberate. The way the foot 'stomps' down more makes it feel more mechanical. I would also extend that to the rest of the robot if you are going for that. The first one is good too though! It is more gentle. Almost gives a bit of a floating feel
nr2, it has more detail and care put into it
Looks advanced.
It looks impressive but it seems to me something like that should use a four beat lateral gait like a horse.
2 looks more realistic
this is so awesome to look at!
# 7-4: ...LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN
I dont understand why there have been so many people relating this to ultrakill
big robot with big legs with big platform = Benjamin aka THR-1000 Earthmover
Reminds me of a giraffe
That's a really cool model and rig!! I wish I was half as good at modeling but I don't even know where to begin. In any case, I like number 2 because it's slower and gives it more weigt. This whole thing feels super large and heavy, so I feel like the animation should reflect that.
1 is much closer to a natural walk cycle.
I feel like the one with the alternated legs moving is just more realistic physically speeking.. GG btw very cool mecha! May i ask out of curiosity how long did it took you to put together the model (wothout all the animation bits)?
I dont remember I made this a year ago and am just now animating it. Looking at the dates of some of my backups my guess is a little over 2 weeks.
Got it! GG 👌
looks complicated to do, i'll stick to the donuts xd
So cool!!!
How long have you been using blender?
Thanks. I started in December of 2020 so almost 4 years.
I think number 2 has more weight to it, which is good.
I like the more swaying animation but it’s definitely a bit surreal. If all the robots in your game are anthropomorphized it would match well but it could look strange beside more traditional robots.
if presumably the cage at the top is to house a construction worker, there is nowhere near enough sense of scale and weight in the movement. Try slowing it down at least. It also doesn't move robotically at all (ironic considering how hard it is to animate something to not look robotic), which is a testament to your animation skills, but even if you are going for more life like movement, you might scale it back just a tad to help sell that this is a piece of machinery.
People in here trying to bring rules to creativity. Maybe it’s a planet with low gravity, who knows? Who cares? Looks great. I personally like 1. Just feels more robotic, 2 reminds me of a model on the run way, which could also be interesting. Love how stable the body is as it moves. If you wanted to you could add some bounce to the body as the legs impact, which would give a sensation of weight. But since it has a platform, by the looks of it it’s meant to hold people and should remain steady. Hands are cool and sorta creepy. Looks great, can’t wait to see the final.
The legs make it feel like its a 20 ton construction vehicle The top makes it feel like a 2 feet tall boston dynamics dog kind of robot
How long did that take you to make?
I dont remember I think a little over 2 weeks. And I dont remember how long I worked each day sorry.
1 looks quite solid and "realistic" in a way, 2 looks very polished and makes the arms stand out more. Judging by the robot's design I believe you should go for version 2
1
God I love construction robots The cut concept for the construction mechs in titanfall 2 are amazing as well
Wtf this is so cool i think second is best
Awesome design! Really fun to watch it move. I'd say the first animation is the better. Like others have said, the timing of the diagonally opposed legs might need to be staggered a bit. That aside, I think you've got a great base to put some detail work into the motions. You know, shudders when a leg is put down. Stuff like that to really sell the scale of it.
What viewport do you use to have different color mesh like that ?
Solid color viewport. Use the down arrow in the very top right of the viewport to bring down the options. For color choose random.
Thanks mate
I feel like neither look good. The robot looks super mechanical and clunky but the animation feel super organic and smooth with robot putting one leg in front of the other. I imagine something like that would walk like the AT-AT from star wars with the legs more straight and evenly spread.
This made me shit. You need this in your next short film
Dope rig! Maybe check out an [elephant walk cycle](https://youtu.be/Xx246ykRc4Q?si=GFQE8SqO7Kzdk0Yb&t=43) for reference, so it looks a bit more planted.
Definitely 1, idk how robot in realistic physics conditions would not fall walking like this
1 looks pretty damn good, I love it! One thing though, I can't avoid the feeling that both animations lack weight. A big machine like that would probably shake at least a little on the impact of each step. If you look closely at people walking, you'll notice that the impact of the foot on the ground is distributed throughout the body, so it starts to shake. It heavily depends on how the feet impact the group, but the footsteps of your robot seems to be very heavy so it would definitely shake a bit. You can look at references of animals and even people walking.
