As a rollerblader that dislikes basically all of shadows skating animations post sa2, I really really like what you did here. Finally scratched that itch I've had for years😮💨
@@RaiginAnimator What kind of rollerblading do you do? I do urban, wizard, aggressive, and a little bit of speed skating. Basically, his technique is off, especially for someone who's supposed to be going as fast as Sonic. The fastest way to skate is a speed skating technique called the double push. There are tons of videos showing how to do it and explaining why it's the correct way to skate. I like SA2's animation so much because it's fluid and more closely resembles proper technique, although it becomes too fast at a point. All other animations are either single push or just poor skating in general. You don't really need to do a full double push to skate "properly," but it should at least go in that direction. 06's animation makes him look like an absolute beginner, for example.
as a layman, these animations seem very much like improvements over vanilla SA2! maybe sonic's top speed animation could have a little more movement, but i understand that the stillness is deliberate as to not turn him into a blur
The run cycles alone is a massive improvement. Which is what you see 90% of the time. If you slow it down, it looks pretty good. But playing at regular speed, it's a massive mess. So it's a good animation they literally just sped up
@@RaiginAnimatormaybe with running, but with sprinting vertical movement results in Sonic's movement becoming unreadable. Vanilla SA2 is one of the worst offenders of this (Story Book games really being the only ones that have it worse because there aren't enough animations) The classic games have basically no vertical movement in the running animation besides his spines reacting to the wind for this reason
this looks absolutely abysmal and completely goes against the animation philosophy of the original. Haphazardly adding overly bouncy squash and stretch is not an improvement at all it just looks bad.
@@MatrixEvolution17 i can tell you right now that you have a right to have your own opinion. Even if they are wrong. Bad looking cutscenes aside, nearly all of Sonic's animations are terrible in the original. His original run alone is a strobing mess. If you slow it down, it looks pretty alright. This makes me theorise that they animated a normal run and sped it up. Or at least did some motion capture. And motion capture with these characters looks terrible
This looks excellent and I adore most of these animations. Although, the hands being thrown back behind them during the high speed run is really good in concept but I think the back profile of it on sonic ends up looking a little silly, I might have them further out to the sides by a bit or tucked in like the classic games. Also, the squash and stretch on the jump looks EXCELLENT. Probably my favorite bit of this whole mod.
Yeah that is a bit of an issue I have with Sonic and Knuckle's full speed running animation, especially with Knuckles' big unwieldy hands, the placement of them kinda muddies up the silhouette a bit. With sonic the fix is easy in theory, just pull em a teeny bit further from the body to help the silhouette. As for knuckles... man idk his big meaty claws are TERRIBLE to animate with I bet, I am not sure you could get much better than what exists in the mod without model edits. They all still look better than the original game, touching up a few animations and maybe adding a bit of bobbing to the top speed animations would go a LONG way in this mod. The work thus far is excellent in spite of those little nitpicks, and I'd happily use this mod as a default even as-is.
I really like these animations. I only have 3 suggestions: -Sonic's hands while running at his "medium" speed should be further apart, since with the speed pads it is the opportunity to leave them completely behind (in addition to benefiting Knuckles) - Shadow's jog should look more "determined". Shadow is not like Sonic, he is not relaxed, he is going to accomplish a goal. - This is my least important suggestion: Shadow's pose is fine, but I feel that if we go by the characters' signature arts (where they form a circle)Shadow should be in that pose where he has his arms out to the side and looks at the camera from the corner of his eye. That's all, keep up the good work!
Rouge's walk is a bit too cross-legged, she looks drunk! Agreed with other commenters about Sonic's run animations, they could use a bit more bobbing or maybe even a full-body stretch forward to emphasize that he's no longer bobbing due to the sheer speed of his movement. Otherwise hats off to you, generally great job. We can nitpick all day but nitpicking means you've done loads better than the vanilla animations which are just... something to behold alright. It's worth noting that SA2 has quite a few animation transition / turn-lean bugs which might not be fixable without significant reverse engineering knowledge. Did you ever notice how if you spin a character around in circles clockwise everything looks fine, but then counterclockwise their head spasms up and down? Now you'll notice it!
I agree about Rouge's walk! During the next major update I think I'll revisit it. I also agree with the sentiment about Sonic's run. I like how the full sprint turned out minus some needed polishing but I intend to tinker with his running animation a bit considering the feedback I've gotten on it! Thank you so much for the kind words!
BLESSED!! Always thought there was a unique hanky charm to SA2's animations, but actually having them have weight and impact is what I've always dreamed of! Incredible work!
Same here: it's obviously better to have clean animations with proper squash and stretch, but if there's any game character that _could_ make jittery animation work, it's probably Sonic. The twitch in the sprint makes it feel like he's physically exerting himself beyond his usual limit, like he can't afford to play around with his speed anymore. He's so fast, the game can't render him properly when he takes off the kid's gloves! ...but seriously, as much as I love the aggressive, "all-in" energy of his vanilla run cycle, it was in DESPERATE need of tune up
One thing I’ll say about the shadow skating animation: best he’s ever had besides SA2. I think what makes SA2’s so great is that it’s so slow, weightless and swagger filled, it’s damn near sexy. I thjnk if yours were a bit smoother they would be really really nice. I like the idea of your top speed animation, since that’s the worst vanilla one with him going so fast side to side. I also think your jog animations for everyone is really good, but I think the head bobbing forwards and backwards makes me think of somebody being foolish or drunk. I know they’re cartoon characters that look good with exaggeration but I think you could get a similar effect if it just goes from neutral to forward, just not as dramatically. Great work my friend, subscribed
Rogues flight animation is genuinely amazing, great idea to bring her arms back. I think her run cycle could be a little faster. And I know other people have said it, but I think the body bouncing on everyone’s top run speed is truly important. It has imo never looked good when 3D sonic tries to emulate the classics by havjng his torso and head be completely static while the legs are the only ones moving. I think it’s like how running in midair only works in classic and looked foolish in frontiers
I don't think it's the worst animation so much as it's just too fast that it looks like he's bugging out. But your standard skate is a bit steady and slow. When you get a bit faster, it picks up as well. Then top speed he bugs out. I think the one right before that where he sways quickly but not THAT fast would be good to just maintain when he's at top speed.
As someone who loves _Sonic Adventure 2_ and also watched Daniel Floyd's _The Animation of Sonic Games_ video, and then realized how bad the animations were in that game compared to stuff like AM2's _Sonic the Fighters,_ you did a fantastic job at reanimating these characters! Heck, I'd say that I'd prefer using this mod with the vanilla characters over something like the Modern _Sonic Adventure 2_ Mod. I just find it weird to see a higher-poly character model running around a lower-poly environment, so having beautiful animations and a consistent environment is a download from me! Also, this is my personal idea, so feel free to implement it; my personal take on a Light Speed Dash animation is to have Sonic/Shadow propel themselves by grabbing the rings out of the air! It's a weird action to describe, but think of it like they are swimming in the air at a rapid pace, or propelling themselves the same way that a climber would rapidly climb a surface by grabbing and jumping upwards from small rock formations.
