Stand and breathe (many legs)

The idle of the game cycles for a crab or another many-legged body: the claws held up and opening a little, with just a couple of legs shifting now and then, looping every 4 seconds until a game switches it for another cycle.

A cartoon person and a dog standing at rest, arms lifted and held open a little.

Use it in a cartoon Open it in the block editor The pack file (JSON)

What it is for

Stand and breathe (many legs) is the idle of the nine game cycles, written for the many set: three or more legs a side, such as a crab or an insect, any count up to 16. Only the bird and many-legged sets get their own idle; the hop and fours sets reuse Stand and breathe instead. This pack sets no view at all, since the many set is drawn from its own default (a crab from the front, a centipede from the side) rather than the side view every other idle in this set uses.

The principle it shows: secondary action

The breath drives the whole body, but only two of the legs get any motion of their own: the back right leg and one of the numbered legs further along, each swaying at its own offset. Animating every single leg was never necessary; a couple of them shifting is enough to read as a many-legged body quietly resettling its weight, a secondary action riding on top of the breath rather than a full-body fidget.

The program, line by line

settings: h = 540, leg = 0.1
when it starts
  set left arm -7, right arm 7, left arm lift (0.044*h), right arm lift (0.044*h)
  sin wave on sy · every 4 s · amp 0.014
  sin wave on sx · every 4 s · amp -0.007
  sin wave on left arm · every 4 s · amp -4 · phase 0.5
  sin wave on right arm · every 4 s · amp 4 · phase 0.5
  sin wave on left claw · every 2 s · amp 6
  sin wave on right claw · every 2 s · amp -6 · phase 0.7
  sin wave on back right leg · every 2 s · amp 4 · phase 1
  sin wave on leg #6 · every 2 s · amp 4 · phase 6
  possin wave on blink · every 4 s · amp 1 · phase 1.2 · power 40

set left arm -7, right arm 7, left arm lift (0.044*h), right arm lift (0.044*h) — the claws are held up and apart, lifted a little off their rest position.
sin wave on sy · every 4 s · amp 0.014, sin wave on sx · every 4 s · amp -0.007 — a slow breath, the body stretching and narrowing a little.
sin wave on left arm · every 4 s · amp -4 · phase 0.5, sin wave on right arm · every 4 s · amp 4 · phase 0.5 — both claws sway a little, offset from the breath.
sin wave on left claw · every 2 s · amp 6, sin wave on right claw · every 2 s · amp -6 · phase 0.7 — the claws themselves open and close a little, their own faster rhythm.
sin wave on back right leg · every 2 s · amp 4 · phase 1, sin wave on leg #6 · every 2 s · amp 4 · phase 6 — just two of the legs shift, each at its own offset, resettling the body's weight.
possin wave on blink · every 4 s · amp 1 · phase 1.2 · power 40 — a sharp blink once every 4 seconds.

Try this

Stretch the breath more than twice as far, 0.03 instead of 0.014. The idle reads as a slower, more deliberate breath.
In the program: wave · amp 0.014 → 0.03
Blink about every 1.2 seconds instead of 4. The same calm pose now reads as nervous or on edge.
In the program: wave · every 4 → 1.2

How it differs from Stand and breathe and Scuttle (many legs, in place)

Stand and breathe is the same idea for the upright set, with no claws and every leg either still or walking, never idly shifting on its own. Scuttle (many legs, in place) is the cycle a game switches to the instant this body starts walking.

Works on

Worked out by the build: it plays the move in the engine on each body and checks what moves on screen. Nobody types this table.
Body	Moves?	What moves
2 legs (a person)	yes	whole body, body, arms
4 legs (a dog)	yes	whole body, front legs, back legs
no legs (the monster with no legs)	yes	whole body, body, arms

c4c:beh:cycle_idle_many · version 1.0.0 · c4c-free · by Jabbertoon