Improve ACU walk animations for UEF, Aeon and Cybran - #7264
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This pull request aims to improve the walking animations of the ACUs for the UEF, Aeon, and Cybran factions. Cybran ACU The original walking animation has been preserved, with two main adjustments: Head position The head no longer sinks into the shoulder area while the ACU is walking. Hip and torso position The hips and torso have been raised to reduce the noticeable transition between the standing and walking poses. Previously, the ACU appeared to become noticeably shorter when walking compared to its standing height. UEF ACU The walking animation has been completely recreated. The previous animation kept the upper body very rigid, while the legs bent excessively during movement. This made the walking animation look rather unnatural. Since the UEF ACU is a large and heavy combat robot, I tried to give the animation a stronger sense of weight and mass. I also incorporated the other limbs more into the movement to make the overall animation feel more natural and dynamic. Aeon ACU The walking animation has also been completely recreated. The previous animation appeared to have an issue with the original animation setup. While walking, the ACU would lean heavily to one side, making it appear as though the unit was damaged or malfunctioning. The head would also move considerably as a result, further contributing to an unstable appearance. The new animation is intended to make the ACU walk in a more natural and stable manner while still conveying a sense of the unit's weight. Unit Scale I also increased the unit's scale value by 0.01, making the ACUs slightly larger in-game. If this change is considered too noticeable or unnecessary, it can easily be reverted. Additional Notes I am unfortunately not a professional animator, so I have done my best to improve these animations with the skills and tools available to me. If anyone feels that further adjustments or improvements are needed, I would be happy to provide the original Blender source files so that others can continue working on them. I'm sure there are other talented people in the community who can take these animations even further. Note for Testers For a better comparison of the animations, I recommend using the BlackOpsFAF-ACUs mod. This mod provides slightly different versions of the ACUs while still using the old walking animations. This makes it easier to directly compare the previous and new animations and clearly see the differences.
📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughThe change tunes walk animation rates and foot tread offsets for UAL0001 and UEL0001. It also increases the UAL0001 uniform scale from 0.018 to 0.019. ChangesACU display tuning
Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~5 minutes Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to The PR improves ACU walking animations and slightly enlarges the Aeon ACU, but the configured scale change does not match the stated increment and the collision dimensions are unchanged. This creates a bounded visual-versus-interaction consistency risk; the PR is mergeable with explicit owner awareness or follow-up. 🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
Full details: Docstring CoverageExplanation No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 0 files. (2 skipped: 2 unsupported.) Full details: Description checkExplanation The description provides detailed, relevant information about the animation changes, scale change, visual comparisons, and testing suggestions. It does not use all template headings and does not include the checklist, but the core description is complete and on topic. ✨ Finishing Touches🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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Inline comments:
In `@units/UAL0001/UAL0001_unit.bp`:
- Line 195: Update UniformScale from 0.019 to 0.028 so it reflects the required
0.01 increase from the previous value of 0.018.
Apply the same fix in `@units/UAL0001/UAL0001_unit.bp` at line 195.
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📒 Files selected for processing (5)
units/UAL0001/UAL0001_Awalk.scaunits/UAL0001/UAL0001_unit.bpunits/UEL0001/UEL0001_unit.bpunits/UEL0001/uel0001_a001.scaunits/URL0001/URL0001_Awalk02.sca
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Here are a few videos intended to show a comparison between old and new. Vorlage.UEF.mp4UEF.Up.old_new.mp4UEF.Site.old_new.mp4UEF.Front.old_new.mp4UEF.Old._.New.mp4 |
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Unfortunately, there was no reference material for the Aeon. Aeon.Up.old_new.mp4Aeon.Site.old_new.mp4Aeon.Front.old_new.mp4Aeon.Back.old_new.mp4Aeon.Old._.New.mp4 |
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The Aeon one looks great! |
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To me the Aeon one looks way worse, it lost the robotic feeling of huge machine stomping with every step. Now it just casually walks |
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Bit similar in the UEF one, its not as bad as the Aeon one, but in the new animation the walk is bit too much smoother. Feet are sliding a bit more on the ground |
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Thank you for your feedback. I’ll be happy to do some more fine-tuning. Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time creating a convincing push-off motion with the rear leg. This is partly due to the limited range of movement of the individual parts. I’ll create some more videos directly in Blender so that the movements are easier to see and compare. If you have any tips or suggestions for me, I’d be happy to hear them. |
Aeon.Blender.mp4A small excerpt, in case it helps you give me some more specific tips. |
UEF.Blender.mp4 |
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Please give it a try. I’ve strengthened the movement just before the foot hits the ground, so the impact should now feel more pronounced. Here’s just a clip of the animation before I update it. UEF.Blender.2.mp4 |
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Here’s the in-game version. Unfortunately, the video is stuttering a little, so the animation doesn’t look quite as smooth here as it does in the actual in-game test. :/ UEF.Test.2.mp4 |
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3 participants
This pull request aims to improve the walking animations of the ACUs for the UEF, Aeon, and Cybran factions.
Cybran ACU
The original walking animation has been preserved, with two main adjustments:
Head position
The head no longer sinks into the shoulder area while the ACU is walking.
Hip and torso position
The hips and torso have been raised to reduce the noticeable transition between the standing and walking poses. Previously, the ACU appeared to become noticeably shorter when walking compared to its standing height.
UEF ACU
The walking animation has been completely recreated.
The previous animation kept the upper body very rigid, while the legs bent excessively during movement. This made the walking animation look rather unnatural.
Since the UEF ACU is a large and heavy combat robot, I tried to give the animation a stronger sense of weight and mass. I also incorporated the other limbs more into the movement to make the overall animation feel more natural and dynamic.
Aeon ACU
The walking animation has also been completely recreated.
The previous animation appeared to have an issue with the original animation setup. While walking, the ACU would lean heavily to one side, making it appear as though the unit was damaged or malfunctioning. The head would also move considerably as a result, further contributing to an unstable appearance.
The new animation is intended to make the ACU walk in a more natural and stable manner while still conveying a sense of the unit's weight.
Aeon ACU Unit Scale
I also increased the unit's scale value by 0.001, making the ACUs slightly larger in-game. If this change is considered too noticeable or unnecessary, it can easily be reverted.
Additional Notes
I am unfortunately not a professional animator, so I have done my best to improve these animations with the skills and tools available to me.
If anyone feels that further adjustments or improvements are needed, I would be happy to provide the original Blender source files so that others can continue working on them.
I'm sure there are other talented people in the community who can take these animations even further.
Note for Testers
For a better comparison of the animations, I recommend using the BlackOpsFAF-ACUs mod. This mod provides slightly different versions of the ACUs while still using the old walking animations. This makes it easier to directly compare the previous and new animations and clearly see the differences.
Anyone wishing to test the new animations in a match can also use my mod Savers Unitspack.
!!!
**Since this is only my third proper Pull Request, I just wanted to make it clear that this is purely a suggestion from my side.
The decision on whether, and in what form, any of these changes might be implemented into the game is entirely up to the FAF core team. So please consider this a “could” rather than a “must”.
I already have the option to make these changes for myself through a mod, and I’m actually using that option since I enjoy using various mods anyway.**
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