@@totally_not_a_skeleton4004 You didn't have to change the Knuckles animations you stuck with before. I think Knuckles doing the Ninja Run for the regular run while doing the run animation from Sonic 3 for the sprint was more fitting. For Sonic, it should've been the opposite: arm-tuck for normal run, ninja run for sprint.
Sonic's SA2 run cycle has for years driven me *crazy*! It's such a jittery mess, and seeing this just heals something within me. It's what I've been searching for. Projects that use HD models and animations never feel like an actual upgrade or like they add to the experience, they create this kind of "Nintendo hire this man" feeling. This is it, this is what the game actually needs and what modding games is uniquely capable of.
Definitely worth giving it a go someday. It's far from a flawless game, but it's the sort of jankiness that feels charming rather than irritating. And the Sonic&Shadow stages in SA2 are genuinely some of the best levels in the entire series, perfectly blending rewarding for high speed with rewarding for smashing enemies and nabbing any cool stuff you see along the way. Their A ranks are the embodiment of "tough but fair", demanding you learn the stage, but not demanding that you GRIND the stage to avoid cheap tricks. Sorry, didn't mean to make a whole freaking ad campaign. I just REALLY like the stages in this game, very well put together
I have two thoughts I want to share... A lot of people have brought up Sonic's run. I think a different change than others have mentioned might help him a lot! Perhaps his hands could be open so he looks more free, and the ever so popular "more movement" suggestion could be more horizontal than vertical since he's running smoothly. He'd bob left and right as he alternates legs, with some body twisting to match. 8:15 I think Eggman needs a different approach for his run, since he's presented as very evil in SA2. It's odd to mention, but he could look fatter when running since weight changes how you run. And perhaps his left arm could pull down his googles for his full run and he could use his hips more?
These are so good. All these animations have so much character in them, and it makes it feel so alive! I especially love making Rouge's animations fit her smooth, spy girl archetype. The contrapposto in her slow walk is so sassy, very in-character. And her flying animation is much better with de-emphasizing her arms -- she has wings! When I look at her arms when flying, I do wonder if instead of just being flat behind her, they could bend out at the elbow, very subtly following the flap of her wings. I also appreciate the detail of making knuckles's run animation have his arms tucked in. It makes me wonder, if he had his arms offset, one forwards slightly, like he's winding up a punch with the back arm, and using the front arm as a shield, bracing for impact. That might contribute to him being a more "power-heavy" character, visually. This could be in contrast to sonic and shadow, who simply speed ahead deftly -- when knuckles RUNS, he's CHARGING forward like a warrior in battle, going to DESTROY anything in his path.
I am endlessly grateful for this - the jankiness of SA2's stock animations makes the endless amount of model mods fall flat for me. The thought put behind this to make it feel nautral and not too extreme a shift from what was is a treat, and God's work. My only complaint is I think Shadow should strike that iconic finger point pose, but even if this doesn't end up happening this mod fucks and I am so glad you made it
i think you should bring back the arm pumping motion in the run animation and leave the arms behind the back for the sprinting, but honestly i love the rest of the animations, great work!!
@@roxas3soraxxx You can _kinda_ pick whether or not a character is affected via the new mod options but it's not perfect due to the way the game shares animations between multiple characters.
What I like the most about this mod is that it matches what I imagined is what was happening when I was a kid. Fantastic stuff man. Looking forward to the tails/eggman changes!
This shit GOOD! I always thought the in-game animations were kinda stanky, so this is a welcome update! My one piece of criticism is that I think Sonic's top speed run animation should have just a little bit of bobbing to his head and chest. Vanilla SA2 WAY overdid this, and how the animation is now in your mod, Sonic and Knuckles both just sort of look like they're gliding along the ground, there's not enough weight to it. If you could find a good balance between the head and torso not moving at all along the Z axis, and bouncing around like crazy seizure mode in the vanilla game, I think this would be damn near perfect :D
My spouse with more than some experience in video making and adding voiceovers to videos said that this was very well done and that it felt like she was watching How It's Made. The mod itself seems really really neat and I love the stretching with the lightdash it looks really cool
Ngl, I kinda prefer vanilla Shadow's swing skating at speed. It has more visual interest through the sense of back-and-forth and looks more like he's pushing himself. It especially shines in White Jungle as it shows his extreme desperation to get to Rouge. Everything else looks pretty cool though, even if I kinda like watching Rouge and Knuckles violently vibrate like they're about to explode in the original, these animations suit them much better 😂
idk a damn thing abt animation, and I absolutely adore all the tweaks u made for all the characters HOWEVER, sonics top speed run animation looks kinda....static to me? personally I really liked the fast vibration that he had thats all i gotta say :)
Really nice mod. I love the new teetering animation on the rails. One thing I notice durring the full run animation for sonic. The feet have really nice smears but the chest and waist are not counter balancing each other. Also it might be nice to a very small up and down bob on sonics body during the full run. He looks like he's gliding across the ground. Over great start cant wait to see it improve.
THANK YOU! These are beautiful! I can’t wait to install this mod and look at these animations forever Also, I thought the video was 20 minutes long for some reason, and altho it ended at 10, i wouldve gladly listened to another 10! You’re good at this video thing! It’s very… personality!
How did bro just drop peak like this?? Anyways, this is awesome, my only critique is that Sonic's top speed animation could have retained some of that bobbing in the upper torso from the original. For comparison it reminds me of Sonic CD's jogging animation as opposed to Sonic 1's running animation, if that makes sense.
This is an interesting experiment! Your dedication is admirable. I don't really agree on the squatch thing and think Shadow's skating looks weird, but that's fine, its your mod, you can do whatever you want.
This is so giga chad. These animations breath so much life into these characters. I actually really like the sonic full tilt animation because it reminds me of the scene in Sonic Adventure 1/DX when he runs down the side of the building and you get to see his face. The Shadow animations are so fluid and make his stages even more of a treat to play. this is amazing work and something i had not really ever thought about when playing SA2. your effort here is herculean. I installed this immediately and have been enjoying them for hours now. just amazing work. thank you so much for your time and sharing your work and thoughts. Here is an unsolicited idea: Would be cool to see Rouge's full tilt to be her just gliding similar to metal sonic or something.
This is really neat! Especially like the casual walk for Sonic and the classy and elegant style for Rouge here. As much as I love this game, it probably has the worst running animation for Sonic so this is a great improvement too. Have to say though, the arms/hand positioning looks a bit awkward, almost painful to me now with them being so narrow close to his body during the run. Feels like the arms shouldn't be able to bend that far, at least not in a comfortable way. This goes even more so for Knuckles with his giant hands. I would suggest trying widening their hand positions a bit, still held back but pointing more outwards kinda like in Sonic Jam's 3D world. But GREAT work, nonheless! Really impressive stuff.
