Walk Cycle
This week’s task was a walk cycle with some personality and a run cycle. I chose to animate a happy walk.
Research
I watched Mike’s tutorials and researched some YouTube tutorials to help me better understand the breakdown and process of how to make a walk cycle, I also found a great video talking about common mistakes found in walk cycles, I made sure to check if my animation had any of the mistakes talked about.
Process
I started by blocking out the key poses of the movement and the timing, with walk cycles the spacing between poses are even so the character walks at a steady pace. Mike gave great advice for animating a walk cycle, focus on the leg poses first, these will drive the body, which then drives the arms and finally the head. I tend to overcomplicate things, so this tip was incredibly helpful throughout the process.
After adding the key poses, I used the graph editor to smooth the arcs of the arms and legs. Next, I moved the body to follow the weight baring leg, this helps balance the character and makes the walks felt less stiff. I also added more sway to his body to make him appear happier. Finally, I used to dope sheet to offset some of the movements so all the limbs don’t start and stop at the same time, this can look unnatural.
Outcome
I am happy with the happy personality I portrayed through the walk; however, I feel the sway is a little much and during the contact pose the foot stays up on the toe a bit too long.
Run Cycle
Research
I looked into some YouTube videos that broke down the process of the run cycle as well as looking at run cycle movement paths.
Process
The run cycle was similar to the walk cycle process, block the key poses and adjust the movement on the graph editor to make smooth arcs. Arms are more restricted and there are less frames to work with as it is animated on ones.
Outcome
Overall, I am happy with the arcs of the arms and legs, however he appears jittery, I think I needed to tweak the key poses to help them glide rather than snap to the next position.