Whirls, Twirls, and Spins (Attack Animation)

[Erebras]

For another project of mine, I conceived of a combat spin attack animation where I combined all eight compass directions into a single attack sequence. Of course the starting point is facing the correct starting direction, but then the unit turns counter-clockwise, and when the animation is speeded up, it gives the impression of the unit twirling into the attack.

When I made it for a chainsword-swing that a WH40K warrior-acolyte was using, it looked good enough to think about adapting it for other units. So this thread will contain these new attack animations, which in reality are nothing more than reinventing the original animations in a different sequence.

 

[Erebras]

This is a modification of embryodead's Witch Elf used in the WH2 mod. The death cult assassin is little more than a grayscaled version.

Since the original attack animation was a rather subtle thrust, the whirl has a subtle attack, which can be a bit disappointing, but if one were to add it into the sequence in the ini file, it could liven up a simple swing and thrust routine. I'm thinking in between the first and second attacks.

 

[Erebras]

This is the standard Immortals unit. (I had a palette problem concerning the shadow, even after importing the original .pal file, so it looks a bit different from the standard animations.) The gif preview is playing a bit slower than the actual flc.

 

[Erebras]

This unit had a nice slashing attack and I was able to make a rapid spin at the beginning of the first attack sequence. The immortals and the witch elf are a bit "drawn out", as it were.

 

[Erebras]

This is the Howling Banshee that LMR has made. There were only ten frames to work with, and when I tried to have her "follow through," the sword or the pistol would jump from one side of the screen to another, just a bit too much distance to be smooth. Nonetheless, the result here is actually rather dance-like (it's more apparent when viewed with FLICster rather than the gif I created).

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

very good thought. do you might consider of creating only a half spin, 180 degrees? for a full spearman attack?

 

[Erebras]

I had not considered it for a spearman. If it's a half-spin (180 degrees), how does the spearman thrust in the right direction, unless it's 180 degrees back and then 180 degrees forward? That may work. It would appear he's stepping back a bit and then swinging forward, kind of the way the Immortals is doing with his sword. (I know "Immortals is" is incorrect grammar until you realize "Immortals" is not plural in this case.)

 

[Erebras]

The warrior monk from Medieval Japan Extras. As expected, this one turned out the nicest so far. This is because the shadows survived the import of the pal file when transforming from bmp to pcx, and also the warrior monk keeps his one foot stationary, so when the boxes are reordered, his foot stays in place, so that the end result looks like he is pivoting on his foot rather than spinning on a lazy susan or merry-go-round.

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

absolutew ashtonishing erebras. this is what i have ment!

 

[Blue Monkey]

The links don't seem to work. Erebras, could you upload them again?

 

[Erebras]

I'm not certain how much I have retained (and where) but I'll attempt to upload what I have. I didn't expect the move to another server to do as much widespread damage as it did, and I would've been motivated to add my files to the database had I known all attachments were going to be deleted in their entirety. I'm not complaining so much as lamenting. I understand the necessity of a new server and all that.

So far, only the Death Cult Assassin has been located.