I hate missing stuff while I sleep. This will be quite a long post because several of my tuts will be necessary. To get to the bit that concerns you, scroll down until you see a large gap and then look who the next bit is "@".
@CarnivoreAJ: when you save your files you need to set frame delay as 6 otherwise it slows down like it has for yours. We also like you to set resize to 2 because big animations are ever so slightly annoying.
Now for the animation.
Pivot Basics
Here's the stuff you need to know:
1. To avoid stiffness, every joint should change in every frame. There are few exceptions, but you are allowed to have people standing still/dead.
2. Every movement is eased on some level. With a throw it will be vertically, with any other movement it will be in the direction the movement is going. You don't have to ease when someone hits something like a wall or the ground - if that happens it should be at maximum speed just before the impact and then come to a stop instantly or bounce. During a bounce (or upwards throw) it will leave the floor at maximum speed and then gradually slow from there.
3. Choppiness is bad. It's hard to give a precise definition of choppiness but you'll know it when you see it. To reduce it, reduce the spacing between frames and possibly up the frame rate. Easing also helps reduce choppiness because it can trick the eye into accepting heavy spacing.
4. Obey the laws of physics. The Newtonian laws of motion are the most important. Essentially, things don't just stop or change direction - if a guy is jumping through the air he cannot instantly lose all horizontal momentum and come back to the ground. Gravity is the other important one; it is covered by easing.
5. Sticks can only do what is anatomically possible. What this basically means is that when a stick lands from a jump it must absorb the shock or it's femur will go up through it's hips. Other important anatomical points are that the back shouldn't be over-bent and knees and elbows only go one way.
Easing
Easing is acceleration and deceleration. In pivot this involves moving something very little in the first frame, a bit more in the second, even more in the third, etc. Almost every movement that you will ever do should be eased. The exceptions are – when something bumps into something solid such as a wall or floor; bullets out of a gun; bounces, where the object should leave the ground at maximum speed, although it then eases at the top and on the way down.
MaxZ’s example of easing (thanks):
And my representation:
Eased:
Uneased:
@Kingsmash: Watch the flaming/failing. It's not a good idea to make enemies too quickly.
@Everyone else who posted in the last three pages (except Avian because he more or less ignored the conversation): Pivot animates in 2D and that's where it is most effective. It is possible to make a 2D animation look 3D, just as it is possible to put perspective in a painting. It's just more difficult and takes longer and no one will penalise you for not doing it. If you want to try to make a 3D animation you're more than welcome to but if you don't that's fine too.
i think its one of my better run starters