0:17 My first thought upon seeing modded Sonic's sprinting from behind was that he was too stiff. 3:27 VS 3:29 The close-up, head-on wall run shot really highlights how still and unnatural modded Sonic holds himself. The truck chase angle does makes him look a little better because it shows more of his moving spikes and a little less of his very still upper body. 5:09 I would also like modded Shadow to skate visibly faster at top speed. I like your idea of having him lean into and coast with each push, but he could use a bit _more_ force and exaggerated sway in his movement. While SA2's skating may be a bit too erratic, it's the existence of this quality that really captures the high speed movement of SA2 (same goes for Sonic's sprinting). The absence of it in games after has made Shadow feel a lot weaker. I know that you had a tough time trying to get it right though. I'm just explaining my view. My criticisms of Sonic's & Shadow's top speed animations aside, I like the rest of your changes. Their walks and jogs are _so_ good and the added stretch & squash to their jump is an exquisite touch. And the Tricks showing more personality. Good work, man!
This looks awesome sauce, good job. I'm totally gonna use this mod once I actually play SA2 for myself. (Been a Sonic fan for a long time and I'm already familiar with SA2's story from youtube videos and Sonic X's adaptation, but I've never actually played it for some reason.)
you may be a genius for this one, god i love to see these models moving how the shouldve, id do anything to see someone give the same treatment to the in game cutscenes, finally get rid of the strange motion capture look
I REALLY like the new rouge animations, particularly the run/jog and flying, super cool mod with great improvements! I also adore sonic's SA2 pose for his trick animation!
Not a bad mod but I have some things to say, Sonic’s run is a bit stiff and the clipping makes it look awkward, his face however looks great during it. Besides that it’s a good mod and my personal nitpick being the mod feels too modern for the default models. While the characters are definitely cartoony seeing the squash and stretch on the ingame characters and not on anything else in gameplay or in cutscenes just looks out of place, also the SA1 pose while good just feels kinda bland, it’s hard to say but I’ve personally seen enough of that pose for Sonic and it just feels like a filler pose Sega uses nowadays. With some work this mod has really good potential but right now I’ll stick to vanilla
I thought for a moment this might be a mod that tried to re-do some of the cutscene animations, which always struck me as needing the most work. I wouldn't know the first thing about modifying those if they're in-engine or not, but the attempts at polishing up the gameplay animations is actually looking very impressive.
I’d keep the slight jitter with the hands at least because it makes him look alive. If he were a robot, then having him completely still would make sense. The small movement feel mire organic 3:32
These look really clean :) My only suggestions would be that sonics arms look a little too close to him at max speed, it makes him seem like he's struggling to keep form at that speed rather than the every day runner free as the wind guy he is, like the wind is forcing his arms back rather then it just being comfortable to him. And I know I'm in the minority because its been deemed as bad animation because its harder to read, but I really like the somewhat violent movement/bouncing of the original animation and things like secret ring's, solely because of how uncanny I think it looks to see those legs moving so fast but the body so still, I think the still body works really well if the legs were more of a literal blur like the figure 8 legs or like how sonic X has the ball for legs. But I also think the vibrating just looks really fast and that's just plainly cool to me although I know how that contradicts the "free as a wind" statement I made earlier.
Personally, I'd move Sonic & Knuckles' arms more off to the side while running, It would give Sonic a more Adventure 1 style of run and it would keep Knuckles from having his hands kind of clip together. Other wise I'd say the mod is fantastic, keep up the great stuff!
I honestly think one thing that could make this perfect was if you had Sonic and Knuckles spread their arms out a bit when running at top speed. I don't know if it's just me, but the way the arms are positioned look... weird. Great job eitherway!
2:34 One thing I really dislike is how you've made Sonic go straight into is top speed running animation during his sprint. The original game had a slow build up to him reaching that animation which felt more natural. It just looks bizarre to see him throw his arms back when he's not even going that fast.
2:33 Personal opinion: This not-full speed run could have Sonic's arms tucked in, like the classic 2D run animation. This would also have Knuckles run with his fists forward. When Sonic goes even faster, he still has his arms back animation!
I love the Shadow animations! But just a suggestion: his ramp trick pose should be the SA2 Battle cover art pose. I think it's a lot more fitting for an aerial pose
this is so cool!!! You don't have to pay attention to this last part as im sure its annoying but the one and only suggestion i would add is make shadow's teetering animation abit edgier? other then that this is a fantastic mod!
Shadow Run looks sick, Sonic's fixed head height also makes it way better. I saw knux with his arms behind and I was SA1 knuckles "oh no..." but the full speed being the OG clenched fists forward saved it and Rouge's flying fits very well the way you made.. It's awesome. Now I prefer the original SA2 light speed dash over the "being pulled by the chest" ring dash we've got in every game that came after but the bouncy animation makes sense. 6:28 the disclaimer makes it more "sus" than talking normally... yes she is a femme fatal archetype and no it shouldn't be an issue unless the individual has some in them already. Also it's funny how we get now people disclaiming all the time about "edgy" or "sexy" characters yet the subreddit has sexual preference flags ruling over sonic content for years and no one is BATTING an eye there. Guess only rouge and Lola bunny are too bad while we get sexual books running for school awards and kindergarten teachers are the cornerstone of castration in children nowadays.
The arms feel awkwardly close together in the running and Sonic's sprinting animations, especially with the running animation on Knuckles because of how big his hands are. The transition from Knuckles running to sprinting also looks odd because it would take a lot more energy to move your arms in front of you when accelerating than the other way around (eg going from classic run cycle to peel out) I'd also recommend adding some stretching to Sonic's shoes in the sprinting animation like what he has in the Genesis/Mania run cycle and SA1's sprinting animation to simulate motion blur As for the transition glitches, that generally happens if the game incorrectly decides the shortest rotation from one frame to the next is in the opposite direction of the actual closest rotation (such as if it's trying to go from 350 degrees to 10 degrees)
Personally, I like some of the "jitter" in Vanilla Sonic's full speed animation. It obviously needs to be toned down some, but it really sells the idea that you're absolutely _booking it._ Maybe having his head bob around half to a quarter as fast as vanilla would be a good compromise, or drastically reducing the distance of the bob? Regardless, the animations are a MASSIVE improvement in presentation, replacing the heavily jittered feel with something a bit more controlled. To its credit, I think SA2 wore that jitteriness reasonably well just due to it giving a vibe of "uncontrollable speed", but that doesn't mean it's the best way to sell that concept As far as what to do with the Mech Characters, maybe you could make it look like they're moving a throttle lever of some kinda during movement or hovering, or have a slight "jostle" to them whenever they fire their weapons, as if the recoil and backblast pushes them back in their seat? The mechs themselves could obviously have their initial movement look a bit less slidey, though the full speed having slip-and-slide actually feels somewhat "correct" for these machines, at least to me. Getting hurt animations for the mechs could have a bit more of a lurch to them, something to suggest the machines are much heavier and more limited in their range of motion.
