Research on Walks:
https://youtu.be/uDqjIdI4bF4 – Alan Becker 12 principles
I started of my walk cycles research by checking out the Animator’s Survival guide and Alan Becker’s 12 principles of animation videos the Animator’s Survival guide was very important as it helped me with posing and the frame rate of the walk as I have animated on 24 fps but key framed on 25 frames so the animation runs slightly slower than one full cycle per second.
I used the first link as a reference and mainly posed out a generic walk scene that helped me to consider some of the finer details like the hip curve and rotation which I previously neglected. It also allowed me to just focus on the leg movements without worrying about the arms at the start.
https://youtu.be/rDGRAHBojWE?t=50
https://youtu.be/HEoUhlesN9E?t=364
This second and third link were the main goals I was looking to achieve for the personality of the walk, something that felt bouncy and loose in its movement while also providing a sense of confidence and cockiness I referred to the bouncy steps of Kevin Parry and the loose free movements of Tobey Maguire to create the final piece. 
Research on Runs:
The run cycle was researched firstly using these 2 videos:
These 2 videos are a side and back view of a person running on a treadmill that uses a clear polygon system to help keep the form and movements clear for reference. This allowed me to notice the clear differences within the walk and run cycles as the hip movement is a lot more restricted and there are moments where the legs are both removed from the ground showing the speed of the movement as momentum carries the character. 
I looked up this compilation of characters running and originally planned to use the chase scene from baby driver as my main point of reference and although this is a interesting chase scene which would be good for referencing there unfortunately is to many cuts and not a clear enough display of form meaning as far as anatomy goes it is not very useful. I decided on the Spiderman 2 scene as I was originally planning to do a jump mechanic for the dynamic movement and thought I could save time and use the same running start (This did change though as I wanted more unique pieces for my showreel). For the run I also looked at two key points for a more exaggerated and “Anime” feel Using this scene which has been deconstructed into the contact up and down poses of Atsuko from Little Witch Academia, While it is unrealistic it looks more dynamic and feels more lively using the poses he had also drawn of Alphonse Elric (FMA). Listening to his breakdown allowed a much more clear understanding of the forms as I worked on them as I could re-watch as many times as needed.
This plan however did get changed last minute because I personally didn’t like the overall quality of my piece and I spent time creating a run more akin to that of the Indiana Jones run as he is trying to avoid getting hit by the boulder I rendered this scene out both with and without the boulder as although it helped with the readability of the scene I felt the run should be clear enough without it as well.
https://youtu.be/c6XHLe94SJA?t=23
Research on body mechanics:
The body mechanics posed more of a challenge as finding resources for inspiration was a lot more challenging, many of the resources I ended up using were lackluster in their information and only ended up being used for one reason or another such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV1ujaQCwvg This YouTube video was mainly used for the purpose of the foot slide at the very start of my animation as this character is pushing something immovable but I felt the foot slide could add some character to the scene and help from feeling flat etc. While this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCrX18O6rKg wasn’t particularly useful for its display as it already is an interpretation of real movement it did help with viewing a different approach and perspective on a similar task etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGMlacrI-E8&t=99s
My main reference was this video as this man is pulling and pushing a large heavy object (His Car) . This very clearly shows the momentum the car gains as it is being pushed and the force at which he needs to stop it. It was used numerous times for form and as an example this shows many angles the footing position as well as how his body reacts to the movements of this large object. I did test-reference myself pulling a large chest of drawers but couldn’t record it as my main focus was hand location and placement which I could not record while I acted it out etc.
The application of feedback:
I worked on 3 main stages of animation being that of the 1st pass (Blocking pass) 2nd pass (Clean Up pass) 3rd pass (Polishing pass). At the end of stage 2 I reached out for feedback as to what people felt I could do to improve the overall feel and quality of the animation. I took note of their feedbacks and began by firstly understanding what it was in particular they had in mind, then making changes to each one as needed etc.
The walk cycle: Having done many walk cycles using the buckid model I was very familiar with the process as I wanted to create a walk with lots of character and personality and looked towards the Tobey Maguire Spiderman walk before asking for feedback. Caitlin suggested the idea that the walk cycle was too fast prompting me to increase the frame range from 25 to 30 frames while still being rendered out at 24 fps. Steven however had a much more detailed list; Foot stepping effect (not smooth), Arm movement aren’t affecting the body rotation, Head rotation looks exaggerated, Torso should flex more etc. with all except the head rotation being looked at in one final version of my Maya scene which was achieved mainly through removing key frames and curving the tangent lines so they were not sharp lines. I also looked into the animation layers in Maya (Although not used in the final version due to conflicting key frames).
Animation Link: https://youtu.be/92a6z538848
The run cycle: The run cycle possessed the most challenges for me as I had a lot of trouble deciding on the emotion and style of run I wanted, having made a total of 3 runs (two of which were un-polished and unfinished) I asked for feedback on the second and third iterations of my run cycle (the feedback on the second one isn’t referenced in this though). The feedback I received was the shortest which given the amount of alterations was a welcoming site with key points being noticed that the emotion is very clear with and without the boulder behind Buckid and the animation doesn’t suffer from any harsh clipping or stuttering.
Animation Link: https://youtu.be/MJcMIyQRa7A
The dynamic movement: The dynamic movement was the first animation I fully attempted, it posed many difficulties as I hadn’t attempted an animation with planted hands before so animating in that way was very new. After finishing the first and second pass I could tell it looked very choppy and lacked some key points at which I decided to ask for some feedback in case there was something I was not considering or if anyone knew what was wrong in particular etc. Conor suggested I try and emphasize the weight of the character’s object by throwing the head more back and creating more tension in the arms and having his heels rise as though he is really digging them into the ground etc. This was followed up by Stork who also agreed that the character felt ungrounded and was sliding too much and had loose footing. I started fixing this by firstly making the hands and legs more exaggerated by increasing the bends and roll on the feet. The back then was arched all the way back as though this object is unmovable to begin with. I then lined up the foot locations more so they did not slide back as much. This foot sliding was caused by the backwards translations on the master controller and were not perfect but quickly fixed and altered so they better matched the original foot placing.
Animation Link: https://youtu.be/jGKzSlM8I4g
Reflection and why the Buckid Rig?
Choosing a rig for this task was an easy choice because I had already gained familiarity with a rig and model being that of the Buckid Model. Like the Jack model shown to us but with a design more akin to a robot than a human. Having worked mainly on posing this character to make a display of emotions and previous walk and run cycles I was familiar both with the rig, the features it offered and the issues that could arise with it. While I may focus on expanding to more complex rigs in future this comfortability really helped with this task.
Buckid is a free to use model that offers the use of an IK and FK option for the arms as well as a stretch feature that means I can work on exaggerated animations and achieve something more in line with a looney tunes character etc. I had looked at more available rigs including but not limited to: Azri, Jack, Coyote (Looney Tunes Rig), Master Chief etc. although the biggest factor in my decision being familiarity.
The Buckid model I had to run by Alec for approval as he was unfamiliar with it but thankfully he could tell quickly it would meet the requirements for the task as it was acceptable. While other rigs like Azri allow for more clear secondary animation I felt I would be able to achieve the 12 principles without props (only props I had made myself). I feel this task really helped me practice my animating skills and even using some new tools like Maya’s layers and Onion Skin mode (Ghosting).
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