Roxas:
Misc Animations: You should finish those. They are a pain in the ass to do but getting them out of the way first helps keep you interested in the project.
Dash: These are basically jumps... Like... "Go! Oh wait... nvm, I don't wanna actually run anywhere" The animation itself should be more like a full stride or a standing/running long jump in which they land and decide to stand up instead of keep running.
Use Frame 20-28 to make that happen, then use 8-10 frames to go back to the wait1 frame. See how that looks.
Run: 12 frames is not enough frames yo... have you tested that out in-game? That has to be crazy fast...
Attack11: Between frame 10 and 12, that attack has crap range. I suggest extending the keyblade towards the opponent (frame 11) and not having it point towards the ground.
Attack12: Its alright. It still bothers me that I have to view these animations at 20 fps to see them correctly. You shouldn't be trying to make it so that you need Frame Speed mods to make an animation go right.
Attack13: Frame14 to 15 there needs to be a frame inbetween those two... because you have the wind up for the attack. Then you have the cool down of the attack. The actual attack frame is not there... the attack would be when the keyblades are in front of Roxas before he crosses his arms with the key blades on either side of him... I'll actually provide images for this though:
Between the first and second image there needs to be a frame that has the keyblades going from the previous frame to the next frame...
The next three images, the second image would be the attack that would connect, where as the third and fifth image would be the wind up and end, the fourth image doesn't seem like much of an attack frame.
A key thing to remember when animating is that you have to envision the full range of motion. I have a scale I like to use you don't have to but it helps me. Its just a generalization of whats fast or slow and some tips I made for myself:
Basically the number of frames used to make any given animation determine how fast/slow it happens in-game. Later I test in game to see if I need to speed up or slow down anything but by then, a fps will do. But thats a last resort since the animation should try to not require a fps in the first place. A lesson I learned when I made Wolverine.
1-3 frames: Instant actions
- Things that are crazy fast like Fox's kicks. In-Game, you hardly see these things clearly and pausing to see them is tricky because of the speed in which it passes.
5-7 frames: Fast actions.
- Things like a normal sword slash of kick. A decent amount of frames and since its an odd number (lets say I used 5 frames) the initial movement would take 2 frames, the third frame would be the 'attack' frame and the last two frames would be the follow through. I use this set a lot actually. I like to use the first frame (not the first frame of the whole animation, the first frame of what I consider the attack window) to start the attack, then skip to the 5th or 7th frame for the end of the follow through. BrawlBox will fill in the space, and I go back to the middle (3rd or 4th frame from the start of the window) to adjust the attack to make sure its in the middle so that the attack actually connects ingame. Not an exact science, but it is something standard I use.
8-10 Frames: Normal Speed actions.
- I say normal speed, but its actually above average speed. If you look at a Jab from Fox of Falcon, you'll see that the jab happens before the 5th frame of the attack I believe... yet the entire animation as a whole is about 30-40 frames. Those jabs are fast but the follow through is what makes them look whole and complete. If your animations are too fast, they'll look choppy in game.
11+ Frames: Slow Actions
- I usually use 12 frames as an extension of 8-10 but this fits too... generally I've found that 15+ frames is a good amount of frames for a 'slow' animation. Mostly used for Taunts and waits. Depends vastly on what the animation is.
Hope this helps
Back to the review:
AttackHi3 is the up tilt, and AttackLw3 is the down tilt, you currently have them both the same as the AttackS3S May wanna fix that lol.
You also need a frame between frame9 and frame10 because frame9 has the keyblade behind his arm, and frame10 is the key blade to his side like he'd already attacked. You need that in-between frame to show the attack. Same with frame13 and frame 14. you need a frame in between them to have it be in the middle cause where it ends.
See what I mean? This is an example where I'd use probably 4-6 frames. The first of those 4 would be the first image, and the second image would be the 4th or 5th frame. The frame in between those two images would be the part of the attack that can connect to an opponent.
Same issue with the Side Smash (AttackS4S) frame13 to frame 14 there is no attack. You didn't put it in there. He spins and then he stops. Its like at frame13 Roxas puts the keyblade up like he's gonna attack, Then in frame 14 its like he attacked but because there is no frame 13.5 you don't see it.
Your up smash isn't much of an up smash. If he's gonna jump, its ok to make him go a bit higher if you want. That would be a nice Second Side smash though.
Your Down Smash has some clipping in it. Meaning that the keyblades are actually going through Roxas' legs... You have to be careful of that. What separates a good animator and a bad animator is attention to detail. Aside from that, its a decent down smash.
And I have no idea what you're doing with your SideSpecial attacks, BUT you should remember that the end of the animations need to end with the wait1 or the fall frame if they are in the air.
I can see you put a lot of work into it, but you still have a ways to go. One other tip that I learned a long time ago, I draw, pretty well actually. I'm go to the Art Institute for it... a long time ago, I studied anatomy and how the human body moves so that I can better draw and illustrate bodies. How their range of motion work and everything. I also studied the scientific basics of fighting so I could better illustrate a punch.
I tell you that because the lesson I learned is that when it gets hard to envision what a realistic body would do when trying to animate it gets hard, try and pose yourself or get someone to pose for you. I noticed that your Hold animations were a bit 'meh' Specifically the SideSmashStart and Hold... thats not a position someone realistically could hold for long.
Hopefully this helps... Thats all I got for now.