Free falling animation

Cyde

Anyone else think that tha free falling animation is kinda silly looking? I don't know... I've been seeing lots of GDC videos and every time I see that free falling animation of the person waving their limbs around in the air like that drive me nuts! I guess when I saw the person jump off the ledge to free fall and then burst into flight form I figured the character would do kind of a dive after falling so many feet in the air with their arms at their side kind of like how sky divers do when they want to pick up speed. But hey, my character having a seizure mid air every time i leap off a ledge sounds kinda fun too I guess.

GoldenDog

I do skydive and it looks natural to me when taken into the context of the jump.

 

The animation is used in the style of falling instead of an organized dive.  They did this because the devs couldn't predict how far you are planning to fall when you jump off of something.  If it were a more formal dive, than the avatar would need to predict their own altitude in order to avoid face planting into the ground (and looking incredibly silly).

 

A skydiver/base jumper enteres into that pose because it's efficient for falling a couple thousand feet.  It allows us to target our landings more precise.  However, if I'm going to jump 10 feet, there's no way I'd lead with my chest...

Say I'm going to jump a distance and I'm not sure how far I'll fall.  Well it makes the most sense to aim with my feet and try and drive with my hands.  The game engine doesn't have the world mapped by topography with the ability to predict what floating stones/obstacles you may encounter.      

 

Cyde

interesting... but still, is the waving of the arms and legs so wildy nessisary?

stayontarget

I don't know, maybe we should pitch someone off a cliff and find out.

Crosius

The "arm waving" is for balance. If you didn't flail your arms you'd just end up falling forward or backward. Lemme throw you from a cliff, you'll see what I mean.

Zyllos

Well, considering both races can fly, you would think they would react to a falling experience differently from a creature with no experience in flying (by it's own means, not mechanical).

redrum666er

I think it would be cool if the more you use flight the cooler your fall animation would be.

Like when you first start using your wings you'll flail about and it progresses later to more of a dive animation or free fall.

Rikimaru_X

Originally posted by Crosius


The "arm waving" is for balance. If you didn't flail your arms you'd just end up falling forward or backward. Lemme throw you from a cliff, you'll see what I mean.

 

Pretty much. Learned this from Jackie Chan movies.