We had to download Toon Boom Harmony and learn about walk cycles for 2D animation class.
When it comes to walk cycles, we should start by animating the body and how it goes up and down first, then the legs, and then the arms. Arcs plat a huge role in walk cycles. When a character walks, they are basically falling and catching themselves, which is why they move in an arc. The shoulders and hips and wrists and ankles also move in an arc. The best and easiest way to break down a walk cycle is to use a video reference and find the contact pose. The leading foot goes down, and the back foot toes go up. To begin a simple walk cycle, we started on the contact pose.
We also played around with a 3D rig of Snow and Rain to get started on a 3D walk cycle. I have some knowledge on walk cycles in 3D having developed my skills somewhat with a digitigrade rig. That means the creature walks on its toes. But the human rigs are plantigrade, meaning they walk with their whole foot.
We also looked at the different poses that go into a walk cycle.
Contact pose- dictates the difference between steps.
Down pose- where the legs take the weight of the body. the more they go down, the heavier the character is.
Passing/Middle Pose- takes place between contact poses.
Up Pose- dictates how long your character stays in the air as they walk.
We also looked at breaking the arms in a animated walk cycle. Breaking the arms adds vitality and life to the characters. We start by doing the basic swing of the arm but at some stage break the elbow and at the edge of the arc add another frame, always thinking of wrist of leading force, and let hand flap behind the wrist.
And then we broke down the animation of the legs.
Feet are the first thing to come down on the contact pose. Toes drag behind the ankles, so we leave the toes dragging behind the ankle and leave them on the ground. Pay attention to the arc that the ankles will be moving in.
We also as a warm up to Toon Boom Harmony had to animate balls in our first week, using arcs as part of the animating process.