Damn I wanna see the sonic vs shadow ark fight intro with these animations where they’re talkin shit to each other “alright shadow, time for me to finish this”
love where you are going with it. Sonics full speed needs some major tweaking and shadows speed skating check out the jet set raido sonic mod for generations the skating animation could do well for shadow if thats possible in the sa2 frame work.
I would like to highlight that the rail grinding animations and the walking animations for Sonic, Shadow, and Rouge turned out really well, so congratulations on that! However, I feel that some of the other animations could be improved to reach the same level. For example, Sonic's running animation looks a bit stiff, with his arms too close to his body and his torso almost motionless, which gives a strange and less fluid appearance. Knuckles has a similar issue, with his large hands positioned so close to each other that they seem to clip through his body. Some of these animations come off a bit amateurish, especially in scenes where characters are thrown by speed panels or during falls, where the movements don’t seem to react naturally to gravity and inertia. Rouge's running animation feels more natural, though a bit too slow. Shadow’s running also improved, but the sense of speed from the original version felt more impactful. I hope this feedback helps in further improving the mod!
I'm a bit unsure about how you positioned the arms during the running animations. I think they would be better if the arms extended a bit more to the side rather than being so straight. It feels a bit stiff, and gives the impression of the characters being thinner, as there isn't much to their side. SA1 running animation had the arms a bit more open to the side, so it gave the impression of the characters being sorta of a circle when looking at them from the back, which meant the transition to a ball during jump was less jarring. Also loved how much you speed up the jump animation
Amazing work! I loved what you've done but personally, not really a fan of Sonic + Knuckles' sprinting animation. The arms and hands look very stiff and doesn't really show how "free" they are. But wow, really impressed by the other animations, especially Shadow's and the tricking animations! Maybe the spriting can have Sonic's arms and hands moving a bit to show how "free" they are (Kinda like Sonic 06?) And I'm not sure if it's possible, but maybe you can add Sonic's iconic grin during the tricking. Overall, love what you're bringing to the table and bravo, broski!! You're dope as heck!
The work you did so far is incredible overall. If I have to give one criticism is that the characters’ head when jogging are a bit too bouncy, it looks rather jarring.
I personally prefer the bopping Sonic used to do at max speed in SA2, I am not sure if that is something you are looking into making a variation of in the future but that would be fantastic, regardless every other animation looks great! Especially Shadow and Rouge I love.
Nice work, I especially love the squash/stretch and Rouge's animations, but I agree with other people that you have the arms too far back on Sonic/Knuckle's run animations: I also think having the arm position change to kick in sooner/at lower speeds on Sonic is an iffy idea (It will make the speed state change from fast run to fastest sprint harder to notice), and having Knuckles's arms go from stretched out behind him to tucked back in at his fastest run state looks pretty weird. Lastly, while I agree with the logic of removing Shadow's slow-skating from fast walk animation since his shoes don't have the hover effect yet, I think just resuing Sonic's animation there looks a little too upbeat for him, and it makes the transition going from a slow walk to his run a little abrupt. I also think it's a shame to not have Shadow's original run/sprint animation included in any form, since it is such a good animation already, but I also like your replacements, aside from the fact that his feet/shoes don't lift up as much as they used to so the hove/light effect looks like it's getting cut off by the ground and is never fully visible on the front light/jet.
@MajoraZ For 1.1 and 1.2, I've given Sonic's run animation a bit of love. I'll probably make a follow-up video showcasing all of the changes over the minor updates once I finish up Eggman and release 2.0. As for Shadow, maybe I'll pull his his whole body up a tiny bit so that the hover is more noticeable.
i highly, highly reccomend adding bounce to the running animations for sonic and the other characters like how they did it in the original sonic adventure. personally, i feel it looks very odd seeing there legs move at a very fast pace, but there head and arms are static. otherwise, this is a great mod! might have to showcase it on my channel. the shadow animation looks amazing though!
The squash and stretch adds so much life to the game and makes the animations pop a lot and I absolutely love the Shadow running animations, tho if I had one critism, I feel like Sonic's animation has his arms and legs too close and he feels kinda static at max speed same goes for knux, thats just my opinion tho, this mod is great
As a rollerblader that dislikes basically all of shadows skating animations post sa2, I really really like what you did here. Finally scratched that itch I've had for years😮💨
Huh im a rollerblader too what’s wrong with them?
but do you have air shoes?
@@CaptainF123 soon
@@RaiginAnimator What kind of rollerblading do you do? I do urban, wizard, aggressive, and a little bit of speed skating. Basically, his technique is off, especially for someone who's supposed to be going as fast as Sonic. The fastest way to skate is a speed skating technique called the double push. There are tons of videos showing how to do it and explaining why it's the correct way to skate. I like SA2's animation so much because it's fluid and more closely resembles proper technique, although it becomes too fast at a point. All other animations are either single push or just poor skating in general. You don't really need to do a full double push to skate "properly," but it should at least go in that direction. 06's animation makes him look like an absolute beginner, for example.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. His animations in the later games looks like his legs are broken.
as a layman, these animations seem very much like improvements over vanilla SA2! maybe sonic's top speed animation could have a little more movement, but i understand that the stillness is deliberate as to not turn him into a blur
The run cycles alone is a massive improvement. Which is what you see 90% of the time. If you slow it down, it looks pretty good.
But playing at regular speed, it's a massive mess. So it's a good animation they literally just sped up
Hard agree like it way more than Vannila but yea his vid needs just a bit more jostling up and down
@@RaiginAnimatormaybe with running, but with sprinting vertical movement results in Sonic's movement becoming unreadable. Vanilla SA2 is one of the worst offenders of this (Story Book games really being the only ones that have it worse because there aren't enough animations)
The classic games have basically no vertical movement in the running animation besides his spines reacting to the wind for this reason
this looks absolutely abysmal and completely goes against the animation philosophy of the original. Haphazardly adding overly bouncy squash and stretch is not an improvement at all it just looks bad.
@@MatrixEvolution17 i can tell you right now that you have a right to have your own opinion. Even if they are wrong.
Bad looking cutscenes aside, nearly all of Sonic's animations are terrible in the original. His original run alone is a strobing mess. If you slow it down, it looks pretty alright. This makes me theorise that they animated a normal run and sped it up. Or at least did some motion capture. And motion capture with these characters looks terrible
The personalized “trick” animations for sonic and shadow really capture their personalities!
God i love it can’t wait to see the biolizard fight redone.
This looks excellent and I adore most of these animations.
Although, the hands being thrown back behind them during the high speed run is really good in concept but I think the back profile of it on sonic ends up looking a little silly, I might have them further out to the sides by a bit or tucked in like the classic games.