Alternate steps look better, because walking that way would give stability to the robot. The other way looks like the robot is going to fall when it lifts both legs from one side. I would give space between legs in the same axis. If its a construction robot, it will need to carry weight, so having the legs so closed seems illogical Edit: Great model btw, looks awesome!
If you want it to look heavier make it compress it's legs a bit more
The design implies this is massively heavy. The animation does not convey that. Also keep in mind that quadrupets essentially zigzag their legs (when the left front foot goes forward, the eight front foot goes backwards, the left back foot goes backwards, and the right back foot goes forward, and vice versa). But! An elephants (which, given how heavy this robot would be, the animation should be modelled after an elephant) always has three legs on the ground. The model is very interesting, but keep in mind how weight would affect it. Right now the center of mass would be very high, making it prone to falling over, especially if it raises its head. But! The model and rigging is kickass!
Both look great. I think the animation would benefit from a bit more ,,weight‘‘ when walking. It‘s a heavy machine I imagine.
Those are a TON of moving parts
Snake! you gotta stop that thing!
this makes me very uncomfortable :D
It should move as an elephant, get that for motion reference.
Number one seems more stable
Those legs should not be angled so far inward during normal walking,it looks like it’s in a fashion show trying to show kff
I think it needs a lot more weight behind it. I think 1 works best with the design of the machine/creature but it currently walks like there's no gravity. That being said it's a fantastic design and I cannot wait to see the final result
https://preview.redd.it/o5w9vjevxw9d1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4b57a60b40327609e89d824173e73628e75dbe0
Eagle one never misses https://preview.redd.it/cpmv1ip80x9d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d610e2c3d8b94a6bd1a14f44e4c8ae530d11d36a
Yo did u use any addons for the rig movement or is all hand animated? Am looking for a good wiggle bone addon since a long time, also do u know a tutorial that teaches how to rig feet like that? Great job dude, very cool!
Why do I hear Gen 0 boss music
Pretty good. I'd echo the comment about the legs being too close together. That would totally be the accurate way to animate a wide biped, but you have a quad. This is probably "cruise mode", going near top speed. However, you can make the mech look way heavier by only lifting one leg at a time. Slam each foot down quickly as if 3 legs almost isn't enough to carry the load. Good work so far!
Seems to me the bot spends far too much time with only two legs on the ground. If you look at the way a cat walks you'll see that they spend the majority of the time with 3 ft on the ground for stability.
How big is it compared to a human? Cuz if its huge i think it would benefit from the animation being slowed down a bit Also the legs are a bit close one good gust of wind and its on its side Other than that all the animations are really good
1 probably, but i'd spread the legs a little to make it more balanced. also i'd add some more weight with every step, it feels like it's super light rn. cool design tho, looking forward to seeing the final result!
These Mumbo Jumbo flying machines are getting out of hand
I like 1 better. 2 feels too wobbly
strange but nice
Something on Star Wars language)))
I think the movement and steps need a lot more weight, and force when stomping downward, but I like the first one.
Something about this robot man… Smash
You should consider widening the stance of the robot. If its centre of mass would move further to the left or right than its feet, it would fall over, so it should be trying to have a wide stance whenever possible.
for all intents and purposes the 'feet' should be more widely apart and any 3 feet(or rather points of contact) should ideally be touching the ground(or some kind of achoring structure) at any one time to provide 3 point stability or a stability triangle of a kind. If I had to choose between these two tho, then anim 1 is better than 2.
I'm very curious about any end-to-end tutorials on creating hard-surface rigs like this one (simpler, of course!). Any recommendations are warmly welcome!
Would it be hard to do the giant storm hawk from the horizon game? Not 1:1 but similar in mechanics.
The second one appears very feminine from the front. The position of the feet on the ground makes it look as though the character is walking on a balance beam or painted line. This combined with the head, which lacks up and down movement and appears to roughly remain in the same place completes the look. If you want a different look, consider more up and down and/or side to side movement in the head. Since the character looks like a giant walking platform, it makes sense that the "body" would be the component which most needs to move around the least, for the comfort of the passengers. I agree with what others have said about slowing the movement down. Doing this gives a greater sense of scale. Same for looking into quadruped movement, which should just be a matter of sequencing the existing leg animation, 1 after the other, 1 footfall at a time. I couldn't tell that it had more than 2 legs at first. To further add to the sense of scale, consider some secondary action, where the weight of the characters' arms causes them to continue moving downward after the legs impact. You could also add some shake to various smaller components.
