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So I saw this YouTube video talking about center of mass and balance, and I had an anxiety attack because how can I know if my creatures work???

So I picked my hyper fixation character and put him here for people who know more than me. creature image

The hat isn't important. He's around 3 feet tall. He has a large head to hold a big mouth. He can switch to quadrupedal movement if needed. The video made the leg and torso proportions seem quite important for the ability to walk and balance on two legs, so that's what I'm most concerned about. I need to know how well he can balance while being bipedal, and what choices I have if some things need to be changed.

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    $\begingroup$ At first sight he looks very human-like wrt stance and general shape. What specifically are you concerned about? Maybe he needs some heels to stop him falling backwards, is that what you mean, or is it something else. Great creature by the way! P.S. He looks quite fishlike.Does he have gills? Is he walking on land or underwater? $\endgroup$
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Sep 10, 2020 at 22:22
  • $\begingroup$ I was concerned about the length of the legs and or body, since the video I saw made the proportions seem super important to something's ability to walk and balance. Chickens walk fine so I assumed the back toe works in place of a heel. He is usually on land but he can live underwater if he wants to, so he has gills. $\endgroup$
    – Chickenpeep
    Sep 10, 2020 at 22:36
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    $\begingroup$ Does he have a back toe? I couldn't see one. Could you give us a link to the video so we can see its arguments? $\endgroup$
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Sep 10, 2020 at 22:52
  • $\begingroup$ You can see part of a back toe on the left foot. The video I saw was a game theory video talking about the horrid proportions of the characters of that Fall Guys game. youtube.com/watch?v=hvGirwNO4Zg It upset my perfectionism anxiety about making all of my fantasy creatures as biologically and physically realistic as possible because it made me realize there was yet another factor I knew very little about that I failed to factor in my designs. $\endgroup$
    – Chickenpeep
    Sep 11, 2020 at 21:11
  • $\begingroup$ I'm watching the video. Haven't finished it yet. I think the point about penguins is important. How fast do you want your creature to be able to walk upright? Are you happy with a penguin waddle or do you want the speed of an olympic runner? In my imagination he would walk at about human speed and then go on all fours to run - am I right? $\endgroup$
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Sep 11, 2020 at 21:23

2 Answers 2

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Assuming a spine, pelvis, and shoulders / ribcage skeletal structure, this creature works just fine as bipedal.

Imagine the pelvic tray with the bottom tilted forward. The leg bones meet the hip sockets nicely centered beneath the torso.

Now picture the spine with an s-curve, much like we humans, which further shifts the center of gravity just a bit toward the front of the creature.

Finally, the creature as pictured seems to have good strong hind legs and wide, splayed, forward-facing feet. I see it as perfectly suited to being bipedal -- although its gait might be a little shuffling, and it might not be that fast. (Maybe it runs with a hopping gait?)

On the idea of it being equally efficient as a quadruped... that's a little harder to see. The arms don't seem well suited to that, as you've drawn it. Take a look at reconstructions of hadrosaur dinosaurs for examples of animals that can move well on four legs or two.

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Seeing the creature and bearing in mind that move both biped and quadrupedal the proportion of legs and arms are good, the center of balance is little above the legs.

One point of interest are the position of arms and legs for quadrupedal movement, depending on the type of movement (like and ape,amphibian, reptilian, mammals like dog) because the shape is too similar an human so the quadrupedal movement is more difficult regarding the position of arm-shoulder and leg-hip.

In base of the type of walk you want you need to do a little changes of the shape to reach the well movement on both type.

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  • $\begingroup$ *The movement style would be mammal. *Changed in what way? *This might complicate the answer a bit, but his structure is different than what similar creatures on Earth would have. He doesn't have bones like we do. Not sure how exactly to describe it. Sort of tough flexible fibers that can be made to lock in place when supports are needed, and relaxed when more flexibility is needed; being able to fall without as much damage. Not sure what the real life equivalent would be. $\endgroup$
    – Chickenpeep
    Sep 11, 2020 at 21:25
  • $\begingroup$ Not knowing the physiology of the creature, the organs, if it have a structure like bones or cartilages and seeing the posture it's easy to think that have bones, but if it have an internal structure like cartilages or other type of tissues it feel well. The creature don't have problems on balance if can rearrange their arts for finding the perfect balance $\endgroup$
    – DG79
    Sep 14, 2020 at 15:36

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