Also, the squash and stretch on the jump looks EXCELLENT. Probably my favorite bit of this whole mod.
ALSO also, sonic's arm flailing on the rail grind balancing looks really great.
Yeah that is a bit of an issue I have with Sonic and Knuckle's full speed running animation, especially with Knuckles' big unwieldy hands, the placement of them kinda muddies up the silhouette a bit. With sonic the fix is easy in theory, just pull em a teeny bit further from the body to help the silhouette. As for knuckles... man idk his big meaty claws are TERRIBLE to animate with I bet, I am not sure you could get much better than what exists in the mod without model edits. They all still look better than the original game, touching up a few animations and maybe adding a bit of bobbing to the top speed animations would go a LONG way in this mod. The work thus far is excellent in spite of those little nitpicks, and I'd happily use this mod as a default even as-is.
@@ItsLeah43maybe spreading them into a flat V-shape, as if he's using his hands like stabilizing/control fins at high speeds?
I really like these animations. I only have 3 suggestions:
-Sonic's hands while running at his "medium" speed should be further apart, since with the speed pads it is the opportunity to leave them completely behind (in addition to benefiting Knuckles)
- Shadow's jog should look more "determined". Shadow is not like Sonic, he is not relaxed, he is going to accomplish a goal.
- This is my least important suggestion: Shadow's pose is fine, but I feel that if we go by the characters' signature arts (where they form a circle)Shadow should be in that pose where he has his arms out to the side and looks at the camera from the corner of his eye.
That's all, keep up the good work!
this person sounds so wholesome i wanna hug
hugs & cuddles forever!
Rouge's walk is a bit too cross-legged, she looks drunk! Agreed with other commenters about Sonic's run animations, they could use a bit more bobbing or maybe even a full-body stretch forward to emphasize that he's no longer bobbing due to the sheer speed of his movement. Otherwise hats off to you, generally great job. We can nitpick all day but nitpicking means you've done loads better than the vanilla animations which are just... something to behold alright.
It's worth noting that SA2 has quite a few animation transition / turn-lean bugs which might not be fixable without significant reverse engineering knowledge. Did you ever notice how if you spin a character around in circles clockwise everything looks fine, but then counterclockwise their head spasms up and down? Now you'll notice it!
I agree about Rouge's walk! During the next major update I think I'll revisit it. I also agree with the sentiment about Sonic's run. I like how the full sprint turned out minus some needed polishing but I intend to tinker with his running animation a bit considering the feedback I've gotten on it! Thank you so much for the kind words!
@@totally_not_a_skeleton4004 i feel like looking at SA1's sonic animations could inspire u
Yeah I agree
Maybe it’s because of her chest size lol.
Man this should be so much more popular, these animations look AMAZING!
BLESSED!! Always thought there was a unique hanky charm to SA2's animations, but actually having them have weight and impact is what I've always dreamed of! Incredible work!
Same here: it's obviously better to have clean animations with proper squash and stretch, but if there's any game character that _could_ make jittery animation work, it's probably Sonic. The twitch in the sprint makes it feel like he's physically exerting himself beyond his usual limit, like he can't afford to play around with his speed anymore. He's so fast, the game can't render him properly when he takes off the kid's gloves!
...but seriously, as much as I love the aggressive, "all-in" energy of his vanilla run cycle, it was in DESPERATE need of tune up
One thing I’ll say about the shadow skating animation: best he’s ever had besides SA2. I think what makes SA2’s so great is that it’s so slow, weightless and swagger filled, it’s damn near sexy. I thjnk if yours were a bit smoother they would be really really nice. I like the idea of your top speed animation, since that’s the worst vanilla one with him going so fast side to side. I also think your jog animations for everyone is really good, but I think the head bobbing forwards and backwards makes me think of somebody being foolish or drunk. I know they’re cartoon characters that look good with exaggeration but I think you could get a similar effect if it just goes from neutral to forward, just not as dramatically. Great work my friend, subscribed
Rogues flight animation is genuinely amazing, great idea to bring her arms back. I think her run cycle could be a little faster. And I know other people have said it, but I think the body bouncing on everyone’s top run speed is truly important. It has imo never looked good when 3D sonic tries to emulate the classics by havjng his torso and head be completely static while the legs are the only ones moving. I think it’s like how running in midair only works in classic and looked foolish in frontiers
I don't think it's the worst animation so much as it's just too fast that it looks like he's bugging out. But your standard skate is a bit steady and slow. When you get a bit faster, it picks up as well. Then top speed he bugs out. I think the one right before that where he sways quickly but not THAT fast would be good to just maintain when he's at top speed.
As someone who loves _Sonic Adventure 2_ and also watched Daniel Floyd's _The Animation of Sonic Games_ video, and then realized how bad the animations were in that game compared to stuff like AM2's _Sonic the Fighters,_ you did a fantastic job at reanimating these characters!
Heck, I'd say that I'd prefer using this mod with the vanilla characters over something like the Modern _Sonic Adventure 2_ Mod. I just find it weird to see a higher-poly character model running around a lower-poly environment, so having beautiful animations and a consistent environment is a download from me!
Also, this is my personal idea, so feel free to implement it; my personal take on a Light Speed Dash animation is to have Sonic/Shadow propel themselves by grabbing the rings out of the air! It's a weird action to describe, but think of it like they are swimming in the air at a rapid pace, or propelling themselves the same way that a climber would rapidly climb a surface by grabbing and jumping upwards from small rock formations.
Thank you for the kind words! And yeah, that video was actually what inspired this whole project!
@@totally_not_a_skeleton4004 You didn't have to change the Knuckles animations you stuck with before. I think Knuckles doing the Ninja Run for the regular run while doing the run animation from Sonic 3 for the sprint was more fitting. For Sonic, it should've been the opposite: arm-tuck for normal run, ninja run for sprint.
the squash and stretch adds so much. it makes all these movements look like they feel way more satisfying
Sonic's SA2 run cycle has for years driven me *crazy*! It's such a jittery mess, and seeing this just heals something within me. It's what I've been searching for. Projects that use HD models and animations never feel like an actual upgrade or like they add to the experience, they create this kind of "Nintendo hire this man" feeling. This is it, this is what the game actually needs and what modding games is uniquely capable of.
as a person that doesn't have SA2
i found this video enjoyable
Definitely worth giving it a go someday. It's far from a flawless game, but it's the sort of jankiness that feels charming rather than irritating. And the Sonic&Shadow stages in SA2 are genuinely some of the best levels in the entire series, perfectly blending rewarding for high speed with rewarding for smashing enemies and nabbing any cool stuff you see along the way. Their A ranks are the embodiment of "tough but fair", demanding you learn the stage, but not demanding that you GRIND the stage to avoid cheap tricks.
Sorry, didn't mean to make a whole freaking ad campaign. I just REALLY like the stages in this game, very well put together
THESE ANIMATIONS ARE SO GOOOOOOOD!!