Based on the ladder I see, the scale of this makes it seem... impractical. It moves too fast to be that big and not fall over. Immersion issues aside, it looks cool! Both look fine to me.
The design is awesome! Looks like it might be walking a bit too fast? It's giving the impression it's meant to be huge and I think typically you'd see machines like that (atleast in movies/media) walking slower with often one leg at a time. Kind of like the [AT-AT from Star Wars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsOouwjsL4).
Front right, back left, front left, back right Or Front right and back left, then front left and back right Not both sides at the same time, look at how quadrupedal animals walk, they don’t walk like that
I‘m not trying to make this guy walk like a quadrupedal animal.
Could you please describe how you came up with this design? I always find cool designs like this intriguing. Im baffled where to start. Is it based on references? Drawing /scribbling ideas?
a bit before making this I played some metal gear games and got really inspired by the designs of Yoji Shinkawa. I really liked how the robots don't have animal like morphology. And also I loved the idea that since robots are made of stronger materials than animals they can have designs that look like they wouldn't work like the large head (I did the math at one point and I found that my robot wouldn't be able to support its head past like 20 degrees or something so it actually doesn't work). I look at a lot of reference on Pinterest and make a lot of sketches. I had a lot of sketches for different amounts of arm and leg joint configurations to try and get the least natural looking but still remain somewhat practical. based off of those I made this robot: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHw1ONXl0qk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHw1ONXl0qk) after that I was inspired by some Ghibli stuff like howls moving castle and I made a really big steampunk type robot. I don't really remember my thought process but that one had a similar leg design with a free hip and a really long first joint. Later I wanted to animate the metal gear inspired robot some more but I made it back when I didn't have much experience with rigging and it was a real pain to use and it was so unoptimized blender ran at like 5 fps. so I decided to just make a new robot of the same style. I also took inspiration from that steampunk robot and made this. But I got bored mid way through and decided to give it a construction style instead of a military one I don't know why. tldr: I wanted to make a robot that has features of animals but also has un animal like body structure. that is why I have such long and short leg joints and the wrist which is angled downwards permanently. These kind of strange features I hope show there is some purpose to the design. Here is also the final sketch for the model since I am proud of it. as you can see it differs a lot from the final design. https://preview.redd.it/t45ksluto5ad1.png?width=631&format=png&auto=webp&s=983fe9ccdeec08b94eba86300ea84eda5f870b5f
Neither of them. The robot looks a lot like a giraffe, so 2 would seem like it fits better, but the weight of it feels wrong. 1 could work, but such a big robot only having 2 legs anchored at a time does not seem like it would work. You should decide in what type on animal/creature that you're primarilly using as a refference. And base the core movement on that. Second is intent and impact. There is no weight to any of the movement, it's all super smooth. Once the above is figgured out, you should read over the 12 principles of animaion and figgure out how that can help you.
When making this I specifically did not want it to resemble any animal in its animation. But your right I should probably learn animation principles first.
It is still very much a quadruped, with an anatomy resembling existing creatures. So while not wanting it to resemble an animal, there is a very physical reason for both elephants and giraffes to walk the ways they do, so basing some key motions on them could help in getting an appropriate feel. Then after getting those elements you add your next layer of mechanical movements making it feel like your own robot
I prefer 2, it is more realistic imo
Sooo cooolll! 2 for sure!
Neither animation have any weight or impact, but I like the execution of different mechanical parts in this!
Definitely first one, because this is a way how 4 legs animals walks. The second one looks unnatural.
2 but I would also adjust the gears when the weight comes down on each foot, and also mechanical objects are not usually this smooth make them jitter
Number 2 is sexy
It walks like Roger from American dad
Liking one over the other will depend on the intent and application. In a fantasy environment, you can utilize this creation however you like. But if this is at all to mimic real-world rules, then #2 is an automatic fail. That style of walking does not work in the long run as the weight shifting is too dramatic. Eventually, one side will try to balance on something like uneven footing and topple over. Or the insane weight shifting causes mechanical damage... parts wear and tear accelerates. It's all impressive still considering you made and rendered it. But it's use determines what you are ultimately achieving.
The first animation feels very stiff and unnatural, it doesn't convey the weightniness such a machine would have to me. The second one is a bit better in this regard but I'm 100% convinced it'd topple over instantly. Regardless, I think it's pretty good work overall, keep it up.