3 Sword Drawing Anim Ideas

[Domarius]

I was thinking about sword un-sheathing anim, and decided there are at least a few very different and important ways you can aesthetically draw a sword.

 

1. Surprised; guard panics and clumsily rips the sword out of its sheath (not a smooth motion) holding it up about face height - like if an explosion happened in the same room or you come running at him out of no-where.

 

2. Charge; guard sees you and takes action immediately - dashing toward you and un-sheathing his sword

 

3. Cautious; guard hears something not good, freezes, draws his sword carefully and freezes in a defensive stance, looking left to right slowly, listening carefully.

 

I want to do them because if you just have a generic one done from a standing position, then it would probably look bad when you surprise him or when he wants to charge you. Any thoughts?

 

(I won't do them before the more important essential ones though)

[oDDity]

You can cut that down to two - a fast and a slow draw, since the running one can just be the fast draw, with a run being played on the legs channel.

IF you want to animate all three, it's up to you.

[sparhawk]

Actually the sword drawn is not really needed right now. It would be better to create all the other animations. Casual animations for different kind of people, walkcycles for women and men, running, being afraid and such stuff. Everything related to combat can be done later.

[Domarius]

Yeah like I said already, I won't do them before the more important ones.

 

@oDD - the panic one isn't a fast draw - its a panicy, jerky movement, the sword is not pulled out in one smooth motion, its frantically grabbed and tugged a few times.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

I like the idea, especially of the multiple tugs to get the sword free, so if you manage to do all three kudos to you!

[Ishtvan]

Realistically I don't think someone would try to draw their longsword while running at you*, that's a good way to not have children in the future.

 

*unless they are some sort of ninja in some sort of movie

 

The panicky draw sounds good, but IMO only the poorly trained guards should do that. The elite guards and even regular guards will have drawn their swords tens of thousands of times to the point where it's an automatic, fast action no matter what.

 

The slow careful draw when alerted but not in immediate danger, I can see that looking very dramatic and nice. To me it suggests that the AI is trying to stalk the player as well, by drawing slowly and quietly, since they suspect someone is around but don't want to give themselves away. I am however worried that players could abuse it. I.e., get right next to the AI, make some small noise to alert him to the point where he starts the slow draw, then run up and hit him 2 times while he's drawing. I guess they would have to be able to blend into the fast draw animation if they got attacked or the player jumped in front of them during the slow draw.

[sparhawk]

A panick draw could also be usable for nobles. They usually would cowardly run for help, but if you corner them, they could turn to fighting instead.

[Domarius]

I agree Elite guards shouldn't panic like that.

 

..get right next to the AI, make some small noise to alert him to the point where he starts the slow draw, then run up and hit him 2 times while he's drawing. I guess they would have to be able to blend into the fast draw animation if they got attacked or the player jumped in front of them during the slow draw.

I would think that when the AI gets hit, the state of the AI changes and then a new desicion is made - over ride current anim with something else... is this how it works?

 

For example, try shooting an Imp when he's screaming at you after seeing you for the first time, the anim takes about 2 seconds.

 

Does he go straight into combat after the first hit, or does he keep screaming at you while getting hit? I can't test it because Doom isn't installed yet.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

I just tested it, and I think it does interrupt the previous animation for the attack mode, but I can't be sure because the imp's "spot reaction" is rather short and it blends directly into the attack animations.

[Ishtvan]

There's no automatic "break from animation cycle on damage" like that unless we specifically add it to the script ourselves. You can see this with our AI; the sword draw + look around animation is rather long, and you can hit them 1 or 2 times while they sit there in the animation. It's possible some of the D3 monsters have scripts set up to break if they take damage, we would have to look at those D3 scripts and see how it's done.

[Domarius]

Good to know it's possible then.

[Domarius]

Realistically I don't think someone would try to draw their longsword while running at you*, that's a good way to not have children in the future.

 

*unless they are some sort of ninja in some sort of movie smile.gif

 

Hey, what did you mean by this? If this is true, then can you describe how a swordsman should react as quickly as possible when he needs to enter combat?

[Ishtvan]

Step 1. stand still while drawing sword really fast. Step 2. Start running.

 

Not only are you less likely to stab yourself that way, but it's also safer to draw first and then advance with the sword out rather than close the distance with your opponent, allowing them to hit you if they stepped forward, before you have even finished drawing your sword. That's just one theory though, don't know what people would actually do when confronted with that situation.

[Ishtvan]

On second thought, I shouldn't say "stand still." It feels and looks silly to stand there with the feet together and absolutely motionless when "fast drawing" the sword. (Again, the slow draw, where they are not in immediate danger but know a threat might be nearby somewhere, is a different thing)

 

I tried this myself, assuming the sword is drawn from the left if they're right handed (which it is in our AI). It seems very natural to take a single, quick step forward with the right leg as you're drawing, to get into some kind of "combat stance." For me, the step forward with the right leg happens as the right hand is reaching across the body to grab the hilt of the sword, and is over 50% finished by the time the right hand touches the hilt. The left foot stays in place, which makes it easy to draw the sword from the left since that leg isn't moving. After the sword leaves the frog, the left foot can come into whatever position we want to give it for their combat stance.

 

Disclaimer: These are not absolute requirements, just suggestions on what looks/feels natural.

[Domarius]

Yes well I would rather hear the opinion with someone who has more exprience than me, before making up ideas myself, so at least we take a step in the "more probable" direction Thanks for going to the trouble of trying it, I appreciate it.

 

And I especially appreaciate the timing info, that's exactly what I want to know

 

I'm going to mimick what you described as exactly as I can - no better example to go off