I have two thoughts I want to share...
A lot of people have brought up Sonic's run. I think a different change than others have mentioned might help him a lot! Perhaps his hands could be open so he looks more free, and the ever so popular "more movement" suggestion could be more horizontal than vertical since he's running smoothly. He'd bob left and right as he alternates legs, with some body twisting to match.
8:15 I think Eggman needs a different approach for his run, since he's presented as very evil in SA2. It's odd to mention, but he could look fatter when running since weight changes how you run. And perhaps his left arm could pull down his googles for his full run and he could use his hips more?
These are so good. All these animations have so much character in them, and it makes it feel so alive!
I especially love making Rouge's animations fit her smooth, spy girl archetype. The contrapposto in her slow walk is so sassy, very in-character. And her flying animation is much better with de-emphasizing her arms -- she has wings! When I look at her arms when flying, I do wonder if instead of just being flat behind her, they could bend out at the elbow, very subtly following the flap of her wings.
I also appreciate the detail of making knuckles's run animation have his arms tucked in. It makes me wonder, if he had his arms offset, one forwards slightly, like he's winding up a punch with the back arm, and using the front arm as a shield, bracing for impact. That might contribute to him being a more "power-heavy" character, visually. This could be in contrast to sonic and shadow, who simply speed ahead deftly -- when knuckles RUNS, he's CHARGING forward like a warrior in battle, going to DESTROY anything in his path.
Oh I love Rouge's longer stride especially, it really works
Finally, Sonic running with his arms held back for his run and sprint, as God intended.
I am endlessly grateful for this - the jankiness of SA2's stock animations makes the endless amount of model mods fall flat for me. The thought put behind this to make it feel nautral and not too extreme a shift from what was is a treat, and God's work.
My only complaint is I think Shadow should strike that iconic finger point pose, but even if this doesn't end up happening this mod fucks and I am so glad you made it
i think you should bring back the arm pumping motion in the run animation and leave the arms behind the back for the sprinting, but honestly i love the rest of the animations, great work!!
Please don’t fix eggman’s animation, he was made to run in the most awkward way possible
Hahaha no promises! :P
@@totally_not_a_skeleton4004 give him the syndrome walk from incredibles
@@totally_not_a_skeleton4004make him look even stupider, with arms flailing like a maniac when he sprints
@@totally_not_a_skeleton4004 what i wanna know is when i install your mod can i choose who i update animations for? or is this an all in one?
@@roxas3soraxxx You can _kinda_ pick whether or not a character is affected via the new mod options but it's not perfect due to the way the game shares animations between multiple characters.
With the exaggerated swagger of a blue hedgehog 4:23
What I like the most about this mod is that it matches what I imagined is what was happening when I was a kid. Fantastic stuff man. Looking forward to the tails/eggman changes!
Looks amazing. Thank you so much
I find your voice really pleasant to listen to honestly. You do a really good job at narrating this video. The intonation is really nice!
This shit GOOD! I always thought the in-game animations were kinda stanky, so this is a welcome update!
My one piece of criticism is that I think Sonic's top speed run animation should have just a little bit of bobbing to his head and chest. Vanilla SA2 WAY overdid this, and how the animation is now in your mod, Sonic and Knuckles both just sort of look like they're gliding along the ground, there's not enough weight to it. If you could find a good balance between the head and torso not moving at all along the Z axis, and bouncing around like crazy seizure mode in the vanilla game, I think this would be damn near perfect :D
My spouse with more than some experience in video making and adding voiceovers to videos said that this was very well done and that it felt like she was watching How It's Made.
The mod itself seems really really neat and I love the stretching with the lightdash it looks really cool
Ngl, I kinda prefer vanilla Shadow's swing skating at speed. It has more visual interest through the sense of back-and-forth and looks more like he's pushing himself. It especially shines in White Jungle as it shows his extreme desperation to get to Rouge. Everything else looks pretty cool though, even if I kinda like watching Rouge and Knuckles violently vibrate like they're about to explode in the original, these animations suit them much better 😂
I literally rock my head like that when getting motivated to do something lol so i have a soft spot.
I feel the same about vanilla shadow skate animation, its my favorite. Although I agree with you, this one does look more clean
idk a damn thing abt animation, and I absolutely adore all the tweaks u made for all the characters
HOWEVER, sonics top speed run animation looks kinda....static to me?
personally I really liked the fast vibration that he had
thats all i gotta say :)
Really nice mod. I love the new teetering animation on the rails. One thing I notice durring the full run animation for sonic. The feet have really nice smears but the chest and waist are not counter balancing each other. Also it might be nice to a very small up and down bob on sonics body during the full run. He looks like he's gliding across the ground. Over great start cant wait to see it improve.
Love the new Shadow animations especially the sprinting one. *chef's kiss* Fantastic and I am subbing.
THANK YOU! These are beautiful! I can’t wait to install this mod and look at these animations forever
Also, I thought the video was 20 minutes long for some reason, and altho it ended at 10, i wouldve gladly listened to another 10! You’re good at this video thing! It’s very… personality!
How did bro just drop peak like this?? Anyways, this is awesome, my only critique is that Sonic's top speed animation could have retained some of that bobbing in the upper torso from the original. For comparison it reminds me of Sonic CD's jogging animation as opposed to Sonic 1's running animation, if that makes sense.
Bro you should do more videos, whatever works it was super enjoyable to watch.
Also the mod is sick
those are great!!! the explanations and context make a lot of sense too. makes me happy to see them look so good
This is an interesting experiment! Your dedication is admirable. I don't really agree on the squatch thing and think Shadow's skating looks weird, but that's fine, its your mod, you can do whatever you want.
This is so giga chad. These animations breath so much life into these characters. I actually really like the sonic full tilt animation because it reminds me of the scene in Sonic Adventure 1/DX when he runs down the side of the building and you get to see his face.
The Shadow animations are so fluid and make his stages even more of a treat to play. this is amazing work and something i had not really ever thought about when playing SA2.
your effort here is herculean. I installed this immediately and have been enjoying them for hours now. just amazing work. thank you so much for your time and sharing your work and thoughts.
Here is an unsolicited idea: Would be cool to see Rouge's full tilt to be her just gliding similar to metal sonic or something.
I LOVE the Shadow skating animations! Honestly I think they look better than Shadow's skating circa Generations!
For Eggman's run you should use the cycle from Sonic 2 where you chase him into the Death Egg lmao
Looks great! Lookin forward to seeing where this goes!
As someone that has a very high standard for mods or remasters etc I find these very faithful and an improvement! Well done
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS I really need new mods for sa2 and this is just what I need
This is really neat! Especially like the casual walk for Sonic and the classy and elegant style for Rouge here. As much as I love this game, it probably has the worst running animation for Sonic so this is a great improvement too. Have to say though, the arms/hand positioning looks a bit awkward, almost painful to me now with them being so narrow close to his body during the run. Feels like the arms shouldn't be able to bend that far, at least not in a comfortable way. This goes even more so for Knuckles with his giant hands. I would suggest trying widening their hand positions a bit, still held back but pointing more outwards kinda like in Sonic Jam's 3D world. But GREAT work, nonheless! Really impressive stuff.
This was really cool to watch. Awesome job.
For someone who isnt used to making videos, this is really good!
the new Shadow running/sprinting animations you did ESPECIALLY stand out to me, they look excellent!!
this is really cool! Shadow's animations in particular are vastly improved over vanilla SA2, the skating looks a lot smoother and more natural.
0:17 My first thought upon seeing modded Sonic's sprinting from behind was that he was too stiff.
3:27 VS 3:29 The close-up, head-on wall run shot really highlights how still and unnatural modded Sonic holds himself. The truck chase angle does makes him look a little better because it shows more of his moving spikes and a little less of his very still upper body.
5:09 I would also like modded Shadow to skate visibly faster at top speed. I like your idea of having him lean into and coast with each push, but he could use a bit _more_ force and exaggerated sway in his movement. While SA2's skating may be a bit too erratic, it's the existence of this quality that really captures the high speed movement of SA2 (same goes for Sonic's sprinting). The absence of it in games after has made Shadow feel a lot weaker. I know that you had a tough time trying to get it right though. I'm just explaining my view.
My criticisms of Sonic's & Shadow's top speed animations aside, I like the rest of your changes. Their walks and jogs are _so_ good and the added stretch & squash to their jump is an exquisite touch. And the Tricks showing more personality. Good work, man!
8:15 I think you mean, "I don't know if Eggman's animations can be *improved*!"
* Chef kiss *
This looks awesome sauce, good job. I'm totally gonna use this mod once I actually play SA2 for myself. (Been a Sonic fan for a long time and I'm already familiar with SA2's story from youtube videos and Sonic X's adaptation, but I've never actually played it for some reason.)
Nice job making the video I like the mod that made the game pretty good better than what it was, but I still like it the way it is
you may be a genius for this one, god i love to see these models moving how the shouldve, id do anything to see someone give the same treatment to the in game cutscenes, finally get rid of the strange motion capture look
This is amazing, great work!!
I REALLY like the new rouge animations, particularly the run/jog and flying, super cool mod with great improvements! I also adore sonic's SA2 pose for his trick animation!
Not a bad mod but I have some things to say, Sonic’s run is a bit stiff and the clipping makes it look awkward, his face however looks great during it. Besides that it’s a good mod and my personal nitpick being the mod feels too modern for the default models. While the characters are definitely cartoony seeing the squash and stretch on the ingame characters and not on anything else in gameplay or in cutscenes just looks out of place, also the SA1 pose while good just feels kinda bland, it’s hard to say but I’ve personally seen enough of that pose for Sonic and it just feels like a filler pose Sega uses nowadays.
With some work this mod has really good potential but right now I’ll stick to vanilla
these look so fun and good! also your voice sounds good to me
The whole reason i want to get sa2 on steam soni could play this mod the animations look SO COOL
This mod makes SA2 look more expressive!
And i wonder if that's possible for the cutscenes too.
I thought for a moment this might be a mod that tried to re-do some of the cutscene animations, which always struck me as needing the most work. I wouldn't know the first thing about modifying those if they're in-engine or not, but the attempts at polishing up the gameplay animations is actually looking very impressive.
I think rouges full sprint animation is great i love the direction you took it in
I’d keep the slight jitter with the hands at least because it makes him look alive. If he were a robot, then having him completely still would make sense. The small movement feel mire organic 3:32
This was done really well. Just enough 👏🏾👏🏾not over done
These look really clean :)
My only suggestions would be that sonics arms look a little too close to him at max speed, it makes him seem like he's struggling to keep form at that speed rather than the every day runner free as the wind guy he is, like the wind is forcing his arms back rather then it just being comfortable to him.
And I know I'm in the minority because its been deemed as bad animation because its harder to read, but I really like the somewhat violent movement/bouncing of the original animation and things like secret ring's, solely because of how uncanny I think it looks to see those legs moving so fast but the body so still, I think the still body works really well if the legs were more of a literal blur like the figure 8 legs or like how sonic X has the ball for legs. But I also think the vibrating just looks really fast and that's just plainly cool to me although I know how that contradicts the "free as a wind" statement I made earlier.
i like shadows original running and sprinting animation. i was hoping you d be the one to set that example. but each there own
thank you for such a talented and creative project
I’m a fan of how Sonic and Shadow’s new ramp tricks look like their poses in the SA2B intro (plus SA1’s box art in Sonic’s case).
Bless you man. This is beautiful.
Personally, I'd move Sonic & Knuckles' arms more off to the side while running, It would give Sonic a more Adventure 1 style of run and it would keep Knuckles from having his hands kind of clip together. Other wise I'd say the mod is fantastic, keep up the great stuff!
This is pure love to Deity Adventure 2
I honestly think one thing that could make this perfect was if you had Sonic and Knuckles spread their arms out a bit when running at top speed. I don't know if it's just me, but the way the arms are positioned look... weird. Great job eitherway!
I think the hands draw back a bit too much but man, this is amazing work. It’s like making an old game new
You have a great personality brother
2:34 One thing I really dislike is how you've made Sonic go straight into is top speed running animation during his sprint. The original game had a slow build up to him reaching that animation which felt more natural. It just looks bizarre to see him throw his arms back when he's not even going that fast.
@@MatrixEvolution17 Agreed! This is something that I've made sure to address in updates.
@@totally_not_a_skeleton4004 I'm sorry if I came across as aggresive or rude or anything like that, you are incredibly talented as an animator
@@MatrixEvolution17 No worries whatsoever!
2:33 Personal opinion: This not-full speed run could have Sonic's arms tucked in, like the classic 2D run animation. This would also have Knuckles run with his fists forward. When Sonic goes even faster, he still has his arms back animation!
I want these modders to be on those kickstarter projects where its like "Sonic adventure-like games"
WOW, it's Good, Great, Awesome, Outstanding, AMAZING how you put that much of personality to the animations, I'll definitely try this mod
I love the Shadow animations! But just a suggestion: his ramp trick pose should be the SA2 Battle cover art pose. I think it's a lot more fitting for an aerial pose
this is so cool!!! You don't have to pay attention to this last part as im sure its annoying but the one and only suggestion i would add is make shadow's teetering animation abit edgier? other then that this is a fantastic mod!
Shadow Run looks sick, Sonic's fixed head height also makes it way better. I saw knux with his arms behind and I was SA1 knuckles "oh no..." but the full speed being the OG clenched fists forward saved it and Rouge's flying fits very well the way you made.. It's awesome.
Now I prefer the original SA2 light speed dash over the "being pulled by the chest" ring dash we've got in every game that came after but the bouncy animation makes sense.
6:28 the disclaimer makes it more "sus" than talking normally... yes she is a femme fatal archetype and no it shouldn't be an issue unless the individual has some in them already. Also it's funny how we get now people disclaiming all the time about "edgy" or "sexy" characters yet the subreddit has sexual preference flags ruling over sonic content for years and no one is BATTING an eye there. Guess only rouge and Lola bunny are too bad while we get sexual books running for school awards and kindergarten teachers are the cornerstone of castration in children nowadays.
The arms feel awkwardly close together in the running and Sonic's sprinting animations, especially with the running animation on Knuckles because of how big his hands are.
The transition from Knuckles running to sprinting also looks odd because it would take a lot more energy to move your arms in front of you when accelerating than the other way around (eg going from classic run cycle to peel out)
I'd also recommend adding some stretching to Sonic's shoes in the sprinting animation like what he has in the Genesis/Mania run cycle and SA1's sprinting animation to simulate motion blur
As for the transition glitches, that generally happens if the game incorrectly decides the shortest rotation from one frame to the next is in the opposite direction of the actual closest rotation (such as if it's trying to go from 350 degrees to 10 degrees)
Personally, I like some of the "jitter" in Vanilla Sonic's full speed animation. It obviously needs to be toned down some, but it really sells the idea that you're absolutely _booking it._ Maybe having his head bob around half to a quarter as fast as vanilla would be a good compromise, or drastically reducing the distance of the bob?
Regardless, the animations are a MASSIVE improvement in presentation, replacing the heavily jittered feel with something a bit more controlled. To its credit, I think SA2 wore that jitteriness reasonably well just due to it giving a vibe of "uncontrollable speed", but that doesn't mean it's the best way to sell that concept
As far as what to do with the Mech Characters, maybe you could make it look like they're moving a throttle lever of some kinda during movement or hovering, or have a slight "jostle" to them whenever they fire their weapons, as if the recoil and backblast pushes them back in their seat? The mechs themselves could obviously have their initial movement look a bit less slidey, though the full speed having slip-and-slide actually feels somewhat "correct" for these machines, at least to me. Getting hurt animations for the mechs could have a bit more of a lurch to them, something to suggest the machines are much heavier and more limited in their range of motion.
Damn I wanna see the sonic vs shadow ark fight intro with these animations where they’re talkin shit to each other “alright shadow, time for me to finish this”
Rouge's animations fit her better now, she isn't goofy while moving
Shadow's skating animation looks SO much better!
love where you are going with it. Sonics full speed needs some major tweaking and shadows speed skating check out the jet set raido sonic mod for generations the skating animation could do well for shadow if thats possible in the sa2 frame work.
I think for rouge full speed animation she should like like shes flying but on the ground, great video!
I'd love to see some Tails or even Amy animations compatible with their gameplay overhauls by Sora! This is amazing!
Awesome! I think that the only change i'd ask for is to place sonic's hands a little farther apart/out to the side when running
I would like to highlight that the rail grinding animations and the walking animations for Sonic, Shadow, and Rouge turned out really well, so congratulations on that! However, I feel that some of the other animations could be improved to reach the same level. For example, Sonic's running animation looks a bit stiff, with his arms too close to his body and his torso almost motionless, which gives a strange and less fluid appearance. Knuckles has a similar issue, with his large hands positioned so close to each other that they seem to clip through his body. Some of these animations come off a bit amateurish, especially in scenes where characters are thrown by speed panels or during falls, where the movements don’t seem to react naturally to gravity and inertia. Rouge's running animation feels more natural, though a bit too slow. Shadow’s running also improved, but the sense of speed from the original version felt more impactful. I hope this feedback helps in further improving the mod!
this looks incredible!!
I'm a bit unsure about how you positioned the arms during the running animations. I think they would be better if the arms extended a bit more to the side rather than being so straight.
It feels a bit stiff, and gives the impression of the characters being thinner, as there isn't much to their side. SA1 running animation had the arms a bit more open to the side, so it gave the impression of the characters being sorta of a circle when looking at them from the back, which meant the transition to a ball during jump was less jarring.
Also loved how much you speed up the jump animation
This. LOOKS. AMAZING
Amazing work! I loved what you've done but personally, not really a fan of Sonic + Knuckles' sprinting animation. The arms and hands look very stiff and doesn't really show how "free" they are. But wow, really impressed by the other animations, especially Shadow's and the tricking animations!
Maybe the spriting can have Sonic's arms and hands moving a bit to show how "free" they are (Kinda like Sonic 06?) And I'm not sure if it's possible, but maybe you can add Sonic's iconic grin during the tricking. Overall, love what you're bringing to the table and bravo, broski!! You're dope as heck!
the bouncy jogging omg i want to animate in 3d now
The work you did so far is incredible overall.
If I have to give one criticism is that the characters’ head when jogging are a bit too bouncy, it looks rather jarring.
I personally prefer the bopping Sonic used to do at max speed in SA2, I am not sure if that is something you are looking into making a variation of in the future but that would be fantastic, regardless every other animation looks great! Especially Shadow and Rouge I love.
Nice work, I especially love the squash/stretch and Rouge's animations, but I agree with other people that you have the arms too far back on Sonic/Knuckle's run animations: I also think having the arm position change to kick in sooner/at lower speeds on Sonic is an iffy idea (It will make the speed state change from fast run to fastest sprint harder to notice), and having Knuckles's arms go from stretched out behind him to tucked back in at his fastest run state looks pretty weird. Lastly, while I agree with the logic of removing Shadow's slow-skating from fast walk animation since his shoes don't have the hover effect yet, I think just resuing Sonic's animation there looks a little too upbeat for him, and it makes the transition going from a slow walk to his run a little abrupt. I also think it's a shame to not have Shadow's original run/sprint animation included in any form, since it is such a good animation already, but I also like your replacements, aside from the fact that his feet/shoes don't lift up as much as they used to so the hove/light effect looks like it's getting cut off by the ground and is never fully visible on the front light/jet.
@MajoraZ For 1.1 and 1.2, I've given Sonic's run animation a bit of love. I'll probably make a follow-up video showcasing all of the changes over the minor updates once I finish up Eggman and release 2.0. As for Shadow, maybe I'll pull his his whole body up a tiny bit so that the hover is more noticeable.
i highly, highly reccomend adding bounce to the running animations for sonic and the other characters like how they did it in the original sonic adventure. personally, i feel it looks very odd seeing there legs move at a very fast pace, but there head and arms are static. otherwise, this is a great mod! might have to showcase it on my channel. the shadow animation looks amazing though!
The squash and stretch adds so much life to the game and makes the animations pop a lot and I absolutely love the Shadow running animations, tho if I had one critism, I feel like Sonic's animation has his arms and legs too close and he feels kinda static at max speed same goes for knux, thats just my opinion tho, this mod is great